I agree that AAA at Squirts is too young, but I don't think most in Columbus are seeking "real" AAA, rather, they just want more competition than they are getting in their current leagues -- without having to drive to Detroit every weekend, or Cleveland every practice.

Nothing really important to say here that has been said elsewhere, EXCEPT, it would be nice to get the "VIEWS" of this thread over 5000 to set a new Youth Hockey Forum benchmark. Just a thought.

quote:

Originally posted by TROLL:
Nothing really important to say here that has been said elsewhere, EXCEPT, it would be nice to get the "VIEWS" of this thread over 5000 to set a new Youth Hockey Forum benchmark. Just a thought.

AAHHHH--A challenge. Ok, I will check into this thread each time I come on and off the board--that in and of itself should get some numbers.

5,000 here we come!!!

OK, if we rule out AAA in Columbus, what is the word on the street regarding 94s, 95s and 96s? Cardinal is advertising that they are having a team at each -- so that's three AA teams there. What is CCYHA and CTH looking at? Someone said CCYHA is looking at 4 Squirt teams, can that be right? Haven't heard anything on PWs.

If CCYHA has 4 SQ teams, that would mean Columbus is up to at least 5 squirt teams AND THAT'S BEFORE CTH GETS INVOLVED! Yikes! CTH could mean another 3 or 4 teams, so Columbus is up to 8 or 9 Squirt teams. Are there that many squirts? Are there that many goalies?

quote:

Originally posted by HckyDad:

If CCYHA has 4 SQ teams, that would mean Columbus is up to at least 5 squirt teams AND THAT'S BEFORE CTH GETS INVOLVED! Yikes! CTH could mean another 3 or 4 teams, so Columbus is up to 8 or 9 Squirt teams. Are there that many squirts? Are there that many goalies?

I have heard the same indication that CCYHA is thinking about 4 squirt teams. Cardinal has indicated that is will form both a 95 and 96 team. CTH had three squirt teams last year and I would expect the same this year with, I guess, the top team going into the EEAHL, if they go that route at the squirt level.

That would be a total of 9 squirt teams!! Of that group, CCYHA and Cardinal are going strict birth year. There would be 3 birth year teams at each age plus the three CTH teams which hasn't yet, at the squirt level, moved to birth year although they talked about it last year.

As for squirt goalies that played travel last year (just the 95's), CCYHA had, effectively, 4. The 95 team had one who played almost all games and a goalie that practiced with them, played a few games plus house and could play travel next year, if interested. The A team had two 95 goalies. (In the interest of full disclosure, one of which was my son.) Cardinal had no 95 goalies. CTH had, I believe 2 95 goalies on their AA minor team and one on the A team. At the 95 level that is 7 who played travel last year. CCYHA also had a squirt select team, but I don't know if either of that team's two goalies were 95's. For calculation purposes let's assume one was for a total of 8.

At the 96 level, both the CCYHA and Cardinal teams will move up to squirt and I would guess stay generally intact. I believe both carried two goalies. Unfortunately, I don't have much insight into the CTH mite team from last year. Additionally, each house association (CCYHA, CAHA and Easton) typically field a mite select team. Even if one goalie on each team is a 96 and the other a 97, and we assume only one 96 goalie on the CTH mite team, the total 96 goalies with travel or select experience is 8. (Probably somewhat conservative, but hard to tell if the select goalies have an interest in even moving to a "travel" team.)

At the squirt level next year there will be a total, approximately, of 16 goalies with travel or select experience. There will also be kids trying to make the leap from house--especially at the 96 level would be my guess--who are probably fairly decent but did not think mite travel made sense (many would agree).

The real problem is not having a lead association to take all the kids and organize competitive teams. If CTH goes "AAA" or "AA-elite" with the EEAHL will the 95's from the area that didn't play for the Capitals last year (i.e., the CCYHA 95 team, the 95 Cardinal kids or the 95's playing for the Barons) look to move there? Will the CCYHA 95 team stay relatively intact? Does it return to the BTHL or look to play Ceasar's or independent? Does it move to CTH to play in the EEAHL?

So many questions--so few answers!!

Help me out. How many hockey organizations are there in Columbus? We only played the Columbus Blue Jackets last year at the BTHL Squirt A level. There also were two Blue Jacket AA teams and a Cardinal AA team at the Squirt level. Who are the other Columbus teams, where did they play and why not the BTHL?

quote:

Originally posted by jrcyclone12:
Help me out. How many hockey organizations are there in Columbus? We only played the Columbus Blue Jackets last year at the BTHL Squirt A level. There also were two Blue Jacket AA teams and a Cardinal AA team at the Squirt level. Who are the other Columbus teams, where did they play and why not the BTHL?

Columbus has three TRAVEL hockey associations: CTH (Columbus Travel Hockey -- formed from a travel level merger between Easton Youth Hockey Association (EYHA) and Columbus Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA)) they were the Columbus Stars, but this past season they traveled as the Columbus Capitals. A second association is CCYHA (Columbus Chill Youth Hockey Association) which travels as the Blue Jackets. And the third association is CYH (Cardinal Youth Hockey), which used to be known as St. Charles.

The Capitals play out of the Chiller North and Fairgrounds and to some exftent Ohio State and the Worthington Ice Center (WIC). The Blue Jackets play out of the Dublin Chiller and Cardinal plays out of the WIC.

The Capitals play primarily in the Cleveland Suburban Hockey League. Some of their teams have opted to play in the BTHL and one team played independent. The Blue Jackets are almost exclusively playing in the BTHL. Cardinal plays BTHL at the younger levels and either the Little Caesars league or independent at the older divisions.

The Capitals are the oldest association and have always had a strong affiliation with the CSHL. Most at CAHA or CTH will tell you that they think it is a stronger league than the BTHL. I disagree in part. The CSHL is stronger top to bottom, but it's top teams tend not to be as strong as the BTHL's top teams -- unless those teams elect not to play in the BTHL (like Indy 94, which is much stronger than Cincy 94 or Dayton 94, and all three are stronger than the Capitals or North Olmsted (the two teams in the CSHL Squirt AA Championship)) due to the way the teams are selected in Cleveland (many teams, very regionalized). Same is true at 95 and, for the most part at 96. It would also be true at 92 and 93 if Cincy 92s, Card 92s and Card 93s all played BTHL.

Again, not a slam on the CSHL, but they spread their talent over several regional teams (Shaker, N.O., Parma, CSC, Gilmour, etc., etc.)

Cardinal is the newest association and they affiliate with leagues based upon the competitiveness of the individual team. 92s don't play BTHL because lack of competition and depth, so they play LCAHL Ranked. 93s don't play BTHL for the same reason, although one option would have been to play PWAA. Pretty good chance that Butler Cty. would have been only competition. 94s played SQ AA. They didn't have a 95 team and 96s played Mite AA.

CCYHA plays almost exclusively in the BTHL.

The real confusion will come when CTH's AAA teams travel under the Jr. Blue Jackets name. If that holds through all CTH AAA teams and they expand, CCYHA may be looking to go back to the IceHawks.

All three, CCYHA, CTH and CYH have their pros and cons, but I think it is telling that when the NHL Columbus Blue Jackets decided to get involved in travel hockey, they selected CTH to affiliate with.

quote:

Originally posted by jrcyclone12:
Help me out. How many hockey organizations are there in Columbus? We only played the Columbus Blue Jackets last year at the BTHL Squirt A level. There also were two Blue Jacket AA teams and a Cardinal AA team at the Squirt level. Who are the other Columbus teams, where did they play and why not the BTHL?

Columbus has three travel associations and three house associations. Only CCYHA has both. The follow is a summary of the associations.

CCYHA: CCYHA Website CCYHA has both travel and house teams and also fields select teams at the mite and squirt levels. The organization has been around about 10 years and generally skates out of the Dublin Chiller. Last season the association had 8 travel teams, 2 select teams and 35 house teams. All of the travel teams but one (the bantam team which didn't believe it would be competitive at the AA level so played independent) played in the BTHL. Next season, I believe the 93 team has already indicated it will skate independent and the are some questions, in my mind at least, as to what the 95 team will do. The teams skate at the Blue Jackets, but with the announcement that the tier I teams being formed under CTH/Capitals at the Midget and Bantam Major levels will skate as the Blue Jackets next season I guess that is open for question. Also, the Quebec peewee team has historically rostered under CCYHA, but with CTH's new affiliation with the Blue Jackets I guess that could also be open for question.

CYH/Cardinal Cardinal WebsiteThese are the new kids on the block at this point. The association was established in 2001 and it a travel only association. They flirted with the idea of adding house teams this last season, but it really didn't work. The teams now generally skate out of the Worthington Ice Center ("WIC"). Last season they fielded 5 teams. (3 at peewee, 1 at squirt and 1 at mite.) Going into tryouts the plan is for 7 teams--adding a second squirt and mite team. Last season the mite, squirt and 3rd peewee teams skated in the BTHL. The 92 team played in Little Ceasars and the 93 team played independent. I don't believe there are plans to try a house league again this up-coming year.

CTH/Capitals CTH Website CTH has been around the longest of the three as successor to CAHA on the travel side. Its teams play in the Cleveland Suburban Hockey League (CSHL), BTHL and independent. At the younger ages the teams are generally in the CSHL. CTH was formed before the BTHL and was grandfather in before the current CSHL geographic rules for league membership. Many parents in the CSHL would like to avoid the trip to Columbus, but so far they continue to place the largest number of their teams in this league. (Too many trips back and forth to Cleveland for all too many times just one game for my liking.) Last season two Capitals' teams (Midget 16U and Peewee AA) played in the BTHL. Not 100% positive but I believe they formed 13 travel teams last year (1 mite, 3 squirt, 4 peewee, 4 bantam and 1 midget). The first bantam team played independent, two, as indicated, were in the BTHL and the rest in CSHL.

CTH historically skated out of the state fairgrounds and the easton chiller, but with the opening of Chiller North also utilize that ice.

CTH is also a travel-only organization but it is affiliated with both CAHA and Easton which are house associations who might also field select teams (historically only at the mite level). There is definately a shared relationship with these organizations and generally the CTH leadership comes from the leadership of these two organizations.

CAHA: CAHA Website (Capital Amateur Hockey Association) The oldest of all the associations has been around since 1969. Until the Dublin Chiller was built and CCYHA formed a little over 10 years ago it was the only game in town. CAHA has house teams from mini-mite to midget. Historically, I believe it also fielded travel teams in the CSHL which are now under CTH. With the completion of Chiller North, most CAHA practices and games are at this facility, I believe.

Easton: Easton Website The newest of the house organizations playing out of the Easton Chiller. From the website it looks like they fielded squirt, peewee and bantam select teams last year and 27 house teams from mite to bantam.

Hope this helps!!