Oh my the post you have all been waiting for. And it's early in the season for my daughter's team (squirt c) so this is very preliminary. Also my first thought was to be very PC and not offer any opinion and then I figured in this era of Trump Fuck that.
Starting with some of the least contentious differences and working my way towards more exciting stuff.
1. Neck guards---not required and not worn in CO except by my daughter. Required and worn by everyone from ADM on up in IL. The neck guard costs about $11. Attached is a vid of Zednik almost dying on the ice post getting his neck cut. Seriously I don't care if CO doesn't require it, why doesn't the team? If you are trying to get more kids to play hockey having someone die on the ice from a cut aorta seems a stupid risk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3znNVAMQzY
2. Uniforms. In Chicago almost every team has name on the back. My daughter has a closet full of jerseys with her name on the back however Wilmette took back her number 69 jerseys at the end of the season. In CO almost no one does and they keep cost down by not making you buy jerseys. Win CO, although making it a little hard for the new guy to figure out who is who. Now about those green gloves, helmets and shields-breezers. Are you kidding me, no names on jerseys but you want them to get green everything else. Stick with black. Try going into a hockey store and asking to see their assortment of 11in gloves in green or forest green helmets. And the breezers are a pain in the ass. Keep it simple give them socks and jerseys and forget the cute colors for the rest of the equipment. (and yea I know many of my chicago readers are dealing with red pants, gloves and helmet now--fun right?)
3. Since we are talking dress code ---out in CO there is some talk about dress with class, play with class so wear jackets and ties to games. In IL at the young levels I never saw this. In college my roommates had some trouble with dress with class thing too (and did you have to shave?)
4. Game travel. From the Sears wait no Willis tower in Chicago if you drive 40 miles you can probably find 40 different youth hockey programs---maybe even 70. From Aspen you can find 1 program. In an effort to get more bang for your driving buck you often play 2-3 games with teams over a weekend. It gives a whole new meaning to home home games and it can get uglier than a Blues-Blackhawks series in the early 90s when the hawks still played in a quality barn not the UC. Last weekend squirt B had 3 in Telluride and one of our kids got nailed for 2 10 min major and 3 minor penalties over the weekend. And another kid got an unsportsmanlike conduct called on him while he was on the bench (oh yea and his dad is the assistant coach). Remember that thing about dress with class play with class in the above point. Humm.
5. Now about those parents coaching. In Aspen it's standard protocol. In Chicago it's more rare. I am not brave enough to offer an opinion on this one in this venue, however feel free to do a google search on the subject and see what smarter folks than I think.
6. Season length and number of games. In Chicago the regular season kinda starts in the end of August and runs through March with a great 3 on 3 program in April and May. Out in Aspen there was a bit of conditioning in the end of September and teams were not determined until the start of November. My daughter played on a team in a tournament in October never having met the coach nor played with the kids till she walked on the ice for the first game. I love having a shorter season than what we had in Chicago. I hate the fact that my daughter hasn't yet played a league game and that they wind up playing games and paying for tournaments before they practice. Seems both like a waste money and a chance to get injured. Not sure where the happy medium is but don't think I have found it yet. Oh yea about 2-3x more games in IL than CO. And there are almost no girls teams in CO. That said Aspen really tries to get girls to play on girls teams which is silly because under U12 there are no girls teams to speak of.
7. Smack talk, trash talk and contact. Aspen and CO wins this one hands down. Congrats Aspen.
8. Power skate--once a week in Chicago---not really a part of Aspen. See above comment about contact, if you can't skate with em hit em.
9. Clock management. Running clock in CO in first two periods, stop clock in 3. In IL clock stops unless mercy rule invoke (mercy rule also in play in CO 3rd period). Also lots of music during clock stoppage in CO, not so much in IL.
10. Parents. Both areas have their fair share of nut jobs and sane folk. Really a draw but if forced to pick I would say that Chicago lends itself a bit more to nuttiness due to the many different teams and better quality of players (that is what happens in a big city with a big population and a NHL team that wins the cup every other year). That said Aspen has many parents who have a healthy view towards hockey (sadly not yours truly I fear) and some folks who are sure little Timmy is gonna be the next Connor McDavid. Don't worry--no Connor's in the current Aspen program. I suspect the really nutty sports parents are to be found in the ski program.
11. Fun on away tournaments--Willmett Notre Dame weekend still owns this with zero competition. Very educational---March 14 indeed. I mean Aspen and Saddle you guys aren't in the same league and maybe not even playing the same sport. It's kinda like Wilmett is playing hockey and the rest of ya are figure skating (maybe even ice dancing).
That's it for now.
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