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Author Topic: Lots and lots of AAA teams next year  (Read 15897 times)

#4BobbyOrr

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Re: Lots and lots of AAA teams next year
« Reply #15 on: March 26, 2021, 11:29:32 AM »
Just watched a kid from the not nationally competitive California Titans AAA program score a goal against Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament.

notTHATdad

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Re: Lots and lots of AAA teams next year
« Reply #16 on: March 26, 2021, 03:34:40 PM »

The Jr Reign have 22 players on their roster.


Does ANYONE seriously think that's a good idea? How much ice time are they getting?


They have 11 05's and 11 04's. Not enough for either birth year level.


Just not enough kids.

lcadad

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Re: Lots and lots of AAA teams next year
« Reply #17 on: March 26, 2021, 08:20:47 PM »
Just watched a kid from the not nationally competitive California Titans AAA program score a goal against Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament.
;D

lcadad

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Re: Lots and lots of AAA teams next year
« Reply #18 on: March 26, 2021, 08:34:35 PM »
The Jr Reign have 22 players on their roster.
Just not enough kids.


It was a weird year, and the Reign were having to bounce around to various rinks.  It seems that throughout the year it was more like a tournament team with families picking and choosing which tournaments to attend, and which practices.  I'm sure I don't have to tell you that it was not a year to really judge any program by.


Hockey clubs are like the field of dreams.  "Build it and they will come."  Some teams will be also rans and non-contenders next year without a doubt, but that is hockey pretty much everywhere.  Over time, having more AAA will allow AA to actually be AA, rather than AA with quasi AAA teams at the very top, blowing the doors off all the actual AA teams. 


Families committed to playing AAA will have a few more options, at least in Socal.  All AAA programs will have to earn their clients by providing a quality program.   There will be more CAHA games for AAA.   


It took a long time for this to happen, but the people with kids at mite/squirt and peewee will benefit from this increase in access in years to come, and perhaps less people will feel compelled to send their teenagers across the country to play hockey.

BladesofSteel66

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Re: Lots and lots of AAA teams next year
« Reply #19 on: May 13, 2021, 11:46:51 AM »
Hilarious!  Haven't been back here to read anything all pandemic.  Glad I found this place again.


To all the know-it-alls,


No matter how many AAA teams CA has, there will always be AAA talent playing on AA teams.  FACT.  Hockey isn't for EVERYONE, especially AAA.  It is for those who live close enough to a rink w/ a AAA team, have enough money to travel, and sometimes it is about player talent. 


You are an absolute fool if you do not think there is enough talent in CA to fill all the AAA teams.  The problem is the square mileage these teams cover. 


As for the MyHockey rankings.  Some teams played 40, 50+ games, while other clubs played a bare minimum due to Covid.  Other clubs played an infinite amount of scrimmages that were never on the books. 


Unless you have seen the AAA competition live and understand what it is about, don't waste time whining about where teams are "RANKED."  No one cares.  Playing Tier hockey is about player exposure and finding a path to juniors or college hockey whatever that next step may be.  Limiting AAA clubs because you want CA to look good is the dumbest stance to take I have ever heard.  It should be about player development and advancement... FOR ALL. 

lcadad

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Re: Lots and lots of AAA teams next year
« Reply #20 on: May 16, 2021, 09:11:44 AM »
Another argument used by some of the naysayers, is that all the clubs just want to have AAA teams as a money grab, and don't care about fielding a competitive team. In just the last few seasons there are at least 2 teams that were granted AAA and decided not to form after all -- GSE previously and the Saints this season at 16U.  Best of luck to everyone at upcoming tryouts, and hopefully california will have a return to some degree of a normal season, with actual sanctioned games in the state!

notTHATdad

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Re: Lots and lots of AAA teams next year
« Reply #21 on: June 29, 2021, 03:03:37 PM »
Another argument used by some of the naysayers, is that all the clubs just want to have AAA teams as a money grab, and don't care about fielding a competitive team. In just the last few seasons there are at least 2 teams that were granted AAA and decided not to form after all -- GSE previously and the Saints this season at 16U.  Best of luck to everyone at upcoming tryouts, and hopefully california will have a return to some degree of a normal season, with actual sanctioned games in the state!


And GSE has dropped from 16AAA again.


Not enough players.




1hockeydad

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Re: Lots and lots of AAA teams next year
« Reply #22 on: August 31, 2021, 12:42:04 PM »
Hilarious!  Haven't been back here to read anything all pandemic.  Glad I found this place again.


To all the know-it-alls,


No matter how many AAA teams CA has, there will always be AAA talent playing on AA teams.  FACT.  Hockey isn't for EVERYONE, especially AAA.  It is for those who live close enough to a rink w/ a AAA team, have enough money to travel, and sometimes it is about player talent. 


You are an absolute fool if you do not think there is enough talent in CA to fill all the AAA teams.  The problem is the square mileage these teams cover. 


As for the MyHockey rankings.  Some teams played 40, 50+ games, while other clubs played a bare minimum due to Covid.  Other clubs played an infinite amount of scrimmages that were never on the books. 


Unless you have seen the AAA competition live and understand what it is about, don't waste time whining about where teams are "RANKED."  No one cares.  Playing Tier hockey is about player exposure and finding a path to juniors or college hockey whatever that next step may be.  Limiting AAA clubs because you want CA to look good is the dumbest stance to take I have ever heard.  It should be about player development and advancement... FOR ALL.


Totally agree.

BladesofSteel66

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Re: Lots and lots of AAA teams next year
« Reply #23 on: September 03, 2021, 01:42:57 PM »
Thanks,


...and by FOR ALL, I mean to say for all who can play at the AAA level, but don't live within 2+ hours of a AAA club.  Sure, adding more teams to AAA results in rosters possibly taking players that are not AAA talent, but how do you know when at age 12 or 14 you "write them off" as if no one ever develops when given the chance? 


Saying the priority should be CA reputation, so limit teams takes away the opportunity for MORE AA players to experience AAA hockey and, who knows, maybe they actually become... wait for it... AAA talent.   :o

notTHATdad

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Re: Lots and lots of AAA teams next year
« Reply #24 on: September 03, 2021, 03:44:04 PM »



Distance is clearly (and should) be a factor in the number of AAA teams. SoCal is big. But I don't think that means having 5 at 18AAA in SoCal though, when two of the three 16AAA teams feeding those teams last year in SoCal were frankly really bad :-)


It's a balance. And CAHA does have to play a role. It can't be a free-for-all.


What I have seen (over and over ... I'm not speculating ) is those AA kids that are put on AAA teams to 'fill' them have miserable years. They are stuck on the 3rd line and/or hidden as wingers and get 2-3 shifts a period on average (at best). Because AAA is always going to be a lot about winning (if not AAA, then where does winning matter?). They can't keep up in practices, and honestly, in %80 of the cases I've seen, they last 1 year in AAA and go back to AA. They aren't helping the team, apart from numbers, and aren't helping themselves. If it's exposure they are looking for, that's not the exposure you want. They just look bad.


Compare that to being a first line player in AA, and getting huge amounts of ice time playing with their peers. That's how you develop players.


There are always going to be marginal AAA players at the bottom of lineups. The question is how many. That's just math. How many teams, and how many kids good enough. How do you know when they are ready? They actually make a reasonable team, at tryouts.








BladesofSteel66

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Re: Lots and lots of AAA teams next year
« Reply #25 on: September 27, 2021, 09:01:57 AM »
Interesting to see how teams are doing to start the season.  Very unpredictable. 

notTHATdad

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Re: Lots and lots of AAA teams next year
« Reply #26 on: September 27, 2021, 11:46:59 PM »
18AAA is always interesting, because some powerhouse teams (like the Thunderbirds) loose most of their good players to Jr, so you often have changes in who is good.  But the early signs are not positive:



Ducks: 2-2-0
Wave: 2-5-1
Kings: 3-4-0 (incl. 1 AA game)
Reign: 1-3-0 (incl. 2 AA games)
Saints: 3-3-1 (inc. 1 AA game)
Sharks: Have not played


Not one winning record against AAA teams amongst them. The quality of competition has also been pretty poor in general. Most of the wins have been against each other, or teams that are pretty much unknowns. Traditionally poor teams like the Rocky Mountain Roughriders have been riding roughshod over the division.


ohnonotagain

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Re: Lots and lots of AAA teams next year
« Reply #27 on: September 28, 2021, 03:44:39 PM »
What, no mention of THA's "Tier I" teams?  :)   sorry, couldn't resist

notTHATdad

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Re: Lots and lots of AAA teams next year
« Reply #28 on: October 11, 2021, 02:05:59 PM »
Update... 2 ranking weeks in.... after expansion of the number of 18AAA teams from 2 to 5


Ducks ranked #69 ( a good 40+ places below where they have been historically )
Of the other 4 SoCal teams? EVERY one ranked 90th or worse. In 7 years of tracking AAA I've never seen a single 04 or 03 CA team ranked lower than 90.


(Sharks don't play for another week and a half)


But really, there is PLENTY of talent down south for 5 AAA teams...

Knuckle Puck

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Re: Lots and lots of AAA teams next year
« Reply #29 on: October 11, 2021, 03:50:00 PM »
this shouldn't be a suprise. most of our top players leave before they reach 16. the majority of the current mhr top ten at both 16u and 18u roster kids who used to play here; i prolly could rattle off 25 just off top of my head. many at shattuck obviously, but also at selects, mount, nashville, yale, pittsburg, li gulls, boston eagles, cya. good for those kids, but losing 70+ hi-level kids every birth year stunts the competitiveness of the local clubs.
« Last Edit: October 11, 2021, 03:53:17 PM by Knuckle Puck »