Birth Years for Girls AAA

HuskiesHockey · Post by **HuskiesHockey** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 7:21 pm

why isn't there support to go to a single birth year format for girls AAA hockey? The only possible argument against it would be a lack of numbers but I think the numbers would support it especially when you consider the additional opportunities created for "first year" players. I'll use this season's birth years as an example; if you are a mid level '01 player you should be playing at the U12 level but that means you're going against elite '00's which would make it difficult to compete, you probably would have a tough time making a team, especially a competitive one. If we went to individual birth years a "mid level" '01 has a chance to compete, even against the better '01's. Boys have several options, not only do they have single birth years, they also have legitimate invite and open levels to choose from which creates more opportunities for more players. Why wouldn't we want this for girls? If we go to a single birth year system it will create more opportunities which should resolve any lack of numbers issues.

In the end, the tournaments hold the key to this but I think they may respond if there was support for it from the AAA organizations.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? I think it would be very good for girls hockey in general and solve some other "problems" out there at the same time.

observer · Post by **observer** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 7:36 pm

It's done frequently. It allows you to keep a team together. Swapping 3-4 players every year isn't fun or easy. One theory is play open division the first year and invite level the next. Some top teams are already playing up a year or two in some tournaments. With even more girls wanting to play summer hockey I say by all means go single birthyear.

And, the late in the year birthday players may have an advantage in association hockey but an early in the birthyear player may have a bit of an advantage during the summer. One of the nice things about the Minnesota set-up.

HuskiesHockey · Post by **HuskiesHockey** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 7:49 pm

I know the Machine are doing it now, Miracle Gold will be doing it next year but without the tournaments going to this format then you will still have "lower end" first year players competing against potentially elite second year players which isn't desirable for either. If the tournaments had single year formats then the opportunities would follow in my opinion. There really isn't an "open" level for girls hockey either. The Gold Medal Classic being a great example. The host team won the Independent Classic "invite" tournament a couple weeks before and couldn't even win their own "open" tournament with the same team. True open levels will come sometime after single birth years for girls.