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Increasing number of teams placed in AA


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Looking at the placements for the upcoming season the number of teams placed at AA really caught me by surprise. At all 3 of the oldest divisions(18u, 16u & 14u) there are more teams placed at AA than at A Major Black and I don't recall ever seeing that before.  At 18u almost half of the total registered teams were placed at AA(9 of 21) and all 3 divisions have more AA teams in 2018 than they had in 2017(18u 9-8, 16u 9-6, 14u 16-8).  I could understand the increase if the number of teams drastically changed but being that the number of teams for each age group is relatively the same as 2017 it simply means that a higher percentage of players/teams(18u 42.8%-36.4%, 16u 23.6%-17.6%, 14u 23.5%-11.1%)  are playing at the AA level now .

 

Was there some new training method that I missed that led to so many players developing faster than in years past that I missed or is this just another move to placate the egos of the parents/organizations?

 

 

 

 

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I'll look at the other side of the coin.

18U - one additional team - this season is 00's and 01's while last season was 99's and 00's. I believe that 99 was a much smaller year of players in this area than 01's and 01 is definitely a strong year for skilled players

16U - last season teams did whatever they could to avoid being placed in AA so they didn't have to get their asses kicked 3 times each by Armstrong and Vipers

14U - they added a AA minor division so one would assume that the teams would roughly double

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18 hours ago, Interestedbystandr said:

You’re also getting into the age groups of the kids that started playing cross ice as mites. This ADM stuff supposedly develops better players.  The 2002 groups that are in their final year of U16 were in their last year of mites when ADM started. 

I think this is an interesting point. Having been around the game for nearly 30 years I can tell you without a doubt that the ADM has increased the skill level of the young players. I'm not sure that necessarily justifies more teams being AA though because all the kids in those birth years would have come through that program so I would think the progression would be more proportional. I also think this would be a more likely explanation if there were actual evaluation involved as part of the placement process but since placement is based off of a data of past level of play and placement game scores I don't see that being a plausible explanation. If someone was actually watching the games, observing the skill level of the teams and then determining the overall skill level was higher than in year past the ADM explanation would make much more sense but as it sits this seems more like a conscious decision to simply increase the number of teams label as AA.  

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20 hours ago, Ynot02 said:

You hit the nail on the head in the last 11 words of your post. 

He did....using kids to fan the flames of ones own burning self interest and egos is what is wrong with youth sports. if your kid plays in a minor, aa, b who cares...ive had kid(s) play everywhere from b to aa and the kid who played b had just as much fun as the one who was in aa. 

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20 hours ago, dazedandconfused said:

I'll look at the other side of the coin.

18U - one additional team - this season is 00's and 01's while last season was 99's and 00's. I believe that 99 was a much smaller year of players in this area than 01's and 01 is definitely a strong year for skilled players

16U - last season teams did whatever they could to avoid being placed in AA so they didn't have to get their asses kicked 3 times each by Armstrong and Vipers

{b}14U - they added a AA minor division so one would assume that the teams would roughly double{/b}

But isn't that in itself a move simply to placate the egos of the people involved with those AA Minor teams? Instead of placing those teams in A Major Black were they belong and have been placed for ever they created another AA division so that those teams could still call themselves AA and didn't have to degrade themselves by playing a year at lowly A Major?

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isnt the same thing going on with aaa....where p'burgh has all these aaa teams when thats too many, which then waters down aa, then we moved amaj black kids up to aa. just put the kids where they will be competitive, learn and have fun. this obsession with "team 1" or "team 2" is grating. after season starts the kids dont give a hoot aboout it and i agrue wouldn't care in the season unless mommy and daddy were not so intend on pushing their prodigy up the ranking food chain.

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Could this be related to the shift toward BY teams in some larger orgs? Looks like two Renegates 12U teams are placed as AA this season. Foxes also have two 10U candidate teams in Group 1 pre-season placement, assuming both teams are going for AA placement. 

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Foxes switched to a birth year model for top teams but i'd be surprised if any of their minor year birth year teams make AA. For example the 07 Birthyear Foxes got beat 8-0 in their placement game for PeeWee and got moved down to A Major Black.  Birth Year worked for the Renegades because they recruit from other programs to make the Vengeance teams.  A good portion of the 08 birthyear team that won AA Squirts in their minor year last year were former Aviators, RMU Mite travel kids, ect. that all came together...Foxes don't really recruit that way.

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The Foxes are the happy place for mediocrity. They don't care about higher level teams because they don't the ice to support the practice time and any games other than the PAHL schedule. Their model works for them and the rink they play at so why try to change it? They have more than enough teams and players so if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it.

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