June 26, 2023 - Champs App

The new location at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio is superb. Arena is outstanding, campus is beautiful and facilities are all close to each other. Big upgrade from St Cloud.
Camp seems very well organized and excellent use of technology to keep players and parents informed
Parent meeting with Kristen (Wright) Sagaert discussing the process of player feedback and letter grades sounded very promising. Hopefully the execution delivers on the expectations that were set.
Jerseys are pretty nice. Still no names on the girls jerseys, but boys 17s camp going on concurrently have them
Playing on NHL sized rink this year – noticeable difference in time and space for players compared to the Olympic sized rinks in St Cloud
Quality of hockey is a little more team oriented and a slightly higher pace than what I saw last week at the showcase in Rochester.
Different experience watching in person than via streaming, games seems much faster in person.
Many college coaches watching the first day, but not as many as I expected.
Saw at least a couple of DI head coaches who don’t normally go to tournaments or showcases, but are here.
At least 5 coaches were previous Champs App podcast guests 🙂
Delayed offsides were permitted on the first day. Interesting that they aren’t following USA Hockey rules.
First day averaged a little under 5 minutes of penalties per game, which is only about 10% of the game time (46 minutes). So far that seems quite reasonable compared to past years

Update: Forgot to mention that the in-arena DJ is very good. Not the same music as every other rink. Plus the penalty-specific tunes are spot on.