Standing in a hockey rink for sometimes days at a time, one hears some common themes when hearing parents speaking about their son or daughter's team.

The three most common we hear about the team are:

"We can't score"

"If we just had a Goalie"

"Our coach doesn't shorten the bench"

These three are heard almost on a daily basis. We can't score is usually said by the Goalie dad whose kid is light's out. If we just had a Goalie is usually registered by the guy who never played past the third grade. And Our coach doesn't shorten the bench is usually thrown out there by the dad of the future NHLer on the team. Don't worry, every team, despite the mathematical impossibility has a future Zach Parise on the squad. 

As a hockey writer these three statements are almost like white noise akin to a grocer hearing if they have anymore ripe bananas in the back. 

This year, a trending phrase we are hearing more and more is "Our Third Line is the Worst". This statement is a distant cousin to the "our coach doesn't shorten..." - but Third Line Worst is an opinion on a youth player's quality and production, whereas Doesn't Shorten is an observation of an adult coaching.

Sometimes parents aren't thinking when they speak about the third line. Most that say it, apparently have forgotten that their son at some point of his/her life has been a third line player or forget that in all likelihood will be a third liner at some point soon. Or, some parents truly are thinking about what they are saying and don't care that three rows over, another parent and neighbor is hearing him breakdown their child's ability to play hockey. Not sure which is more creepy, but here is a reality to check to all that utter this statement.

One in Three: Each year, Minnesota has 40,000 players playing hockey. If every team had a first line, a second line and third - that means there are 13,000 third liners at some point every year. Odds are really good at some point in little Johnny's career they will see the third line or the short side of a bench.

.25 of 100: Of the 40,000 only 100 get an NCAA scholarship each year making it a .25 percent chance to get your college paid for on this game. I'm guessing those 100 and a few hundred more each year never played third line in their life running the total up to 1 percent. The rest at some point will be on the dreaded third line at some point.

Haula if you hear me: Now for an even scarier reality. One that just about every parent never realizes. EVERY TEAM'S THIRD LINE IS THE WORST. If they were better players, they would be on the first or second line. What is even scarier, the Wild even have a third line. Erik Haula, who surely played third line at some point for the Gophers is often penciled onto the third or fourth line of the Wild. To bring it full circle, former Gopher Jordan Schroeder was arguably the best kid his age during youth hockey (he was likely in the 1% club that never saw third line minutes at the youth, high school or college level). Now he's happy to be on the fourth line for the Wild. 

The Bottom 1/3 is where the W's are: A simple notion, but must be reiterated. Most teams have a great first line (lotsa Schroeders and even a few Haulas), and some even have a decent second line. The real rubber hits the road with the play of the third line. Some teams hide the third line, some teams shorten the bench, and some teams rotate a Center in with the two weakest wings. The best coach I ever had was nearly magic with his third line. Instead of ignoring them or shortening the bench...he embraced them. He always gave them an identity (bruisers, bumble bees, guard dogs), when I was a player, I had no idea what a genius the coach was. We cheered for them, we bought into these guys as an important cog in our wheel. At the year end banquet, he was most proud of those three guys. He said without them, "we would have never won our Region."