Initially, I was disappointed in the "Two Tier" system. It was my belief that the travel to San Jose was pointless and that a subjective evaluation would be biased, with the Coaches conducting their evals. As I watched at the Bantam and Midget level (I have kids at each level) and when it all played out, the teams were (IMO) placed at the appropriate level. Two years ago, when my older son played Bantam AA and his Ducks team went to Nationals. During that season, a Kings2 AA team played a horrible SCAHA pre-season, did not win a game, and was badly outscored. The Coach and the Club recommended that the team drop to Bantam A. The PARENTS were furious and demanded they remain at the AA level. The Club, who did not want to lose a group of families, relented and allowed them to play at the AA level. As expected, their team went 0-15, scored 4 goals and gave up 129!! We played them and they did not have a shot on goal and we stopped shooting on net halfway through the 2nd period. I didn't think that anyone "won" in that scenario.
I'm not sure if this new process is perfect and most likely needs some "fine tuning". But it does put teams at a level where parity exists. The lower flight will play games that should be competitive as will the upper tier. This is just my opinion, and no I am not affiliated with CAHA. Just my humble opinion...