It's a delicate balance as to playing time. I've got one son who got minimal playing time for a couple years. He was OK with it, because he loved the team and thought the three guys ahead of him were better. What got tougher was after he had a breakout school season and then did well as a guest player for another program (at a sibling's tournament). Still saw himself behind those 3 guys, but not really behind some new kids added for seemingly money or political reasons. I'm a 2021 coach and I think it's important for parents to tell their kids to work harder and implement what the coaches tell them if they want to play more, not sympathize with their kids wanting to play more. But obviously every situation is different and if - trying to be as objective as possible - you think the coach is not allocating PT for the best interest of the team, find a coach whose motivations you trust.
Not sure I understand the comments above regarding B teams. I think it's foolish, of course, to think you have D1 material at the 2021 level and, much worse, it's horribly dangerous to send a kid back into the game that might have a concussion.
That said, it's a good thing to play teams a level up from you now and then. Ideally, I think you play a team you can "run with" even if the score ends up 10-3. You have so many teaching points at practice the next week. And, yes, you tell the kids they need to work harder on their stick skills and in practice if they want to play at a higher level. Of course better teams are more athletic, but better teams also invariably have better stick skills and even B players can raise their stick skills to an A level through hard work. And making that "one more" pass or passing when you draw the slide or moving the ball quickly to the backside are all things B players can learn, even though B "teams" don't do those things (at 2021). Especially from outside Md and NY, your team may think they are hot stuff, but they can't even beat a B team from LI. With hard work, I think teams can step it up a notch every season, though I agree you aren't going to get to AA without high level coaching and AA and A athletes - hard-working B players fall apart against AA players.
