BF..............at it again.
From a reliable source , the PW "ELITE" division was made up of a few in house teams, Heat, Mariners. Now, if the Heat/Mariners knew that they were playing in an "Elite" division with basically in house teams, then it's their fault. But knowing they do things in BF-LAND, it was probably told to them after they could not get into another tournament, if at all. I will quote the source as calling it a "shit show". Now I may be wrong (but i'm usually not), but why would anyone want to play in a tournament that is filled in with TEAM WC ELITE TEAL/ TEAM WC ELITE PINK etc, that is being passed off as a PW "ELITE" division ? I thought the JKs were serving the Kool Aid a few years ago with their Elite AAA tournament for 6 year olds (sorry B.O.) We keep hearing about these kind of things in BF-LAND over and over again. would like to hear from any families that were at the BF-Land tournament this week end to get some feed back.
BTW......he still owes me $$$
My kid played at the Riverside tourney and here's what I saw.
There were 5 teams at the 'Elite PW' level:
Heat
Mariners
Wildcats Gold
Leafs
Ont Eagles
We had an opportunity to play with OC (Anaheim tourney) and Saints (Carmen Starr) and we chose to join the Heat (my son has played with the same group of kids before, for tourneys only) because we like playing with that group and Riverside was much closer to where we live. Whether Heat knew what BF/Riverside is all about or not, or if it was too late to join other tourney, I have no idea. We just knew we wanted to do a local tourney, with a group my son is familiar with...
Heat: Most of the kids at the tourney played PWAA last yr, one Bear PW or Sq(?), one Blaze PWA, with a few Heat SQA's moving up. I'd say 90% of the team are legit PWAA. My kid has fun every time he plays with these guys, and so do we, and that was the most important factor in deciding whether to join a new group in a more 'prestigious' tourney or do a lighthearted one with his friends.
Eagles: Aren't all Eagles teams 'in-house'? Likely consist of mostly PWA and my kid has scrimmaged with some of them at old Ontario... Struggled to score against most teams at Riverside, but managed to score a few goals vs Mariners, the eventual winner, but still, lost all their games.
Leafs: spoke to a few parents there and they appear to be the PWB team that won SCAHA last year. They had the most trouble putting up goals and lost all their games.
Wildcats Gold: Got stomped by Mariners, beat Leafs and Eagles, and managed to tie Heat. They had a few PWA kids from all over, one Jr Ducks2 PWAA, one or two PWAA from Wildcats' PWAA team last year and those kids were legit PWAA players. I have to admit I was surprised they managed to tie the Heat. When they played the Heat, Heat were more dominant and had a 2 goal lead but WC came back and tied. I know all about the BF crap, but I have to admit, they were better than their previous 'in-house' teams.
Mariners: Dominated all the teams, except Heat. Mix of mostly Riptide PWB (undefeated last yr), one from the Heat PWAA, one from Bears PWAA, one or two Mariners PWAA, and goalie from Ont Waves PWAA IIRC, won State last year. The PWB Riptide kids weren't big, except their goalie, but if you know who they are, you'll know that they're little speedsters with hands that keep coming at you. My kid has played this group since Squirts and it was always the same bunch of little speed demons that do most of the damage.
Heat vs Mariners was an excellent PWAA game to watch. Different style of play. Heat were bigger and moved the puck better as a team, while Mariners relied on their kids speed and dangles to beat you with breakaway's... Heat had more shots and in their zone longer but ultimately lost in OT... Game could've easily gone either way. I think everyone who watched would agree.
The Riverside tourney had only 2 true PWAA team in my opinion. And the two PWAA teams are likely middle of the pack next year. I believe the Leafs and Eagles were testing the water to see if they could hang/belong in PWAA. Most of the WC Gold are likely PWBB and PWA, except for #71 and maybe two other, who are legit PWAA.
Generally, I really dread even thinking about Riverside tourneys but I was too late to get my son to try out for Carmen Starr and by the time when I got to it, Wada and Bickley were set and we didn't want to stress about traveling so BF 'sh*tshow' it was... For once, I actually didn't mind Riverside tourney as my kid had lots of fun, was a top player there and managed to forfeited a game to go home early on Monday!
I think using the term 'sh*tshow' to describe the overall 'Elite PW' tourney is a little harsh... I've seen hardcore BF sh*tshows and this one was better than that...