Cool, that's a good answer and I learn a lot about you and your kid from it.

Here's my advice. Keep him into it. Foster his passion for the game and let him take it as far as he wants.

In my experience, once they're around their teens, boys tend to fall into cliques naturally and which clique they fall into will decide a lot about the type of person they are.

Be sure they're on a team that has a passion for the game, but doesn't overdo it. A team that travels together and goes to tournaments, but where the coach like like a mentor and not a chain gang boss. Get involved if you can. If you can skate, offer to assist the coach. If you can't, offer to be a team manager and help coordinate events and schedules. If you can't do any of that, become close friends with the coach or the manager. It'll be really good for your relationship with your kid if you're super involved in the thing he's passionate about.

I've seen it so many times, the dad who doesn't come to games, or misses half the tournaments because of work, etc. It hurts the boys in a subtle way and they're the ones most likely to drop out.

The clique of kids who dropped out of hockey are often the stoners and guys who I consider a bad influence... The ones who didn't have the perseverance to continue a dream once it wasn't glamorous.

If your kid is good, at some point, you should gently find out how good. Take him to a AAA tryout. There's a chance you realize he's a phenom. There's a chance you realize he's really just not that great, but just because he doesn't make a AAA team doesn't mean he should quit. Having a passion, even if you'll never turn pro or get a scholarship is a great thing. Don't let it die just because he's not Auston Matthews.

And there's a tiny fraction of a chance that he is Auston Matthews. If he shows up at a AAA tryout and skates around everyone, then you have a very different set of decisions to make.