For those who have been around for a bit on these forums, what CAHA is doing is what several have complained about in the past.
Several years ago AAA at most levels was being diluted by parents and clubs who felt their snowflake should be on a AAA team. You had some power houses back than at LA Selects and Jr Kings. The Jr Ducks AAA was a not very competitive. Anyways you always had the 3rd and 4th liners who felt they should be first liners. They often left to go to other clubs to be the first liners. Those teams than had to get questionable AA players to fill out the rosters. So in the end you had teams that maybe had 3 or 4 kids that could be AAA caliber subsidized with non-AAA kids. If you want to look at the biggest culprit of this look at the Wildcats out of KHS. For years people would complain about clubs like this and how they were diluting AAA in SoCal and how it was preventing the "true" AAA teams from finding good local competition to play against. Parents would complain that CAHA should do something because it was a waste of money, time, and fairness that their little superstar team had to waste a weekend playing against another team with disgruntled 3rd/4th liners or cut kids from tryouts. They suggested that CAHA either limit the number of teams allowed to play AAA, or suggest that there be a seeding based of a preseason type tournament (sound familiar). Even suggesting that CAHA should force teams to drop if they don't believe that the lower teams can be competitive.
Now the pendulum is swinging the other way. Seams to me that CAHA is "listening" to the people.
I do not support or object to what CAHA is doing, I really don't care. But I have been an observer on these forums since they started, a coach at a few clubs, and have had a child go through the system and another mid way through.
I do support Puck Yeah's comment that because you have not played means that you cannot successfully manage a program.
So how do you find the happy place. Limited the number of teams to keep them competitive against each other and to insure they play against other kids at the same caliber regardless if it stymies market control.
Or let the market decide and dilute the system where the top talent keeps leaving because the system is too diluted. Either way, people will leave to go back east because they can and feel that is what is right for them.
Actually KHS proved that you could start an AAA program and make it successful if CAHA hadn't changed the rules 'after the season was over'. True, for the first 2 years of their AAA program the teams weren't as competitive as the established clubs, but for god's sake give them a year or two to build. Hell, the Ducks couldn't field a decent AAA team for years because of OC so they had to buy OC to do it. Same with the Kings buying LA Hockey - Kings couldn't field a decent AAA team either. In their third year of AAA the Wildcats did very well and if CAHA really wanted a decent league in SoCal they would have thrown support behind them instead of hiding behind rules that only served to bolster the JKs.
Talent is going to flood out of CA for back east - look at the last Rubber Mag and compare how many California kids are now in Prep school as compared to previous years - it's triple.
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