USAH has released their guidelines for Tier I hockey across the USA.

Number of teams will be based upon a % of players at a certain age level Organizations will need to apply in writing for the Tier I State Bound status and this may change yearly A committee will be set up to oversee the organizations and monitor games Teams will be required to play a home and home across the state with each state bound team 75 games maximum per season (most likely including the state tournament and Nationals) Cannot recruit until after the National tournament (will tryouts need to be changed?)

Some of the actual verbiage is quoted below

3. Each Tier I organization may field a maximum of six (6) teams with no more than one team at each level, Major and Minor (i.e. 18U Midget Major,19U girls, 16 & Under Midget Minor, 14 & Under Bantam Major, 14 & Under Bantam Minor, 12 & Under Pee Wee Major and 12 & Under Pee Wee Minor).

(the way I understand it is that this is all the travel teams that they can field and should only concentrate on the Tier I elite not other teams)

A. Guidelines for determining the number of Tier I teams shall include, but not be limited to the following:
1. Not more than 10% of the total registered Players, in the Affiliate, at any Age Level (12 & Under (Major and Minor), 14 & Under, (Major and Minor), 16 & Under and 18 & Under) should play Tier I Hockey; (this percentage may be decreased by the Affiliate or District if deemed appropriate).
2. Each Tier I organization must field at least two Tier I teams (that are TB at different levels); (e.g. 12 & Under, 14 & Under, 16 & Under; 18 & Under) at a minimum in at least two different Division classifications Pee Wee (Major/Minor), Bantam (Major/Minor), or Midget (18U or 16U).
3. Tier I teams are required to have a minimum practice to game ratio of 2:1. USA Hockey highly recommends a 3:1 ratio. For this purpose, a practice must average at least 60 minutes or more, of on-ice participation.
4. Tier I teams may play a maximum of 75 total games.
5. Tier I Season: The Tier I Organization season shall commence on August 15th of each year and end on the last day of the Nationals Tournament of each year unless otherwise unanimously approved by the Tier I Committee.

A. Application: All Tier I associations must submit their Tier I application to their Affiliate and Tier I Committee no later than February 15th, or as extended by the Affiliate Tier I Committee, but at least 30 days prior to any Tier I organization scheduled Tier I Team tryout. Each Application shall comply fully with the requirements set forth by the Affiliate. Tier I associations may not have more than one team per birth year.

B. Notification: Beginning with the 2009-2010 Season, Tier I Organizations will be notified by April 1st in writing of the acceptance or denial of its application by the Tier I Chairperson, or his/her designee.
1. Minimum Requirements: Every authorized new or existing Tier I Organization shall comply with the minimum requirements set forth in this Article, the Affiliate and USA HOCKEY By-laws, Policies, Rules and Regulations. Each organization may not have more than (1) team at each age level permitted.
II. Personal invitations for tryouts are permissible but tryouts must be announced publicly through a general publication or individual mailing to all players at each level, inviting any player who wishes to tryout. This announcement shall take place at least thirty (30) days prior to any tryouts. The announcement shall also be posted at the rink the tryouts will be held at for the 30 days prior to the tryout.

1. No player, Coach or Manager shall be solicited nor shall the possibility of playing Tier I hockey be discussed with any Player, Coach or Manager, prior to the conclusion of the USA HOCKEY National Tournaments, except for an existing Tier I Player for the particular Tier I Organization for which that Player played during the existing season and then only by that Tier I Organization. (see paragraph below on Tampering and Recruiting of any Player, Coach or Manager).

A. The authorized Tier I Organizations in the Affiliate have agreed that competition among the Tier I Organizations and Teams will improve the standards and conduct of hockey in the Affiliate and further develop Tier I Players in the Affiliate. The authorized Tier I Organizations in the Affiliate shall play each other a minimum of two (2) games (not counting tournament) at every level each year within the Affiliate in a home and home series.

It appears that USA hockey has thrown the Squirt Major issue back at the local governing bodies.

As a father of 2 boys who started AAA at the squirt level I feel it is a very important part of the hockey menu in Illinois.Is it for everyone...No....but the choice should be up to the individual family and the
local Tier 1 clubs should be allowed to offer the program.

I would hope the guys at AHAI will be smart enough to talk to the Tier 1 clubs and more importantly some of the parents and/or kids who have started at that age to get their perspective before making a decision.

Ok, if what you say is true...prove it. I just went through the USA Hockey site and found nothing about this. Paste the link..on where you got your info. I think your info is bogus!!!

USAH has released their guidelines for Tier I hockey across the USA. Associations were sent copies today via email from the NYSAHA. I believe all the districts were given this information

Also, 5% might be the new number as 10% is too high

Answer these questions?

Why would the email for USA hockey come via NYSAHA? (New York State Amateur Hockey Association)

This line below makes no sense, copied from what you wrote? It states a maximum of six (6), yet it has 7 teams listed?
18U MM
19U Girls
16U mm
14U Bantam Major
14U Bantam Minor
12U PeeWee Major
12U PeeWee Minor

3. Each Tier I organization may field a maximum of six (6) teams with no more than one team at each level, Major and Minor (i.e. 18U Midget Major,19U girls, 16 & Under Midget Minor, 14 & Under Bantam Major, 14 & Under Bantam Minor, 12 & Under Pee Wee Major and 12 & Under Pee Wee Minor).
(count them..there are 7 teams listed?)

Again...show me some better proof....

The meeting is not until Jan. below is copied direct from USA Hockey site....
2009 Winter Meetings

The 2009 USA Hockey Winter Meeting will be held January 16-18, 2009 in Orlando, Florida at the Wyndham Orlando Resort. Deadline to book airline/hotel and register for this meeting is Thursday, December 4, 2008. For travel and hotel accommodations contact Cain Travel 1-800-346-4747 x 740 or email carolr@caintravel.com. Below are important links for this upcoming event.

Just got done reading the 356 page USA Hockey Annual Guide for 2008-2009. Nope.... didnt see anything in there on the issues that you are referring to?

I ask again...where are you getting your facts?

email came from USAHockey sent to NYSAHA, NYSAHA sent the email to it's members being associations. I copied from email and posted here.

http://www.tier1elitehockeyleague.com/attachments/document/0002/8398/Tier_1_Proposal.doc

let me know if it works

looks real to me

So are you telling me that you are from New York? And you got this info in an email?

I still don't see in the word document that states the information on the max of 6 teams? You have it as 3., and I can't seem to find it anywhere?

It's on MWEHL hockey web site!

http://www.tier1elitehockeyleague.com/

Tier 1 Proposal (right above the calendar at the bottom)

Click and open the word document

To the jury:
My point is that the moron that wrote the first post is giving false information. I see the now the document does exist.
But he did not duplicate the information as it is really written.

Exhibit #1
He wrote the following:
3. Each Tier I organization may field a maximum of six (6) teams with no more than one team at each level, Major and Minor (i.e. 18U Midget Major,19U girls, 16 & Under Midget Minor, 14 & Under Bantam Major, 14 & Under Bantam Minor, 12 & Under Pee Wee Major and 12 & Under Pee Wee Minor).

There is no line 3. that reads this information anywhere on the document from MWEHL. This was false information. Unless I am missing something.
MWEHL has listed 11 teams/age groups playing Tier 1 on Point Streak, why would they make the org, go down to a max of 6?

Exhibit #2
There is information that was not included or left out, if you read the document.


He wrote:
1. Not more than 10% of the total registered Players, in the Affiliate, at any Age Level (12 & Under (Major and Minor), 14 & Under, (Major and Minor), 16 & Under and 18 & Under) should play Tier I Hockey; (this percentage may be decreased by the Affiliate or District if deemed appropriate).

The true document reads:
1.Not more than 15% of the total registered Players, in the Affiliate, at any Age Level (12 & Under, 14 & Under, 16 & Under and 18 & Under) should play Tier I Hockey;

He changed 15% to 10% and added the information at the end.

He wrote:
2. Each Tier I organization must field at least two Tier I teams (that are TB at different levels); (e.g. 12 & Under, 14 & Under, 16 & Under; 18 & Under) at a minimum in at least two different Division classifications Pee Wee (Major/Minor), Bantam (Major/Minor), or Midget (18U or 16U).

Information copied from document:
2.Request Each Tier 1 organizations field a minimum of 3 tier 1 teams preferable at each age group to build their organization from top to bottom.

The infomation he wrote was the lines that were crossed out and replaced with the above verbiage.

He wrote:
3. Tier I teams are required to have a minimum practice to game ratio of 2:1. USA Hockey highly recommends a 3:1 ratio. For this purpose, a practice must average at least 60 minutes or more, of on-ice participation.

Information copied from document:
3.Tier I teams are required(requested) to have a minimum practice to game ration of 2:1. USA Hockey highly recommends a 3:1 ratio.

Hmmm.....He seems to have deleted the word(requested) on his? And has added in additional info, that I can't seem to find?

He wrote:
4. Tier I teams may play a maximum of 75 total games.

Information copied from document:
4.Tier I teams may play a maximum of 75 total games. request(Excluding National tournament)

Again deleted important information, must not like the word "request", seems to have deleted that 2 x now.

He wrote:
5. Tier I Season: The Tier I Organization season shall commence on August 15th of each year and end on the last day of the Nationals Tournament of each year unless otherwise unanimously approved by the Tier I Committee.

I can't believe it...he did not change or alter this one at all.


I rest my case.....

I think it's time that USA Hockey put a hard ceiling on the number of games these kids play. If we are serious about developing our kids, then we all associations to commit to move development in practices and small area games vs these monster seasons. Our '98 is set to play almost 80 games this year and the '96 is playing 75.

All information posted are drafts. I did not alter anything.

Tier I proposal on MWEHL is not the updated information and not the most recent version. The original post is the updated version.

The proposal will be updated once again.

Major change - 10% to 5% of the area's #'s

You will see many changes.

Skates lawyer, I rest my case.

you can't limit the games! what will the coaches do? they don't have enough to teach to fill all those extra practices. illinois coaches may have to consult people who really know the sport.

Where's the provision that kids will not miss school for showcase weekends?? Parents STAND UP!! How many scouts do you see at MM and mm games on Fridays? The only thing being "showcased" is us for being stupid enough to let this keep happening. Let's hear it parents. . . who agrees or disagrees????

No school should be missed. Period.

A T1 season should be:

6 games Labor Day Weekend
6 games Columbus Day
8 games Thanksgiving
6 games Xmas
6 games New Year
6 games MLK
6 games Presidents'
6 games State
This is a 50-game season already. A few weekend x games can make it 60 games easily without missing school. And, if you make it out of State, you have
6 games District
6 games National.

That makes too much sense, remember these are hockey people we are dealing with.

Midgets cant play six games in a weekend. Five is too much.

These are long weekends good for tournaments. AAA teams playing 6 games in a tournament is normal.

I agree with the hockey people comments. Crime rate will go up if we only play during long weekends.

I agree based on watching them on "little people big world"

No way can a midget play 6 games in a weekend. Especially that one kid.

Did you see his legs? Look like he ran through a pack of angry dwarves with hammers.

(we all know how jealous them dwarfs are of the midgets being so much taller)

"Tier I teams may play a maximum of 75 total games. request(Excluding National tournament)"

This is exactly how the Michigan has been doing it. Tier I is liminted to play about 67-69 games prior to States, so with States it makes 75 game season.

So what does this all mean for supposed Before/After teams, which essentially state/country wide all-star teams attempting to front themselves as a Tier I team, wen they don't even play together all year. Anyone can recruit te best players from all over and compete if USA hockey allows it. When will USA Hockey step in and create some boundaries, so actual "teams" are competing for the #1 spot, not "All-Star" teams. IE, Shattuck St. Mary's pretty much dominating the last 4-5 years at the MM level. Although they don't seem too over powering this year. Maybe some had some insight to leave before this all came down.

Is ADM coming 2010-2011 or not???

ADM can't work without Michigan, at the moment I'm sure the powers involved are kissing a ton of motown @ss in order to get them to join in. Lets face it without Michigan why would anyone really want to be involved? Minny has a super Highschool program in order which produces a great number or D1&D3 players, they are not interested. Out East is set up with Prep school followed by D1 or D3 depending on your talent level, they also will not be interested as far as there high end players are concerned. St Mary's wants no part of this. That means there is Michigan and ILL, the two last power hub's who produce a good number of NCCA players, the trick is ADM people need both states to join in or they have a real real weak program.

Once again USAH is removed and out of touch with the youth hockey situation. Bringing in more players at the younger ages and making this sport less expensive will bring in better athletes and increase the quality of players at all levels and increase the number of players who move onto the pros.

Illinois already does great sending players to Div 1. How do they get there? By playing AAA or by playing Juniors in the USHL or the NAHL for the most part. Many families cannot afford the costs of AAA and are struggling with costs at AA or HS.

So now USAH wants to take AAA already too restrictive (costly, etc) for many and make a program that will be even more exclusive that will pay some full time adminstrators 6 figure salaries. What a joke.
3 of 4 AAA programs at MM are ranked 3, 4 & 5 in USA.At mm ranked 1,7,10 & 14 in USA. When AAA counts, Illinois is doing a pretty great job.

Bring in more players, do not create another program that excludes players.

great post