Tom your thoughts lead me to expound on the line combo question a bit.
When putting the forward line combos together in the past, we have tried to even the lines out in terms of skill. Our skill is fairly close amongst our players. This year the game is becoming much more of a team oriented game. Goals are more difficult to come by as team play is better and the talent gap narrows.
That said, we are noticing that some of the kids are starting to really get it in terms of puck movement, cycling and team play etc. In the past, we have kept these players on separate lines. This weekend we put 3 of the kids together and played a couple games. This line scored 10 of our 11 goals against good competition.
Mindful that these are 10 yos and not all are mature enough yet to understand many team concepts. My question is whether to keep players together on a line that understand the team game best giving them a better chance to score or whether to spread them out amongst all of the lines,
FYI We are rolling the lines with equal ice time and the skill differential is really not that extreme. I wonder if the kids who grasp the team concepts will become frustrated with linemates who may not be as far along understanding those concepts.
Thanks for all of your help Tom!
It is a lot more fun for kid's "who get it" to play with like minded players. If it doesn't weaken your team a lot to have them play together then I would keep them together.
Right now I am looking forward to our -30 C weather to turn to -4 by Wednesday. At least I am not 300 km north where the city of the Oilers was -46.