Kicksave... I was being sarcastic. GSE is a great idea and a terrific program... and it's my opinion they should be striving to do more. I don't think NorCal is as much of a mess as I might suggest, I just think the Jr Sharks could be a better run club.
Ideally, following the USA Hockey guidelines recently posted... CAHA should strive to have 2-3 AAA teams in NorCal. Having one for every birth year might be too ambitious from year to year, but I certainly think striving for AAA at PW Major, Bantam Major, 16U and 18U are plausible.
Jr Sharks and GSE could do this. And if some other club were able to gather enough talent and wanted to try... then they should be able to as well.
As for SoCal, CAHA should strive to have 4-6 AAA teams. Again, every birth year might be too ambitious from year to year, but I also think striving for AAA at PW Major, Bantam Major, 16U and 18U (these two divisions are especially important) are plausible. There can be prerequisites to fulfill, but teams would NOT have to be voted upon by the CAHA Board of Directors to qualify. There should be a AAA program in the Valley (Bears/Heat/Flyers/Titans?), San Diego (Gulls/Saints?), and somewhere between El Segundo and Anaheim (Ice Dogs/Wave/Red Wings?). All these clubs have supported AAA hockey in the past.
In attempting to wrangle Tier I hockey three years ago, I think CAHA simply went too far in one direction. They should course correct and attempt to make AAA more appealing and manageable for more kids on a statewide basis. If there were more teams and more competition at the older divisions especially (16U/18U), I don't think as many kids would be looking to leave the state starting in Bantam. This concept worked well in the past, and it can work again with adjustments.
AA hockey is great. It requires less travel, less money and the teams are very competitive. However, it's hard to get seen on a national level (no one scouts AA), and even for the best teams, it's hard to get into AAA tournaments. AAA teams simply don't want to play AA teams. They don't think they're good, and they don't want to risk losing to them. So if CAHA really wants to help kids move on from California and play at the next level... they should be taking this all into consideration moving forward.