Hockey has progressed into a 12 month sport and each summer any one player can enter into a "showcase" tournament pretty much every weekend. 

 

Players are led to believe that if they do not participate, somebody will take their place and potentially get noticed by college scouts.  The truth is their are so many arenas with multiple rinks that they need to host an event as often as possible to stay afloat.  The summer is an opportunity to do many things; take time off, focus on other sports, basically forget about the business that is hockey for a period of time.

 

This is not to say that you should put the hockey equipment away from April - September but in general, you should do what you want.  The burnout rate in hockey today is the highest it's ever been and continues to grow and the reason is that players are forced to play 12 months of the year.  The moment you are not excited about heading off to the rink is the moment you should take a break. 

 

The short of this piece is to tell you out there that you do not need to attend 14 tournaments/camps/clinics over the summer to increase your college hockey chances.  When I say 'you should do what you want,' I understand that everyone is different and some of you prefer to get as much hockey in as possible, that's great but don't feel that you have to.  My suggestion is to select a few you would like to be a part of and go for those but do some research before you make your selections; so many events out there promise the world and all that you get out of it is additional debt.  It's expensive when you add up the fee to attend, flight (if applicable), hotel, food, gas, etc., and don't even think about breaking one of those $300 hockey sticks...

 

I personally have walked out during more games over the summer because nobody wants to be there including the coach, players and scouts.  Certainly this applies to the lesser tournaments who try to secure as many teams as possible while playing a 40 minute game.  Only at these venues can you expect to develop nothing but bad habits.  There are however some very reputable groups whose goals include bringing together top prospects for a very competitive weekend, not charging too much, and ensuring college eyes are in attendance.  This is why you need to research the tournaments to find those that will give you the most bang for your buck and will be an overall great experience.