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Did Okanagan Hockey Academy shit-can your hockey career aspirations? Did they make big promises and not deliver? How much money did they steal from you in the process of stealing your dreams?
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18 comments:
They take care of the local Canadian boys and place them on the top team. 9 Penticton boys on the Major Midget and they are no better than POE, a considerably younger program and much less expensive.
OHA tryouts are rigged. You Americans are funding the development of the Canadian kids. The OHA master owners control everything. One phone call and your kid's chances of doing anything are squashed. They save all the important spots and all the development for owners, friends of owners, kids of coaches.
Just look at the history of Americans coming out of their program. You parents considering OHA need to do your homework. This blog has exposed them and shown you the way. It's up to you to decide where to send your money.
I've lived in Penticton most of my life. My son finished minor hockey last year and stayed playing in penticton minor hockey.
Just so you know, there are hard feelings between the local kids and academy kids. Right or wrong, academy kids are looked upon as rich, spoiled kids.
What I don't get is how many local kids that have been suckered into the program by promises of scholarships. My theory is, why not put the 30k in the bank...there's your scholarship!
Besides, the OHA teams are all bottom dwellers, from a junior a team that shouldn't be in the league to a junior b team that charges over 20k a year to play. the major midget is exaclty as the name describes, minus the major part. the bottom two midget teams can't compete in aaa or aa.
If you're going to spend your money on hockey, get your kids power skating or some other good instruction for a fraction of the cost.
I have to add one more comment.
Here in Penticton we used to have this great program in the high schools where the kids can take hockey as part of their regular school curriculum. It's a Hockey Canada thing and was started in Penticton by the previous owner of the Ok Hockey School. He supplied the on ice instructors. It was his way of giving back to the community.
When Kerr took ovr, it only lasted another year. I don't know why it was ended, but bet Kerr couldn't make enough money off of it. There is no "giving back to the community" with Kerr. Only TAKE TAKE TAKE.
as a former oha student, my take is this:
-most of the kids going there do not have any natural talent, but are strung along by the staff to believe otherwise
-the few that do have talent tend to be from from non-traditional hockey markets (california, texas, etc) or the penticton area, and the majority of these kids so not receive the development they need to acclimate to legitimate hockey
-the academy's attention instead goes to friends of the program (kerr, kromm, walker), kids with connected parents (robertson, nell, holst), and super-wealthy investors (moog, macmillan, dowling). some of these kids happen to have ability; most don't have a scrap of it.
- "joe the pentictonite" hates the academy, and rightly so. many kids flaunt their wealth (my family earns over 100k/yr and i was looked upon as plebeian) and get preferential treatment in class. the academy culture breeds a superiority complex into every member; you are handed a license to act a damn fool with no authoritative repercussions. however, if you go out at night with academy paraphernalia visible, you are likely to be harassed or possibly assaulted.
-kerr, oakes, ward and goodwin DO NOT GIVE A FLYING FUCK about your kid's well being (school, hockey, drugs/alcohol, tobacco, curfew, std's, even food and shelter) unless it makes them look bad or you fall into one of the categories mentioned above.
that's all i've got for now. questions, comments are welcomed.
My son has been going to OHS summer camps for years. He is a student at Notre Dame and he plays on AA. Each year Alan Kerr implores me to pull him from Notre Dame and come to OHA. On numerous occasions he's promised to put my son on his top team.
Instead of feeling excited about my son being promised a top spot without a tryout, it showed me how fixed the process is at OHA and making top teams is something that is negotiated and not earned. This was a moral and ethical issue for me.
I am not surprised to see this site pop up. There's a lot of funny business going on at OHA and it is not a place where I would ever consider sending my son.
You have to have thick skin anywhere you go. OHA is a very bad choice for hockey school. but little is known about POE, the Edge and Notre Dame for example. I am sure all of them have issues but perhaps not as serious as OHA.
These guys definitely sound like they are on the take and not giving anything to the community. Giving back is important.
On a positive note, I have heard great things about the Sting coaching staff, even though their record is very poor. Blake Wesley is supposed to be a class act and a good role model. That is what I heard from a friend whose son played for him.
I also am glad to see this blog available to everyone. These guys have been up to this for a long time. Everything is rigged with the academy as my son attended there and is an American. He is a good player and now plays with a top team in the USA and has participated in a number of USA hockey select events. He attended one year and his develop was pretty good as he was very young. They do they same thing every year and he didn't return simply because he was invited to play on several much better teams in the USA. We are glad we made that move and we know OHA are just money grabbers. The instruction is fair, it's not a good value, the Kerr's are crooks including Andy Oakes. Dixon is a fairly good guy, but in it for the money. The only straight shooters are Blake Wesley and Rich Kromm. We know this organization top to bottom and I would strong suggest NOT sending your player to them for development. It's all a scam and on top of that they aren't even that good. My son's team in the USA would hammer their top team. It all hot air.
I've seen the Sting play and they look like a disorganized midget team.
Have heard that the coach has almost given up on the players as uncoachable. I guess that's what you get when the players have paid their way onto the team and you can't trade them.
It doesn't say much for the junior b league (KIJHL) when they let a team like this into their league. I imagine they've gotten involved with the OHA money scheme.
It's rotten that players can pay to play junior b. The OHA team is called The Sting, but they have OHA on their jerseys. It doesn't make sense.
Well I would like to say that we are not rich, just a normal blue collar worker. We did not have to pay 30,000. dollars becasue of billerting and school fees being a Penticton resident. The kids that verbally abuse the OHA kids need to grow up becasue I bet if they had the cash or could get the coaching for free they would JUMP on it in a heartbeat!!! Not to mention that we played travel hockey and when it is all said in done the cost was close to 20,000.00 we didn't get the great coaching, or 55 games as well as ice and dryland everday!
The team records don't lie. OHA is at the flat bottom is every category. The higher the team, the lower they are ranked.
Pay to play programs don't work no matter how much you train these non-athletic boys. Sure, they have a few with talent but the big bucks come from the US and those rich Americans tend not to be very good at playing hockey.
I would agree the overall level of talent at OHA regardless of nationality is average to below average. Their level of performance over the last couple of years testifies to that. There seems to be a fair amount of talk about the American's, yet most all the players on the Major team are Canadian. They still suck. Those guys have had their brains beat out the last couple of years by mediocre programs in Canada and haven't beat a respectable team in the USA. Can you imagine if they played any top organizations? They would be totally humiliated. I notice they never schedule any of those games. Their overall program is outpaced by many organizations that charge a lot less. That's the bottom line. The true measure of success in any organization is their performance. OHA's performance on all fronts has been dismal. Enough said.
Well they get bet more often becasue, they like Pentiction AAA have not played together since they were 3.. or sry 6 or 7 years old! they also have players that don't play the same style of hockey that WE canadian Do!!!!! I think that whatever young men want to improve there hockey skills should be given cudos for there hard work and dedication not a bunch of crap or abuse becasue of there parents making huge sacrifices for them to go to OHA and learn canadian style of HOCKEY!!!!
There are some good points on here and anyone who is or was thinking of sending their kid to OHA can ask more questions.I would be very surprised if there was an organization out there who had no politics....but if this site wants to warn people of concerns at OHA ...go fo it....BUT DO NOT SLAG THE BOYS OR THE LEVEL OF SKILLTHEY EACH HAVE.These are still young men who chose to move away from home and try to learn the game they love.They have a very intense program and they work very very hard and at the same time they have to maintain a certain GPA.
There is nothing wrong with providing people with a fair warning but dont diScredit it all with the trash talk.
The chewing tabacco mentioned on this site is an example of what you shouldnt be posting. what hockey team doesnt have players using chew...i know the BC major Midget teams are full of chewing players, the jr b leagues whl ...jr a. I would say that if you are willing to send your kid away then you must have taught them some skills in life....and taught them the dangers of doing chew.
This is meaningless information that makes this site look like it was created by a pissy 16 year old who didnt make the team he wanted to make.Billets ;same thing what organization can provide the perfect home and food.This is not just happening at OHA.
When these topis get main page spotlight it makes this site look less credible and way more childish.
the contract...good job on getting one and posting it..but again how can you be angry when u signed it?i think we learn in grade 7 or 8 to NEVER sign before you have read it.
There are some good things you can take away from this site and ask the people at OHA before you send your kid away and pay alot of money.
just keep this site free of bashing
This is the type of coaching you get a OHA.
There is no proof I can find that any coach at OHA has had a winning record at any level.
1997-98 Winston-Salem Icehawks UHL Head 74 33 38 0 3 0.466 Out of Playoffs
1998-99 Saginaw Gears UHL Head 74 20 46 0 8 0.324 Out of Playoffs
1999-00 Saginaw/Ohio Gears UHL Head 74 12 57 0 5 0.196 Out of Playoffs
2000-01 Tacoma Sabercats WCHL Head 72 31 35 0 6 0.472
2001-02 Tacoma Sabercats WCHL Head 72 30 36 0 6 0.458 Lost in round 2
2003-04 Texas Wildcatters ECHL Head 72 22 44 6 0 0.347 Out of Playoffs
It is obvious that the owner of this site has an axe to grind with OHA. I have been following this blog now for several months and until recently, there has been only one positive OHA comment. In the last few weeks its easy to see that OHA owners, staff, current players, and parents have been writing in with their "SPIN" on the OHA program. These comments are going through which indicates a level of fairness on this blog to express all sides of the argument.
For the longest time I was beginning to wonder if ANYONE was happy at OHA. I remember reading that they lost 43 players last year out of roughly 80-90 boys. That is not a normal turnover for a program giving folks their monies worth.
No offence to any of the OHA boys but the team records are very terrible and I am not trying to hurt these hard working boys. I am just stating the facts.
Major league baseball, and minor league baseball have outlawed the use of chewing tobacco in the clubhouse, and on the field and dugout. If baseball can hold themselves to a higher standard, why can't hockey? If it saves a single kid from cancer of the mouth and death, its worth it.
This is about life and death. This is arguably the most important topic on the blog. While the person above makes a good point about some things, they are off base on this topic.
Also, for a young man traveling so far away from home, the importance of billeting cannot be understated.
To the comment about player turnover, there is a 95% return rate of players offered the opportunity. So whoever said 43 players did not choose to return, is obviously counting guys that aged out of the programs or moved onto junior.
Multiple players did not return for this season. I would expect more of the same based on their performance this year - Dead last. That 95% number is BS. We know of many players who left the OHA program last year and played elsewhere. It wouldn't be the one who "aged out" as said they were actually the one who smartened up and skated with a a real program.
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