As far as I can tell, USA hockey starts requiring pegs at Peewee and older. Below that it is left up to the rink operators. We used to complain about them in mite because we wanted to protect our precious babies. Now at squirt, and especially after watching the Flyers vs Gulls game last Sunday where it cost the Gulls a goal early on, I really want pegs to be used. And honestly, most of the time they do peg the nets at the Gulls home rink. Not sure why they didn't this last game.
Unless you're talking about a different rink in SD?