quote:

Originally posted by Sinbad:
I look at it this way; you can call your team anything you want AAA. AA, A or A1. It's what you do on the ice that determines how well a season is. An A1 team in Minnesota/Wisconsin could be considered an AAA team here. Parents get so wrapped up in what their kids teams are that it turns out to be more about the parents than the kids. I know for a fact that a majority of the kids could give a rats @$$ as to if they are AAA, AA or A. They care about winning and having fun.

I forgot to add it is also how you handle yourself on/off the ice win or lose.

Sinbad, you make some good points. Some kids do care what level they are placed, some don't; some parents care about what level their kid's team is placed, some don't. My kids don't care much about what their team level is considered to be, as you said, they want to play fun, competitive hockey games. I don't care much what level my kids team is placed as long as it is appropriate for their level of competitiveness in the league, my son's team is bronze level, that's appropriate given the team, it's all good.

What doesn't make sense are teams being placed in the same divisions without any regard to geography, sure we all have to drive, but some divisions have much greater travel distances than others. If league history said that the divisions were appropriate for the comparatively equal competition then distance is less of a factor in my eyes. But the past few years, it seems that each division always is lopsided with one, maybe two, dominate teams and one or two teams with hardly any wins. A six and a half hour drive, one way, for two games seems much less appealing under those circumstances when the same result could occur much closer to home. This is not Tier I hockey where extensive travel is the norm, so why have some teams with atrocious travel distances if it doesn't make much difference in the level of competition within a given division. If the BTHL made the division placement procedure readily transparent a lot of the concerns and complaints raised here and in other message threads could be dealt with in an open and effective manner.

DeTeR

I agree with what you say. How can you have two levels of AA. Maybe we can make everyone AA and call it AA1, AA2, AA3. In that case lets go all out and call it AAA1, AAA2, AAA3....That way parents can say their kids play on a AAA team. Where does it end? I believe the Buckeye could easily divide the teams geographically (which seems to be the greatest complaint from people since my kids have been in the league - 7 yrs) and still maintain parity. You could divide the teams into north/south with Cincinnati/Dayton possibly Columbus, depending on the number of teams in the division as the dividing line. North of that is in one division, south as another division. You could do east/west. It doesn't matter how but you can do it with less travel. If you want to schedule a team not in your division do it as a non league game. The way things are now you are forced to play/travel due to the teams being in your division. College leagues do it, professional teams do it. I realize that some may say "than just don't play in the league" my response is "your right but there is a better way." Just my opinion.

ladies,ladies,ladies have we got a case of cat scratch fever? Normally you would here all of the complaining about a team playing down {evans. bantam last year with a record of 24-0 and GF-124 GA-20} Nky. evidently is playing UP this year and we still have people crying! jeesh what a joke.

twins,

To whom are you referring? Not everyone using the message boards is female and the word you want to use is "hear" not "here". Although, I am the king of typos myself, so I guess that's the pot calling the kettle black.

Obviously, sinbad and I were not discussing the N. Ky team. Seems to be a lot of bad feelings concerning the N. Ky. team from last year, however, none of it from me. If they can handle the jump to AA, good for them. Perhaps, being a bit more specific as to whom you intend to slam would be warranted.

Sinbad and I did hijack the thread to some extent, so we're guilty of that.

Twins - (KH) - the issue is not No KY playing up - it's the fact that you played A1 teams in the seeding. No one really believes that it was a clerical error that could not be fixed before the games were scheduled.
DeTer - you are correct - it does seem that there are a lot of people on this forum that dislike No KY. Hmm... wonder why that is?

Kasey - I only see you and one other (cinnamom) who dislike NKy and you seem to be the only one who doesn't believe that it was a clerical error.

I know the people involved at NKy, they are people with integrity and they would never intentionally play down. Unlike you who hides behind a computer screen taking potshots.

Exactly what benefit would they get from playing down in the seeding if they had the intention of playing up all along?

Seems to be that someone's feathers ruffled because the "hillbillies" from the hockey "barn" across the river might show them up a bit. I've heard them all over the years...funny tho, NKy seems to put a higher ratio of kids in DI and DIII than does the much larger program to their north...not to mention NHL draft picks.