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Who is making AA promises they might not be able to keep?


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8 hours ago, hockeyisgreat said:

Rumor has it Organizations are making promises to try and entice players!  Anybody hear of this or having commitment fees waived?

This happens at a lot of organizations at all levels. If your kid is good or they really want you they will roll out the red carpet. I know kids personally that didn't tryout for a team and paid $00.00 in team fees all because they were the best players on said team. Only expense was jerseys and bags as they came from a private company.

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42 minutes ago, Hky05 said:

Yetis, Foxes, Aviators

Are you saying those three because you KNOW something, or for some other reason?

I know multiple Yeti families, and they shouldn’t be included in that list.  They have a lot of talented ‘08s returning from last season’s 16U A Major Black team, so they could easily be a AA team if they get some AA/AAA transplants to round out that roster.

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33 minutes ago, Hky05 said:

Yetis, Foxes, Aviators 

It's been a while since this was discussed but does aviators have a board and an actual structure now?  For a while it seemed like it was a one man show.  Curious if they have figured it out yet. 

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13 minutes ago, aaaahockey said:

It's been a while since this was discussed but does aviators have a board and an actual structure now?  For a while it seemed like it was a one man show.  Curious if they have figured it out yet. 

They do have a Board.  There are some good people on it.  
 

I can’t say if they have it figured out, but know they’re trying.

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I see the problem being that some organizations have no AA program or AA-level returning players, yet advertise AA simply in hope of getting AA/AAA players to go there.

They get a couple to come out, and those kids are trapped on a team that has no chance of playing AA instead of playing on a team that actually has a chance.

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Teams being advertised as AA has been going on forever even though PAHL doesn’t determine who is going to play AA until placements take place months after teams have been picked. It is a shame that it is even allowed. Of course you can always play an independent schedule and claim to be whatever you want. AAA, AA or maybe AAAAA. 

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50 minutes ago, No Politics said:

They get a couple to come out, and those kids are trapped on a team that has no chance of playing AA instead of playing on a team that actually has a chance.

They rob a kid of a year of their hockey lives, and develop a bad reputation because of it.

They get trapped? Robbed of a year of their hockey lives? How are they being tricked? The kids they'll be potentially playing with are on the ice at tryouts, too. That's kind of over-the-top. It's Tier 2 AA hockey, dude. Who cares? Get a grip.  

And, if not for nepotism, a lot of those kids wouldn't have to take spots on those other teams. 

I also have to say that declaring it unequivocally a AA NB team when it never has been prior is a dirt bag move. But if an org advertises a team as AA or A depending how it falls, that's fine. 

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6 hours ago, nemesis8679 said:

I also have to say that declaring it unequivocally a AA NB team when it never has been prior is a dirt bag move. But if an org advertises a team as AA or A depending how it falls, that's fine.

This is my point.

My statement about being trapped is over the top, but I say that because I personally know AA-level players who have tried out at multiple organization “AA” tryouts this season who have simply given up and accepted positions because they are tired of showing up at anything but AA-level tryouts.
 

What I am really saying is that I wish organizations would simply be honest.  If they seriously feel — for a good reason — that they have that AA potential, then advertise it like that and see where it takes them.  If it is just a wish — “let’s advertise it as AA (or AAA) and hope those players will show up” — then don’t.

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I think the Yeti’s have a decent chance of being AA. The others? I’m not so sure. Huskies are now also pushing the 16U to be AA.

The problem I see this year is a lot of organizations are just focusing on BY/AA. They’re excluding the A/B players who are just trying to play their PAHL schedule with their friends. I feel like their options are dwindling. And if it’s not that, the cost of some of these organizations are driving people to stop playing. 

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Huskies are not pushing AA.  We got commitments from players that want to compete at AA. Talent attracts talent so we are hopeful to find a couple more AA caliber players, and if not, our whole program will have the ice time needed for player development.   Each of our teams will play at the level that the group decides is best for their development and I have made that clear to the families. 

I was the Assistant Director for a club in Dallas the last two years and let me tell you, the hockey landscape is completely different between the two cities! It's crazy! I am still trying to catch up on the whole tryout schedule/ team ranking system. 

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11 minutes ago, Huskies_Director said:

 Each of our teams will play at the level that the group decides is best for their development and I have made that clear to the families.

Unless you are playing PAHL, then you play at the level that the placement committee determines, regardless of what you and your families desire. Although they are letting more weak teams play AA. Probably due to less AA caliber players playing in PAHL. So I would say if your team is not placed AA, you should really consider playing minor. No shame in that, the kids will have a better year.

Welcome to the area! Good luck to you.

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1 hour ago, Huskies_Director said:

Huskies are not pushing AA.  We got commitments from players that want to compete at AA. Talent attracts talent so we are hopeful to find a couple more AA caliber players, and if not, our whole program will have the ice time needed for player development.   Each of our teams will play at the level that the group decides is best for their development and I have made that clear to the families. 

I was the Assistant Director for a club in Dallas the last two years and let me tell you, the hockey landscape is completely different between the two cities! It's crazy! I am still trying to catch up on the whole tryout schedule/ team ranking system. 

Is your team playing PAHL?

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1 hour ago, twoboys said:

Guessing this is about midget teams.  

Yup.  I am assuming the same thing.  '09s have been chaos two years in a row, and it seems the '08s have been drawn into that this year (to a lesser extent).

18Us are quiet, and the younger kids ('10s/'11s/etc.) don't seem to have problems, but as of this morning I am still getting calls from '09 and '08 families asking if I know where their kids can play.

I think all the tryouts -- and maybe even supplementals (with the Foxes 16U AA supplementals taking place yesterday) -- are done now, so maybe we should start using the stickie threads to let families know where there are still openings for ANY players (like AMR24 said).

I have contacts at a few organizations, but most reps from each are already posting here.

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When you have too many teams claiming that they're AA, then you have a lot of orgs not "taking the best players available" in some cases and keeping or bringing in kids in favor of friends and/or school teammates... yeah those other kids that could be making some of these teams based on skill and hard work are going to explore every option they can. Or they say screw the tryout circus altogether and stay on a team that they already have friends on or that's easy and convenient. 

So where you could have some really, really strong teams, instead these players are spread out piecemeal over an array of different teams. So you wind up with AA or A teams with one or a handful of talented, hardworking kids with a high compete level and then on the same team you have a noticeable drop when it comes to the floor of the team.

 

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USA Hockey should use some of our outrageous membership fee and develop a standard for AA skill/ability and  assign qualified evaluators to do preseason district/regional AA evaluation camp for players to be able to be considered AA. Then associations can only create AA teams out of actual certified AA players. Take the local politics and snake oil salesmen out of it. That ought to thin things down a bit!

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9 hours ago, PittsburghHockeyFan said:

What Aviator teams are making promises?  They have had some pretty successful AA teams over the past couple years.

What's the plan for the 12U team whose roster is posted with 7 skaters and 2 goalies?

 

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