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Hi everyone,

I'm a bantam AA hockey coach from Saskatchewan Canada. I'm interested in finding out about what sort of tournaments in Minnesota might be scheduled for the 2011-12 season that might be suitable for our team to compete in.

I'm looking to find a tournament where our team will be competitive. Sometimes this is difficult when traveling to other jurisdictions - we're either way better than the competition, or we can't compete at all.

Bantam AA is the highest level of hockey in Saskatchewan for boys who start the season at 13 and 14 years of age.

Can any of you provide me with some tournament information, and perhaps some links to relative websites? It would be much appreciated.

Thanks for the link.

I'd also be interested in hearing about the calibre of various tournaments. Like I said, I want to be sure we are competitive (not the worst team in the tournament, not totally above the level, etc).

Bench,

Bantams in the US are 1997 & 1998 born this year. Be aware that in Minnesota players are six months older. July 1st, 1996 born and after.

"A" is the highest level of play in Minnesota. The www.mnhockeyrankings.com website will be a good place to look to see how teams compare to each other in the state.

A good "AA" Bantam team from Saskatchewan would probably be a match for teams ranked 15-25th in Minnesota? Just a guess.

Thanks a lot, O-town. That's very helpful!

If you can get in, one of the first two tournaments in Roseau is about is good as they come, great competition, top Minnesota teams, great hospitality.

On a marginally related note:

Next year (2012-2013), Minnesota Hockey will split bantams and peewees into A and AA. They'll play a straight A schedule for regular season, but have two separate state tournaments.

The A or AA ranking will align roughly with the high schools that each team is essentially a feeder for. Not that you should have to figure this out, coming down from Sask., but the new rankings will basically mean large suburban and urban associations like Eden Prairie, Duluth, Edina, Minnetonka will be AA and definitely the best the state has to offer. There will be plenty of A teams from traditional hockey powers like Warroad and Hermantown that will be just as good.


I'd check your potential competition at Let's Play Hockey rankings, which are Top 10 Minnesota at each level A's and B's, or (as O-Town suggested) MyHockeyRankings which has a more exhaustive and supposedly mathematical rank of Minnesota teams (along with plenty of others, including Ontario divisions, Quebec, E and W Canada) http://myhockeyrankings.com/index.php

I would check out the Rosemount Thanksgiving day weekend tournament. It is a 4 game guarantee with the competition that you will most like to see.

Bench Boss,

How good is your team within the province? What tournaments and competition did you play in/against that totally outclassed you? Within knowing more about who you are it's impossible to answer your question. I will say that the best community based teams in MN are as good as most community based teams in Canada.