Question to anyone with knowledge about Sylvania's Pee Wee programs, their website lists a AA, A and B team...the B team website points you to a team that plays AA in the LCAHL division 5 of the AA level?

is this a B team or a AA team?

and is this team the one playing at the Pee Wee B level at Silver Sticks in Ft. Wayne? seems a little bit of a stretch to go from a LCAHL AA division to the B division of Silver Sticks?

I know many teams drop down for Silver Sticks, but usually AA teams drop down to A, not B?

anyone with knowledge please let us know!

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I know many teams drop down for Silver Sticks, but usually AA teams drop down to A, not B?

I have nothing to do with this team but it looks like the number 3 pee wee team is playing up in the league schedule. They must have not wanted to play the BTHL. But I imagine the offical roster is "B". That is the only way that Silver Sticks will place you is from what your stamped roster states your team is.

if that is true, this team has a 2-5 record in the LCAHL AA division, no way should they be playing B at Silver Sticks no matter what they registered with USA Hockey - its disrepectful to the true B level teams to have someone come in who plays AA in league play - the B kids and coaches deserve the opportunity to play among their peers, not get waxed by some drop down team...disappointing if this is really the case.

They are a 3rd picked team. They ARE a B team. Just because they didnt want to play in the BTHL and decide to challange themselves doesnt not make them a B team. But your best bet would be to contact them to get the facts.

This seems to be a common problem with Silver Sticks. We've played against teams that fly into regional SS tourneys to play down one or two levels to ensure wins. I suppose the reason SS tourneys can't assemble a true A or B tourney because the true A's or B's are tired of getting the short end of the deal.
Sylvania is not the only team doing this in Fort Wayne; you can add the Indy Gold AA, the Irish Rovers and who are the USA Eagles? Seems only 2 or 3 teams are playing this tourney in the proper division. The goal for a Silver Sticks appearance shouldn't be to keep the loss within double digits, but for many that what Sivler Sticks has become.

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Sylvania is not the only team doing this in Fort Wayne

Sylvania is not playing down. They are a B team. The team consists of 1st and 2nd year pee wee players and they are a 3rd picked team. They cannot play A divison because LCAHL wont allow it because they have second year players. Michigan is a birth year hockey program A for 1st year players and AA for second. So since they have a split team they are forced to play AA. So because they do not want to play in the BTHL because of either the traveling or the level of play they decided to play AA in LCAHL. But they are a B 3rd picked team so why can they not play in the B bracket for SS??? They are 2-5 in the divison and the teams they beat are worse off then they are.
I understand what you are saying for some of these teams. Some of them are doing what you are saying and it isnt right.

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Originally posted by hockeyfan19:

I know many teams drop down for Silver Sticks, but usually AA teams drop down to A, not B?

anyone with knowledge please let us know!

I'll tell you our experience from SS B Finals last year in Niagara Falls..

My D's bantam team was eliminated in the quarterfinals by a team from Tampa FL. IIRC I believe they either won or ended up being the runners up in the tournament. Curious thing about this team was that almost all the kids were wearing jackets with a patch declaring them Florida State AA Peewee Champions from the previous year.

So I ask one of the coaches who had approached me after the game to ask about my daughter (my D goaltended played a great game, making some spectacular stops and keeping her team in the game) about the team. Turns out that the team was 14 kids from that team (that ended up finishing 2nd in the SE District narrowly missing a trip to nationals) being 1st year bantams with a couple of add on 2nd year kids, so they couldn't play the bantam minor SS tourney and yet were not the first pick team in their association. Add in being from the south, and you get the triple discount to "B" level Silver Sticks.

Get used to playing tough teams at SS. That happens every year. Especially at finals.

In my experience, for Silver Sticks:

1) many teams seem to play down a level from what they are during the regular season (except Tier I). Not sure why, but happens alot.

2) there are more and more teams coming from "out of the region" to play in Dayton.Ft Wayne. Specifically, many are coming down from Michigan because the perceived competition in Dayton easier than what they face in Michigan region. Silver Stick has nothing in their rules to prevent that.