Elimination of checking?

[Knuckle Puck]

until about 5 or 6 years ago very few kids moved back east for aaa or prep school. typically it was maybe a half dozen each birth year, some being true superstars (names like grimaldi, balisy, etem come to mind) and a couple kids who leveraged their hockey talent and grades to get into some elite preps for the educational opportunity. the vast majority of kids with next-level hockey aspirations played here through 16aaa or 18aaa and then went to major juniors (or a few to ntdp). that path has hugely changed over the past five years; 150+ socal kids playing elsewhere was unimaginable.  will this result in more socal-born kids getting to ncaa? maybe a few; too soon to tell. regardless, youth hockey leadership in cali needs to take a long hard look at themselves to see why so many families have stopped buying what they're selling. socal midget teams were competing for and winning aaa and aa national championships with regularity during the 00-decade; socal midget squads now are almost always also-rans at the national level (cj's 01s being lone recent exception). sad.

[SkatingDad]

Let's see what has happened over the last 5-6 years? 

• USA Hockey moving the checking age from 11 to 13. Then, CAHA allowing 8U and 10U to play up and thus destroying 10U and 12U hockey in California.
• High School hockey which has practically eliminated 16U A club hockey and the development path of late bloomers.
  
• Limiting AAA teams to 5 teams in the state which has resulted in only the NHL affiliates getting AAA teams.
• Flighting AA hockey

A good article https://seltytending.com/opinion/california-youth-hockey-is-a-step-in-the-wrong-direction/


They have done it to themselves...

[JackBender]

First, good article, but it seems to touch just the tip of the iceberg. Second, absolutely hysterical that Tom Hancock, the President of CAHA, responds in the comments section.