USA Hockey National Championships

[www.usahockey.com]

They're taking place this weekend in Pittsburgh, and my cousin, David Peterson, is competing in the Tier II 18 and Under division with the Alaska Wolves:

[www.usahockey.com]

Very cool--congrats to your cousin!

I don't know how the Youth hockey system works outside of the feeder leagues for Cornell. Would you mind filling me in on Tier II? A quick google search didn't do the job. It looks like Tier I is taking place in Rochester. Does Tier I designate "East"?

When was the last time (if ever) Cornell had an Alaskan on the roster? Is it possible that jtw can help extend the Alaska Pipeline to Lynah?

As far as I understand it...

In the US...the only tier I league is the USHL. Other leagues like the NAHL, EJHL, etc. are considered tier II (also known as junior a, b, or c). Generally, tier I is considered to be a higher level of talent. That said, there is plenty of very good hockey at the tier II level (and many NCAA DI and beyond level talents). As well, I believe that tier I leagues also mandate a minimum evel of coaching, facilities, etc. -- though many of the other teams in other leagues provide this without the mandate.

I think, but could be mistaken here, that in Canada the tier I leagues are consider the major juniors (CHL) and also pay a small stipend (as a result, tier I players in Canada lose their college eligibility). Not sure if leagues like the BCHL and other leagues the Cornell recruits from are considered tier II -- but I believe that they are.

I'll be the first to admit that I do not have the whole picture straight in my head. There's a *lot* of levels of US and Canadian hockey. However, having been both a NHL, AHL, and college fan in my time - and having enough interest to at least *try* to learn during that time - I have at least a sense of the subject.

My impression is, based on the "U18", etc (and heck, U12) stuff, that these tiers we're talking about here are very different from the US Juniors and Canada.


I am unsure of how complete this is, but I did find this:
US Junior levels: [www.geocities.com]

In the last 5 years or so, the USHL decided to make up the term "Tier I", and call itself that. In order to label itself as the top US Junior league in the land. Modest, I know, but I think also generally true.


And if you *really* wanna see a lot of leagues:
Canadian Junior levels: [www.geocities.com]

The top level of the Candian Juniors - aka: the Major Juniors - are collectively the CHL - Canadian Hockey League - as is made up of the Western, Ontario, and Quebec Major Junior Hockey Leagues.

Those are the ones that pay a stipend or something and therefore you forfeit your NCAA eligibility. I've never heard them referred to as Tier anything.

Any other juniors and you're eligible for NCAA play. And in fact, you can see our good friend the BCHL (where the Nanaimo Clippers play) is a Canandian Junior A league.


As I said, I'm under the impression that what JTW is talking about is different,a s I've never heard "Tier II" associated with these. Although it may just be All-Stars from the various leagues of those rankings, or it may be something entirely different.


And then of course there's children's classifications, like Bantam, etc...

Thanks John for posting the link. I checked out the women's tourney and saw some familiar names, women that I played hockey with and against when I was in Ithaca. Now I'm Ithaca-sick again. .

I hope your cousin has a good tourney.

DeltaOne81
I'll be the first to admit that I do not have the whole picture straight in my head. There's a *lot* of levels of US and Canadian hockey. However, having been both a NHL, AHL, and college fan in my time - and having enough interest to at least *try* to learn during that time - I have at least a sense of the subject.

My impression is, based on the "U18", etc (and heck, U12) stuff, that these tiers we're talking about here are very different from the US Juniors and Canada.


I am unsure of how complete this is, but I did find this:
US Junior levels: [www.geocities.com]

In the last 5 years or so, the USHL decided to make up the term "Tier I", and call itself that. In order to label itself as the top US Junior league in the land. Modest, I know, but I think also generally true.


And if you *really* wanna see a lot of leagues:
Canadian Junior levels: [www.geocities.com]

The top level of the Candian Juniors - aka: the Major Juniors - are collectively the CHL - Canadian Hockey League - as is made up of the Western, Ontario, and Quebec Major Junior Hockey Leagues.

Those are the ones that pay a stipend or something and therefore you forfeit your NCAA eligibility. I've never heard them referred to as Tier anything.

Any other juniors and you're eligible for NCAA play. And in fact, you can see our good friend the BCHL (where the Nanaimo Clippers play) is a Canandian Junior A league.


As I said, I'm under the impression that what JTW is talking about is different,a s I've never heard "Tier II" associated with these. Although it may just be All-Stars from the various leagues of those rankings, or it may be something entirely different.


And then of course there's children's classifications, like Bantam, etc...

The USA hockey tournament is tournament of champions from each of the hockey regions in the US, note that some regions are states since there are some many hockey programs (ex. MA, NY compared to SE = the south eastern states). The programs represented are your local youth hockey travel team (ex. Ithaca Youth Hockey) or in the case of states like Florida, a travel team composed of the best kids from the state. Each region has their own tournament to decide who gets to go to Nationals.

US Junior teams such as NY Apple Core (Ryan Vesce played for NY Apple Core before coming to Cornell) have their own separate tournament run by USA Hockey (see "Juniors" on the USA Hockey site), and do not fall under the Under-18 tier I and tier II mentioned above.

IIRC the "tier I" and "tier II" distinguishes betweeen different levels of competition, with tier I being at a higher level. I couldn't find on the website the criteria for being classified as tier I v. tier II.

Rita
IIRC the "tier I" and "tier II" distinguishes betweeen different levels of competition, with tier I being at a higher level. I couldn't find on the website the criteria for being classified as tier I v. tier II.

I had some involvement over the years with the New York State Amateur Hockey Association and more recently USA Hockey insofar as the youth programs go. These days (I'm sounding old already!) the rules as to what team plays as a Tier I or a Tier II team are not as clear cut as they once were. It used to be that the Tier II (or "B", as it used to be called in NYS) level teams were more the local, community teams. Ithaca Youth Hockey Association, Binghamton Youth Hockey, Auburn, Rome, New Hartford, Clinton, etc., are all still Central Section teams in NYS playing at the Tier II level. The Tier I (they used to be called "A" teams used to be more a regional team - for many years the Syracuse Stars were the only "A" or Tier I team in the area. Now things are more a mixed bag, as some local programs have decided to move up to the "A" level, and some teams that cover large regions with enormous populations play as Tier II teams.

No one should be fooled, however, by the designations. Very often Tier II programs are where great players get their start. This year, as every year, there will, no doubt, be very talented players in the Tier II tournament in Pittsburgh. Just locally, Ithaca's Dustin Brown played Tier II hockey through his first year of bantams before he left for the Syracuse program, the OHL and then the NHL. On the IYHA teams that my son played for, there were Mark McCutcheon (CU), Zach Schwan (Clarkson), Jake Schwan (Union), Marc Bianchi (Holy Cross - a senior this year - great win over Minn, Marc!!), Chris Uber (UConn's team captain), Matt Caren (SUNY Geneseo), Dave Wrisley (RIT) and I am probably leaving one or two others out. All those players cut their teeth on hockey at the Tier II level and, in some cases, played right through midgets at Tier II.

The tournament that "cousin Dave Peterson" is going to play in will be a fantastic experience, win or lose. I was fortunate enough to have followed my son's team to the Tier II National Championship Tournament three straight years and those are unforgettable times with family and friends. It's going to be great for the Petersons. Congratulations to Dave and his teammates for a tremendous achievement just getting to the tourney and best of luck in Pittsburgh.

Rita, Peter,

You guys seems pretty familar with this stuff. So lets see if I got this straight...

This tournament is for players who are probably trying to get into the Canadian or US Junior system, and are currently playing on a variety of local teams, in the Bantam, Peewee, Squirt, etc levels (depending on age).


If so, then there's my attempt at the whole hockey picture:

NHL
----
AHL
----
ECHL
----
other minor leagues (CHL, UHL, SPHL)
& int'l leagues
----
Canadian Major Junior
&
NCAA
----
Canadian college (maybe lower?)
----
US Tier I Junior (USHL)
&
US/Canadian Jr national teams (like US Under 18 team)
----
US & Canadian Juniors (A, B, C, etc)
----
Youth Hockey (Midget, Bantam, Pee Wee, Squirt, Mites)
(these go to these National tournament being discussed here)



Have I finally got the overall picture, all these many years later? Or am I missing something? (I understand things might not be so neatly categorized in all cases or it could be debatable where things like Canadian colleges or National Jr teams belong).

You know I hesitate to comment on where the Canadian programs go. I've always had a hard time sorting out what is what with the Canadian programs. The USA Hockey "rankings" seem right.

Note that in youth hockey there are Tier I, Tier II, A, AA, AAA B, C programs (and probably a few other letters other than X that I can't think of at this point). As I mentioned, though, the youth hockey programs are where the players start. Some advance rapidly (15 year old Dustin Brown was off to the OHL after one year with the Syracuse Stars - before that it was Ithaca Youth Hockey and summer programs in Syracuse, with a stop on the Ithaca High School team)(, while other, like Chris Uber, who captained the UConn team this year, played in Ithaca all the way - youth hockey to midgets, and on the high school team. These programs are where great players in the US get their start.

Turns out there's a broadcast as well:

[www.msasportsnetwork.com]

Alaska leads 1-0 in the quarterfinals vs some team from New York.

So David's team, the South Central Alaska Wolves, had a win and an OT loss in group play, and their third opponent was disqualified from the tournament, so they went on the quarterfinals where they lost 5-3 to the Bud Bakewell Bruins. David ended up with 4 PIM in the three games. Don't know about +/-.

jtwcornell91
So David's team, the South Central Alaska Wolves, had a win and an OT loss in group play, and their third opponent was disqualified from the tournament, so they went on the quarterfinals where they lost 5-3 to the Bud Bakewell Bruins. David ended up with 4 PIM in the three games. Don't know about +/-.

I'm now a bit curious as to why a team was DQ'ed. Ringer? I'll check the USA Hockey site when I have a free minute, but I doubt they will have the details.