Predictions for AA?

[Miss My 48080]

I have a great Idea for how to do a flight system in Bantams.

So we could call the very top AAA

Then the level below AA

Then A

Lastly have  B flight.

Sound good? Asking for a friend   

I'll be your friend. However, the big clubs won't. I think your idea is a good one. Placing teams based on talent should be a no-brainer.

As we know, only certain clubs are allowed to have AAA programs at a given level. If memory serves me, there are 5 clubs at each level that are permitted by CAHA to ice AAA teams. Nobody else gets to. Why aren't the Bears a AAA team? Simple. Bears are not one of the chosen clubs. If that exact same team played in El Segundo or Anaheim they could be AAA. Regardless of talent, CAHA will not allow a Pickwick-based team to play AAA.

Did the Bears apply to be one of the AAA clubs? I don't know. Many parents don't want to deal with the additional travel, costs and missed school.

Last year CAHA made an announcement on their website that they had selected 5 clubs at each level (12AAA, 14AAA, 15AAA, 16AAA and 18AAA) that would be allowed to ice teams. The NHL-affiliated clubs were automatically chosen and allowed to have teams at every level. The remaining clubs were left to fight over the scraps. If you look at the declarations page on the SCAHA site you can get an idea of which clubs have permission to ice AAA teams in each age group.

It's no surprise the Bears have beaten three AAA teams. Long gone is the merit-based system. Being AAA isn't what it used to be.

[coachbombay]

I heard PT is the one that does not want to do AAA.

[Fowlmood]

Send the top teams to AAA, Bears, GSE, etc.

[Stanley]

Looks like SCAHA (with help from CAHA) scheduling was a purposeful message of 03 vs 04 teams or upper tier vs lower with the one exception being the possible bubble teams of Mariners vs Flyers.  Scores so far are 14-0, 12-1, 10-3, 7-0, 7-3.  Clearly shows the difference in these ages as 03s have mostly all started their growth spurts and 04s not so much with a few exceptions.  IMO this is the only level were separating the AA division makes sense...  PeeWees = no contact so doesn't matter and 16s have all had a chance to level out size wise.

I'm not sure that's the right takeaway.  None of the "03 vs. 04" SCAHA games that were played this weekend actually pitted a bubble 03 team against a bubble 04 team.  To the contrary, all seemed designed to be blowouts (to the extent anybody gave any thought to it).  These were certainly not the games anyone at SCAHA would have scheduled if they were looking for competitive 03 vs. 04 matchups, of which there could have been some.

Which 03 vs 04 matchup would you like to see? Let me Guess Wave 2 vs Kings 1? My point was that there's a very clear difference in these age groups due to puberty except for Wave 77 and a few others. Being a bubble team as 04 is a sign of good things to come but certainly doesn’t put you in a category of competing with the top 03 teams in the State (GSE’s, OC1, Bears, Sharks, Ducks 1 etc…).  Getting beat in the Top division all year may be a good thing for development or winning the Bottom division and playing in tougher tournaments and obviously the SCAHA exhibition games may be just as beneficial.  Hopefully you land where you want to so you can pound your chest.  The kids probably don’t care so much.  Good Luck!

UhhhhDuhhhh, didn't realize your skin was so thin or I wouldn't have bothered responding.  Which of us was engaged in chest-beating now?  I made a reality-based comment.  I couldn't care less what preseason matchups SCAHA sets up, or what "purposeful messages" they might be trying to send, which it would be a fool's errand to figure out.  Good luck at States!

[UhhhhDuhhhh]

UhhhhDuhhhh, I didn't realize your skin was so thin, or I wouldn't have bothered responding.  Which of the two of us was engaged in chest-beating?  I simply made a reality-based comment.  I couldn't care less about what preseason matchups SCAHA sets up or trying to divine what "purposeful messages" they might be trying to send, which is a fool's errand.  Good luck at States!

Funny! My kid won't be at States, he'll be in the Lower Tier

[Stanley]

UhhhhDuhhhh, I didn't realize your skin was so thin, or I wouldn't have bothered responding.  Which of the two of us was engaged in chest-beating?  I simply made a reality-based comment.  I couldn't care less about what preseason matchups SCAHA sets up or trying to divine what "purposeful messages" they might be trying to send, which is a fool's errand.  Good luck at States!

Funny! My kid won't be at States, he'll be in the Lower Tier

And so will mine. See you there!

[OneandDone]

I have a great Idea for how to do a flight system in Bantams.

So we could call the very top AAA

Then the level below AA

Then A

Lastly have  B flight.

Sound good? Asking for a friend   

Because the parents all complained that too many teams were in the wrong division.  “We drove all the way to the Wildcats and it was a waste of time”.  Guess what? The kids still had fun pounding on them!  Every now and then it’s fun to have a light week or a free square.   It’s the parents who had the problem and finally CAHA listened and guess what - more complaining. 

I would say you should just let the free market take its course.  If clubs want to continuously put a bad product on the ice, eventually it will catch up with them as everyone's looking for a winner.  Yes, you can change your rink and change your name but a spade is still a spade and it’s just a matter of time before the club has no interested kids – they all quit or go to other clubs.

The big organizations like Jr Ducks, OC, Wave, Kings have generally had enough kids to have 2 AA teams, 2 A teams and a B or 2.  OC at PW has 2 AA and 3 A and they are talking about moving one of the AAs down.  You can’t expect clubs not to field from the top down if you have the numbers to do it... they don’t want people walking out the door.  Sometimes the talent is just mediocre so everything gets out of whack.

To me the Bears are the one organization doing it right by fielding ONE AA team which is almost all major year kids with the exception of an outstanding minor year kid here or there and then those who don’t make it ACTUALLY STAY at the club instead of searching elsewhere and they end up with a really strong A team as well.  By consistently winning they will eventually have enough new bodies to do Major and Minor birth year teams at AA. Then maybe their A teams won’t be as strong, who knows...

[Zam Dad]

To me the Bears are the one organization doing it right by fielding ONE AA team which is almost all major year kids with the exception of an outstanding minor year kid here or there and then those who don’t make it ACTUALLY STAY at the club instead of searching elsewhere and they end up with a really strong A team as well.  By consistently winning they will eventually have enough new bodies to do Major and Minor birth year teams at AA. Then maybe their A teams won’t be as strong, who knows...

I agree 100%. But to often the minor aged kids moving up and the major aged kids have two different coaches that do not want to lose their teams (or egos by being relegated to the A team).  So you get 2 average to below average AA teams instead of a good AA team and a good A team. (I am looking at you Wave lol)

[PutYourFootOnTheGas]

My question is this:


Why isn't the Bears in AAA?


IIRC, they've already soundly defeated 3 AAA teams in the last month...


Oh wait, nevermind, just remembered about the feeder teams rule...

So which 3 AAA teams have they beat?

[justanotherhockeydad]

So which 3 AAA teams have they beat?

My bad, I think they only beat 2...

Ducks AAA 6-3
Gulls AAA 9-2

[Teemu8]

So which 3 AAA teams have they beat?

My bad, I think they only beat 2...

Ducks AAA 6-3
Gulls AAA 9-2

I  watched that Ducks game.... it wasn't that close.... Bears dominated leading 4-0 after 1st.  Ducks had to fight to get the score respectable

[PutYourFootOnTheGas]

So which 3 AAA teams have they beat?

My bad, I think they only beat 2...

Ducks AAA 6-3
Gulls AAA 9-2

I  watched that Ducks game.... it wasn't that close.... Bears dominated leading 4-0 after 1st.  Ducks had to fight to get the score respectable

Impressive against Ducks. Gulls.......misplaced as AAA team. They've been getting hammered at that level for the last 3 years. Just got beat by the Kings 13-0 last weekend. If Bears were in AAA division would likely battle Sharks and Ducks for 2nd. They are all chasing the Kings.

[Mcp04]

Why isn't anyone mentioning that the Bears list to the Ducks minor AAA team?

[Mcp04]

I think it was 8-5

[justanotherhockeydad]

Why isn't anyone mentioning that the Bears list to the Ducks minor AAA team?

Is that the scrimmage they played before the Bears ever practiced together? Just wait till next weekend...