2011-12 SCAHA A/B Champions


Midget 18U A: California Wave Midget 16U A: Beach City Lightning 2 Bantam A: Anaheim Jr. Ducks Bantam B: Anaheim Jr. Ducks Pee Wee A: OC Hockey Club 1 Pee Wee B: Anaheim Jr. Ducks Squirt A: Los Angeles Jr. Kings 1 Squirt B: LA Hockey Club 1 Mite A: LA Hockey Club Mite B: Anaheim Jr. Ducks


2011-12 Nor Cal A/B Champions


Midget 18U A: Capital Thunder Midget 16U A: Oakland Bears Bantam A: Fresno Jr. Monsters Bantam B: Santa Clara Blackhawks Pee Wee A: California Cougars Pee Wee B: Fresno Jr. Monsters Squirt A: Santa Clara Blackhawks Squirt B: California Cougars


Pick up our May issue for complete coverage of the CAHA A/B state championships!


By Chris Bayee


veyed the youth hockey landscape dur- ing the past year and decided an alter- native option was needed. Thus, the Golden State Elite (GSE) Eagles


Golden hatched.


The new tier pro- gram, which will de- but next season with a handful of AA teams, is a collaborative effort between the Tri-Valley Blue Devils, California Cougars and Vacaville Jets. Each of those clubs will continue to field A and B teams and have their own in-house pro- grams, but they’ll join forces at AA - and perhaps eventually at AAA if enough of those caliber players develop. The Blue Devils, in particular, have enjoyed success beyond California, as Mike Holmes-coached teams have reached the USA Hockey National Tour- nament four consecutive seasons. Tri-Valley club president William


Stone said a variety of factors played into the decision, including the region’s current talent pool.


“For the past four years, Northern


California has really pushed AA hock- ey, creating approximately four teams


were


Blue Devils, Cougars, Jets establish new tier program A


group of Northern California club administrators


and coaches sur-


at each level,” he said. “What we found is that there just isn’t enough talent to field all the tier hockey programs in Northern California, nor are there ‘tier factories’ that are spitting out enough new tier players to sustain all the tier programs.


“And add to that problem that there aren’t enough tier coach- es or ice resources that a tier team would require.” Larry Cahn, Vacav- Ice Sports director


ille


and a Jets coach, said the GSE, which will be a non-profit organization, addresses each of these issues, as well as others. “There needs to be an


option where we can put AA teams on the ice with three legitimate lines,”


Cahn said. “A and B hockey are getting depleted in that area because of multiple tier teams. We want to get legitimate tier players playing tier, A players play- ing A and B players playing B. “We want to do what’s best for the


kids so they can afford to play and de- velop.”


Added Cougars president Chris Ha-


thaway, “By combining forces, this will make A and B hockey stronger, too.” Stone said the combining of resourc-


es also leads to a fuller experience for tier players and their families. “By packaging this up into a tier-


only program, we can now give the tier teams, coaches and players the right amount of time, focus and support they need,” Stone said. “For example, we want to help each player develop and meet their goals by counseling and guid- ing them in the way a career counselor would.”


Nor Cal’s trend of more AA teams often came with more expenses, particu- larly because of all of the travel that it can require. The formation of GSE ad- dresses that, too, Hathaway said. “I understand the need for tier play- ers to get ex- posure,


but


we want to be cautious about travel,” he said. “We’re going to save money for camps and clinics, which will be includ- ed in the tier costs.


We’ll


have a heavy focus on devel- opment.” The clubs


comprising the GSE program had a com- bined


pool of


approximately 800


players this past sea- RubberHockey .com 11 Golden State Elite at a Glance T


he Golden State Elite Golden Eagles are comprised of three Northern California clubs. Each club’s num-


ber of teams and total players (including in-house) for the 2011-12 season are listed below.


California Cougars: 325 players, nine travel teams (two tier): Midget 16 AA, Bantam AA, Bantam A/B, Pee Wee A/B, Squirt B1/B2, Mite


Tri-Valley Blue Devils: 426 players, nine travel teams (three tier): Midget 18 AA, Midget 16 AA, Pee Wee AA, Midget 18 A, Bantam A, Pee Wee A, Squirt/B, Mite


Vacaville Jets: 89 players, four travel teams: Bantam A, Pee Wee A, Squirt B, Mite


son. More than 700 of those were based at the San Mateo and Dublin, and the organizers said it’s likely the tier teams will be based at those rinks this season. Should the Vacaville program grow and develop enough players, the GSE ultimately could field tier teams there as well, offering north and south alter- natives at various levels to further ease travel demands, Cahn said.


For more information on the GSE


program, visit GoldenStateEliteHock- ey.org.


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