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Message: [QUOTE="KembaKek, post: 4483347, member: 11340"] They are buying out youth programs and breaking the volunteer structure of non-elite youth hockey. This comes in the process of making small programs like ECHO into organizations with paid coaches and for-profit operations. I mention ECHO because it is the organization that I grew up with and have done some coaching for at the lower level. Last year we had 40 kids in learn-to-play, now we have 8 because they jacked the price up so high and messed with the time slots. Some ECHO teams are now merged suddenly with Cromwell, so kids from Mansfield playing for ECHO now have to drive to Cromwell on a Thursday at 6 for practice. Black Bear's initiative is making hockey more exclusive and professional, which is horrible for a sport that is already very hard to access. [/QUOTE]