Yeah I went back and read what you said prior to my reply, and your qualification doesn't make it any more sophisticated than when you first stated it. I already stated previously that even one squirt team in Peewee A is one too many. I already stated that there are '06's sprinkled throughout numerous teams in Peewee A that inflates rosters and sometimes robs older kids of spots they might otherwise have. Maybe you aren't aware of this, but as of two seasons ago, by Scaha's rules, clubs were not supposed to be allowed to field a team where the number of kids playing up was even 50%.
This has lead to a glut of players at Peewee A. It is not the only reason, as I was clear to mention, but it is still a significant one.
I've seen statements made here in the past, as well as straight from the mouths of parents that : "All the good kids of the 'xx birth year are playing up."
Completely untrue, and disproven in tournaments, and team migrations, and scrimmages, but there are still way too many people that buy into the idea and the net result is not good for anyone. The raw numbers of kids playing up is only part of the problem. The other part is the psychology of it.
Let's say that your kid is a legit Peewee on a bubble team. Is it really that hard to understand that this makes other legit peewee teams resistant to the idea that they should consider the median level of the team, when they have to deal with so many people who have convinced themselves that their kid is too good to play against their own age group.
Just because a kid is playing up a division at 8, doesn't mean that they are on a track to eclipse another kid who is 9. A year later the 10 year old is leading their squirt team in scoring and the 9 year old struggles against older faster and more intellectually ready teammates, regresses and finishes the season with 4 points. This same parent then feels that their kid should play up to peewee because they played on the same team with the legit Peewees simply because they have been on the same team for 2 years. At Peewee I've seen the physical differences become even more pronounced. Kids are really starting to sprout up at 12 years old, and they're just physically way more mature than a 10 year old in just about all cases. The gap that might not be as noticeable at Squirt really starts to be noticeable in many cases at Peewee.
The league should be helping people police their own vanity and worst instincts, but they haven't in recent years, and whether or not you believe your kid is part of a "competitive squirt A team playing up to Peewee A", you are contributing to the very problem you just complained about, only you don't seem to realize it. How many games your team wins this year means absolutely nothing when the actual sport of Hockey really begins to be played at age 13.