This forum is an alternative to previous 54 Forums that have had specific organizational slants. Post and speak your mind. Be respectful and not one inflammatory post about one youth hockey player will be tolerated!
It looks like another nice showing in Chicago for the St. Louis teams.
On the AAA front
98's, 97's, 96's 94's and U16's are a combined 9-1 with the only loss being the 94's who lost to the Toronto Marlies 3-1, the marlies are ranked the #1 team in Canada. The 94's also beat the Syracuse Stars 5-3 who are ranked #3 in the U.S.
Looking at the Affton CS 96 team.
They are 2-2 but, it would appear they made the playoff bracket and not the consolation bracket. That would be a pretty cool accomplishment. Anyone out there able to confirm, deny or explain?
The nike bauer tourney is probably the premier american youth hockey tourney. Each age division has different brackets and the tourney organizers put a lot of effort in putting teams of similair abilities together. Please also keep in mind that there are significant levels of talent difference in teams that are the AAA level. What I am trying to say is that affton did get in the playoff bracket of the lower level of that age group. A good accomplishment but this is where my opinion comes in. Tier I hockey is designed to be city wide all star teams- the highest level of hockey in that city. Tier II is designed to be an organizations best players NOT city wide all star teams. So affton should be competitive with other clubs tier I teams because in a sense central states in st louis is Tier I that plays in a Tier II league. That is why affton gets into the tourney becuase the orgainzers realize that they are techincally a tier II team with tier I rules to form a team.
Congrats to affton and the entire st louis hockey community for a good showing.
Congratulations to the coaches and, they should be thanked for giving their time; congratulations to the parents for surviving a long, long, grueling weekend; congratulations to the boys and, I hope they enjoyed their trip.
to the idiots at 10:12 and 10:14(maybe same idiot?)
A one game series between the Blues and Belle tire doesn't mean much at this point. Wait till the end of the season and the teams play each other a few more times before crowning the king....Given what the Blues (at all age levels) have accomplished this year is remarkable. Everyone associated with hockey should be ecstatic about how St. Louis teams are doing. certainly on par with anything from Chicago, Detroit, Boston, etc.
Congratulations to Affton for making the playoffs. They are a good tier II team. Saying Affton stinks is nothing more than a cheap shot. The Blues beat NPI badly earlier in the year - does that mean NPI stinks? When does a team not stink anynmore?
This was not the same NPI team we played earlier - they added some very talented players from Omaha. This group of '96s from Iowa have always been very good considering they only have 3 sheets of ice (small talent pool) in Des Moines. They play most of their games with 11 players and 2 goalies.
Cleveland Barons won the 95 Bauer division. Affton lost to them in 'sweet 16 round' and Russell Stover lost to them in quarterfnals. both were 1 goal games, Affton's loss in OT.
If online box score is correct, 94's were tied by Mission with ONE SECOND LEFT in the quarterfinal game (14:59 of 3rd period), then lost in OT. ouch, that's gonna leave a mark....
Remember Gober's teams improve as the season continues. Mission is who they will have to beat to go to Nationals in April.
Anyone want to play this 94 AAA Blues team now?
oops, I forgot one degree of separation since I looked at that site last night. Cleveland beat Affton in OT, Washington beat Russell Stover in 2 OT, and then Cleveland beat Washington by 1 goal before winning in the final. a bit convoluted but the point is that the Bauer 95 division "form" makes the candymen appear legit.
10:01 - Read and Think before you Comment - here is NPI website
http://leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=npileafs
Count the number of players on the roster. The point was the NPI team in this tourney was not the same team that got kicked around by AAA Blues earlier. They recruited a couple top 96AA Omaha kids to play for this weekend. The team is based in DesMoines, 2 hours from Omaha.
Your rush to judgement reminds me of Duke lacrosse team - Slow down take a breath and measure twice before you cut. Haste makes Waste - blah, blah, blah.