By Chris Pryor

When do the dreams fade and reality set in for players and their aspirations of playing college or pro hockey?

Dreams are nice to have but goals are probably more realistic. The reality of a player going beyond high school to play Division I college hockey are very, very slim to begin with, and to actually go onto play professional hockey are astronomical.

We all dream, but as players we should set goals that are within our grasp and are attainable. Don’t get too far ahead of yourself.

Let’s start at the youth level. When we first learn the game, your goal is probably just trying to make a traveling team. Unfortunately the “law of nature” (the strongest survive) has already started at this early of an age.

The best players move on and up where an average to below average player probably never gets out of the in-house or C level traveling teams.

As you get older, the group becomes smaller and more defined. By the time a player reaches Bantams, the chances of playing varsity hockey – if you’re not a A/B level player – are slim.

This might be your first “reality check.” By the age of 15-16/sophomore-junior year in high school, you have a pretty good idea of where this “dream” is going.  I really believe no matter what level you’re playing you should be having fun.

This holds true for whatever you decide to do. If you don’t enjoy playing and putting in the work to better yourself, then maybe that is the time to look elsewhere.

Sometimes it might be more of a disappointment to the parents than it is to the players. For years and years, they have driven hundreds if miles and spent thousands of dollars to watch their son or daughter play hockey. Then, in what seems like an instant, it’s over.

Whatever the case may be, if the goals that were set were realistic, then at the end of the day you should never be entirely disappointed because you had fun and worked your hardest. And if you fell short, that’s part of life. You at least know that you can look in the mirror and say I gave it my all.

Chris Pryor is the director of hockey operations for the Philadelphia Flyers. He is in charge of the amateur and pro scouting departments. A native of St. Paul, Pryor spent eight seasons as a scout for the Flyers. He played parts of six seasons in the NHL with the Minnesota North Stars and New York Islanders. If you have a question for a pro hockey scout, e-mail it to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .