Starting up a B team...help me

**WayToGoMen** · 07-20-2009, 01:15 PM

So this year our team is trying to start up a B team. Can anybody provide some advice about the problems or issues they noticed when dealing with starting up a B team? I know it can probably be a lot different managing like 20 players as opposed to like 8 or 9. Also does anyone off the top of their head remember the league fees for starting up the B team? If you don't feel comfortable posting financial information could just private message me? Thanks yall.

**Sinister Soup** · 07-21-2009, 10:26 AM

Probably the best way to do it is to put someone else in charge of the B team, like a captain or coach or something. From that point all you have to do is give the guy in charge pointers in order to guide them in the right direction.

**GoRangrHky** · 07-21-2009, 11:02 AM

Each regions fees for teams are different, so I don't have that information for you. But as someone who has had a B team for a while, it is a good thing for the most part, but with some struggles mixed in. It's great that it expands your program, gives more students opportunities to play, lets the guys on the team meet more people with similar interests, and develops younger players. However, ensuring that you have a full roster is essential. We have ha difficulty in the past with finding goalies as well, which may or may not be the case now, but can change over time.

One of the other things to think about is practices. Practice with 10 guys on the rink is very different than with 20+ out there, by separate practices can hit the wallet hard.

Finally, as far as team management goes, Id have a captain or coach specifically responsible for the B team, as far as getting information to everyone. But when it comes to booking hotels and stuff, definitely do that together.

**WayToGoMen** · 07-21-2009, 01:01 PM

As far as travel goes...we have been taking somewhere between 10-12 people and we have been fortunate enough to be able to rent minivans for travel. Taking 20 people seems a little different. How do yall get that many people to tournaments?

**JLambertUMSL** · 07-21-2009, 02:21 PM

On the hockey side, if you want to run a competitive program, be open to promoting/demoting players during the season. Make everyone earn a spot, be willing to move B players up to DI if they deserve it, and make sure the captains/coaches are on board with this. Too often there are players who get stuck on the B team for an entire season just because nobody wants to pull the trigger (or because A players feel threatened and resist).

**KROMMER23** · 07-21-2009, 03:40 PM

Yeah well i think the biggest problem is transportation? How do some clubs transport 24 players across two states? Rent a bunch of vans? Rent a bus...and how does that work? Most of the teams in the great plains only have to travel down the road cuz your all from the same area.

**WCRHL** · 07-21-2009, 05:21 PM

Most of the west coast teams simply drive their own vehicles and carpool. They may not travel across 2 states, but they can have a 6-8 hour drive.

Do you not have enough players with cars? It's a much simpler solution to not have to rent cars, especially incurring that expense when most players are under 25 too.

**GoRangrHky** · 07-21-2009, 05:40 PM

Hofstra is 48% commuter, so we have a lot of cars on campus. We go 2-3 states away, but guys just pile into each others cars to go on trips. Usually the ones with SUVs end up driving, but we have more than enough cars around to make sure that everyone gets a ride.

As far as the moving up and down, just make sure you know the rules regarding players getting locked onto the A team, either through the roster freezes or games played.

**Sinister Soup** · 07-22-2009, 01:28 AM

Originally Posted by GoRangrHky

Each regions fees for teams are different, so I don't have that information for you. But as someone who has had a B team for a while, it is a good thing for the most part, but with some struggles mixed in. It's great that it expands your program, gives more students opportunities to play, lets the guys on the team meet more people with similar interests, and develops younger players. However, ensuring that you have a full roster is essential. We have ha difficulty in the past with finding goalies as well, which may or may not be the case now, but can change over time.

One of the other things to think about is practices. Practice with 10 guys on the rink is very different than with 20+ out there, by separate practices can hit the wallet hard.

Finally, as far as team management goes, Id have a captain or coach specifically responsible for the B team, as far as getting information to everyone. But when it comes to booking hotels and stuff, definitely do that together.

when i played the B team would have there own night to practice than the A team would have there night and then there would be a third night were we would scrimmage each other. we rarely paid for practices we usually worked something out with the arena owner. in exchange for some late night practices we would clean the rink and coach youth house teams.

**thereal54** · 07-23-2009, 10:32 AM

Having strong leadership from coaching staff goes a long way on this one. Typically the benefits far outweigh the potential problems. Carpooling can be split, funding the programs is cheaper. I know Drexel has been very successful running 4 teams in the past and we had 3 at one time. D1, B, and then some other teams that just play in local leagues as feeder to the ECRHA teams when B players move up to D1.

Something you could try is having a "B team" that doesn't play NCRHA and instead plays in a local league to get their feet wet. They practice w/ the team and some may even travel w/ the team to events incase of injury. This'll help keep the cost / risk low til you figure out if it's something you want to try and sustain.