USA Hockey sets the rules for youth hockey (including the rules that govern play in the Minnesota District.  The Minnesota District is defined by USA Hockey as the state of Minnesota. Minnesota Hockey, the organization, governs the Minnesota District and uses USA Hockey rules to establish youth hockey play in Minnesota that are modifications of USA Hockey rules applied to other USA Hockey districts.  That effects how teams are formed by organizations and associations in the Minnesota District versus the other 12 USA districts.  The different rule applications have resulted in confusion to the average hockey fan who see only a game on ice, not how the teams were formed that are playing on the ice.

Simply put, USA recognizes the hockey season as a year long season starting in September.  The USA districts outside of the Minnesota District per USA rules form organizational based (Tier 1) and/or association based (Tier 2) teams.  Tier 1 teams can draw players district wide (some USA districts consist of multiple states).  Tier 2 teams can draw players from only their local community.  In September, Minnesota District also forms teams, but only Tier 2 or community based teams.  Why is Minnesota different?  High school hockey is popular in Minnesota and the Minnesota Hockey Organization has modified USA rules to fit with high school hockey.  That has resulted in communities investing in building and sustaining (maintaining and operating) hockey rinks.  Minnesota youth hockey teams have access to over one million prime hours of indoor ice (6:00 PM to 10:00 PM) week nights and 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM week ends.

Minnesota District hockey rules have focused on high school hockey and Minnesota Hockey's governance has resulted in a highly competitive environment at the youth level garnering support from cities, towns and counties that have invested in significant build of indoor ice.  It has created a concentration of good hockey teams within the state and that concentration is what many USA teams want to tap to improve their own programs.    

This post will focus on the competitive level between winter USA district teams and Minnesota District winter teams at the peewee level (ages 11-12).  The winter Minnesota teams are generally considered Tier 2 peewee hockey, not Tier 1.  But that goes out the window when the concentration of good youth hockey teams in a small area such as the Twin Cities is high.  There were no winter Tier 1 peewee hockey teams in Minnesota last season.  Minnesota hockey winter peewee teams that are not designated peewee Tier 1 or 2, but peewee AA, A, B1, B2, and C.  Minnesota hockey associations decide at what level they will form teams and play in their local hockey district peewee league (Minnesota has 13 local hockey districts).  Most associations have approximately 50 players trying out for peewees, some have as much as 130 players trying out.  As a result of their tryouts, the players are placed on an association's highest designated team (usually AA or A to their lowest level team usually C).  And the rule is that only AA/A teams can play each other, B1/B2 teams can play each other, and C teams play each other.

Most hockey fans outside of Minnesota equate Minnesota peewee teams to USA Tier 2 hockey.  That is a mistake.

Peewee AA/A/B/C-Tier 1 or 2-peewee major or peewee minor

How a local hockey community names its teams is confusing since it varies just enough to be confusing to the average fan.  Part of the confusion is that part of the teams names includes the birth year of the current players.  Last season, peewee teams were formed by players born in 2002 (peewee major) and 2003 (peewee minor).  For the 2015-2016 season, players born in 2003 will be on peewee major teams and for USA hockey carry names such as 03 Tier 2 AA; minor teams will carry names such as 04 Tier 2 AA.  Minnesota peewees are different.  Minnesota winter teams will consist of players born between July 1, 2002 and June 30, 2004.  For the 2015-2016 season, USA peewee teams will consist of either Tier 1 or Tier 2 peewee teams.  Minnesota peewee teams will be designated AA, A, B1, B2, or C.  There is no tier definition and there has been no AAA or Tier 1 teams in Minnesota.

One of the key things to understand when comparing teams by names is how the definition of major (03 this season) and minor (04) is applied by USA hockey communities.  The major and minor definition is the result of USA organizations or communities adopting a defacto rule that fits limited ice time availability in the winter.  The defacto rule says that major or 03 teams consist of 2003 born players only and the minor or 04 teams consist of 2004 born players.  It forces all 2003 players who do not make the organization or association's 03 teams to move up to play minor bantams.

Minnesota rules allow the 2003 players to move down to a lower level within the association.  As a result, Minnesota peewee teams at all levels can have a mix of 2003, 2004, and some 2002 players.  Often, Minnesota AA, A or B1 teams will have 2003 or players born in the last half of 2002 on their teams.  The Minnesota approach is one of the keys to the strength of their hockey program allowing older players to mature playing at a level consistent with their age group and results in older Minnesota teams (bantam and high school) being stronger in following years.  It allows a youth player time to develop.

Consequently, USA and Minnesota hockey teams are ranked differently.  USA teams are ranked nationally by age and tier.  Minnesota peewee hockey teams are ranked within the USA Hockey's Minnesota District by AA, A, and B.  YHH ranks Minnesota peewee teams by peewee and level, not tier and age.    As a result, Minnesota peewee AA teams can have players that are older by six months in the coming season than a USA Peewee 03 Tier 1 or 03 Tier 2 team and by 18 months than a USA 04 Tier 1 or 04 Tier 2 team.  By forming hockey youth teams under Minnesota Hockey's modified USA rules, the developing players enter high school in their ninth grade generally after playing one year at the bantam level as second year bantam players.

2015 OneHockey Minnesota Gone Wild Tournament 

Last January, OneHockey held a tourney at the Super Rink in Blaine that included a PWAA tourney consisting of 18 teams; 13 peewee AA teams from all parts of North America joined five Minnesota peewee AA and A teams.  The 18 teams competed in a four day tourney over the January 16-19 weekend.  The tourney format advanced the top four teams to a championship semifinal/final round after playing four pool games.  Point differential (up to 10 goals a game) was the first tie breaker after head to head.  Teams from Canada (Winnipeg MB), Illinois, Florida, Colorado, and California were in the field.  The Minnesota teams (Hastings AA, Sibley AA, Armstrong A, Blaine A, and Tartan A) were all low to middle ranked AA or top ranked peewee A teams by YHH.  Tartan A played in the Minnesota peewee A state tourney in March, Hastings was seeded into Minnesota's AA regional tourney.  Two of the Canadian teams entered, Lord Selkirk and River East, were 03 teams.  The third Canadian team entered, Pembina Trail Twins, was an 02 team.  Five teams from Illinois (Chicago Blues, Leafs Hockey Club, Falcons Hockey Association, Geneva Cyclones, and the Romeoville Huskies) were entered along with two California teams (San Jose Jr Sharks and Stockton Jr. Colts), and single teams from Colorado (Hyland Hills), Florida (Palm Beach Blackhawks), and Texas (Texas Jr. Brahams).

The highest ranked Minnesota AA team entered was NOW ranked #21 Hastings; the highest ranked Minnesota A team entered was NOW ranked #7 Tartan.  That simple fact maybe the glue that made January’s peewee AA tourney a competitive tourney.  Most of the teams entered to maximized their competitive playing opportunities.  The PWAA Tourney had 18 teams competing in a single pool with the top four teams advancing to the championship round Monday morning.  All eighteen teams played five, 15 minute stop time period, games for the right to advance.  Each win was worth three points; a tie was worth one point.  The four teams with the most points advanced.  The first tie breaker was most wins; the second was head-to-head; the third was goal differential, and the fourth was least penalty minutes.  It made for an interesting tourney with drama in Sunday morning games that settled the championship semifinal draw.

Friday Games

Five teams went unbeaten in Friday’s opening two rounds of pool play.  Minnesota’s Sibley Area AA team was the only Minnesota team to win both their games.  The Warriors beat the Texas Jr. Brahmas 10-0 and the Palm Beach Blackhawks FL 6-2.  Minnesota teams Tartan A, Armstrong/Cooper A, and Blaine A split their two games. Tartan lost their opening game to Hyland Hills Co 4-3 and beat the Highland Park IL Falcons 3-0.  Hyland Hills CO beat Blaine A 3-1 to win their first two games, the Bengals beat the Leafs Hockey Club 3-2 in their opening game.  Armstrong/Cooper beat Lord Selkirk Rebels 5-3 in their opener and lost to the fifth Minnesota team, Hastings AA, 4-3 in their second games.  Hastings beat Armstrong was the only pool game played by the Raiders opening day.

Five teams won both their Friday games.  Besides Sibley AA and Hyland Hills CO two wins, Pembina Trail Twins MB, beat the Stockton CA Jr Colts 4-1 and the Geneva Cyclones IL 8-0; the River East Marauders MB beat the Chicago Blues 5-1 and the Stockton CA Jr Colts 7-0; and the Chicago Huskies beat the Lord Selkirk/Seven Oaks MB 5-1 and the San Jose CA Jr. Sharks 6-3.

Sibley’s two games Friday epitomized what the tourney would be like.  In the early game, the Warriors played the Texas Jr Brahmas (02 Tier 2 A) team that was out-gunned.  The Brahmas defense tried to play too conservatively.  The Sibley forwards picked the Brahmas’ defense apart.  In Texas' second game Friday, the Brahmas lost to Geneva Cyclones 5-1 in a game they could have won.  The Brahmas defense settled against the Cyclones, but became frustrated in the second half of the game.  Texas posted a 1-4 record in the tourney beating the Romeoville Huskies 6-5.  At the end of last season, the Geneva was ranked #34 among the 02 Tier 2 teams; Texas was ranked #474.

The second Sibley game matched the Warriors against the Palm Beach FL Blackhawks AA 02 Tier 2.  The Blackhawks played good position hockey, moved the puck well, and was aggressive against the stronger Warriors.  The Blackhawks were successful in the first half of the game using their skills to counter attack and  leveraging their bench (full roster).  Sibley, because of injuries, could only skate two lines.  Initially, the Warriors attacked the Blackhawks trying to score by pressuring the Floridia defense aggressively low around the Blackhawks' net.  The Blackhawks, well schooled, would beat the Sibley team low and counter attack catching the Warrior defense out of position.  As the game progressed, Sibley played more deliberately.  Sibley became less aggressive and more thoughtful in how they moved the puck.  Because of the Warriors’ change in play, the game became a good hockey game until Sibley pulled away at the end of the game to win 7-2.

The Hyland Hills CO Jaguars won both their games beating two Minnesota teams, Tartan A 4-3 and Blaine A 3-1.  The Jaguars focused on playing defense first.  Against the two Minnesota A teams, they kept their defensive composure throughout the two games and won.  Both Minnesota teams tried to be aggressive with the puck in the Jaguars' zone.  The Pembina Trail Twins won their two opening games beating Stockton Jr Colts CA 4-1 and the Geneva Cyclones IL 8-0.  Both Stockton and Geneva forwards tried to play set plays on offense, but the Canadian Twins forwards were great at upsetting offensive rushes and turning the puck fast in their half of the ice.  Stockton, a Tier 2 02 AA team, finished the 2014-2015 season ranked #95 in the nation.  The Huskies from Romeoville IL was the final team to win their two opening games.  The Huskies beat the Lord Selkirk Seven Oaks Rebels 5-1 and the San Jose Jr Sharks CA 6-3. 

Hasting AA beat another Minnesota team, Armstrong A 4-3, in their only Friday game.  Tartan A, after losing to Hyland Hills, beat the Falcons Hockey Association IL team 3-0 to split their two games Friday.  Blaine A split their two games beating the Leafs Hockey Club IL 3-2 before they lost to Hyland Hills.  Armstrong beat Lord Selkirk 5-3 before losing to Hastings.

Saturday and Sunday Games

After Saturday’s round of single games, four teams (East River Marauders MB, Pembina Trail Twins MB, Sibley, and Hyland Hills CO) remained unbeaten.  Sunday, the four unbeaten teams would play each other.  The East River Marauders and Hyland Hills would play; Sibley and Pembina Trail would meet.  Odds were two of the four teams would be beaten.  Three Minnesota teams (Hastings AA, Armstrong A, and Tartan A) and the Hyland Park IL Falcons each had one loss and were positioned to make a move to overtake one of the losing teams.  Two other teams, the Romeoville Huskies and the Geneva Cyclones had an outside chance to make the top four.  

Sibley opened their Sunday with a win over Lord Selkirk 6-2.  The Warriors built a big lead early, but got over anxious and over aggressive against the Canadian 03 Tier 2 team giving up two big goals that left a crack for one of the four, once beaten, teams to walk through with a big win in their two games.  In Sibley Area’s second game against the Pembina Twins, they needed a win to guarantee Monday’s championship play.  Again they kept their discipline, minimizing the Twins scoring opportunities and attacking the Twins net with good side to side puck movement.  Trailing 1-0 in the third period, the Warriors counter attacked twice to take a 2-1 lead with less than five minutes to go in the game.  Then a defensive miscue a minute later resulted in a Pembina Twin tying goal.  Still a tie would advance Sibley, but a second defensive miscue off a faceoff in the Sibley zone resulted in Winnipeg scoring the winning goal.  The Twins advanced.

Sunday, Armstrong beat the Texas Jr Brahmas 13-3 and beat the San Jose Sharks 9-0 to take Sibley’s spot in Monday morning’s Championship round.  Tartan beat the Chicago Blues 5-4 and Blaine A 4-2 but lost to Armstrong on the tie breaker; Hastings lost to the Huskies after beating the Chicago Blues 11-1.

Monday Games and Conclusions

The 18 team peewee AA tourney was down to four teams Monday, two teams from Canada (03 East River and 02 Pembina Trial), one Minnesota Peewee A team Armstrong, and one USA 02 Tier 2 AA team Hyland Hills CO.  The top seed went to the East River Marauders.  The Marauders would play the #4 seed, Armstrong.  Armstrong won 4-1.  The #2 seed Pembina Trail Twins beat the #3 seed Hyland Hills 7-0 and went on to edge Armstrong 2-0 for the championship.

YHH has seen a number of tourneys that mix Minnesota winter youth hockey teams with USA and Canadian teams in a single tourney.  Trying to match teams from Minnesota, Illinois, California, Florida, and Canada is tough.

The big Quebec Peewee AA tourney uses a 16 team bracket play format, seeds the teams, and has games played at seven different venues.  It is an historic “looser go home” tourney format.  One and done is no fun when a team travels 1500 miles to play.  Others have gone to multiple pools with typically four teams per pool.  That requires seeding and someone making a stab at the level of play of all the teams.  January's OneHockey Peewee AA tourney put all the  teams into one pool and said to each team, go for one of the four top spots.  They may have gotten it right.

Basically, each team decided their fate when they entered.  Once entered, each team had to play five randomly chosen opponents.  Nobody predetermined the outcome by seeding.  Some teams would be instant winners by big scores followed by losing, but the real key is that the tourney’s winners and looser didn’t start to materialize until the Sunday morning pool games indicating the teams were adjusting to different styles of play and different coaching.  More importantly, the teams that entered were competitive.  After three rounds, Sunday's games still had 10 teams with a chance to win.  More importantly, the teams  learned.

OneHockey leveraged the most out of the Super Rink in Blaine.  Other big tourneys like Quebec’s have multiple venues where tourney games are played.  OneHockey used the Super Rink’s eight sheets to play most of their tourney games.  That is important since they blocked scheduled each of the eight tourneys games.  Fans could easily see all 18 teams playing in a single morning or afternoon.  Most of the Peewee AA tourney Sunday morning games were played on Rinks 1, 2, 3, and 4.  With 10 teams still competing for the title and having their fate tied to other teams games and scores, it made it easy for the fan to walk the thirty seconds from on rink to another.  The result was an entertaining tourney that drew the most attention of all the eight tourneys played in January.

From this corner of YHH, having been disappointed by prior winter tourneys that attempted mixed Minnesota peewee AA/A teams, the 18 team format used this year by OneHockey hit the mark.  It was the first tourney that allowed disparate teams to find the “competitive nitch”.  For most Minnesota peewee AA or A teams, they learned especially playing the USA teams.  For Minnesota's top peewee AA teams, this tourney would be wrong, but for the majority of Minnesota peewee AA and A teams, this tourney and format is a challenge.  It is a good fit.

Summary

This was a difficult post to write.  Hockey in Minnesota is organized along lines that are easy to understand and as a result when a youth team from Thief River Falls in the northwest corner of the state plays a youth team from Winona or La Crescent in the southeast corner of Minnesota, the game is often very competitive.  But USA hockey teams are organized along rules that tend to fit their local hockey community interest with a much expanded area than what Minnesota would call a “local hockey community”.  A few years ago, at a summer hockey tourney at the Super Rink, a girl skated very well in a U16 tourney.  She was from Arkansas, one of less than six girl hockey players in Arkansas at that time, according to her parents.

In order to facilitate interest in hockey, USA Hockey is constantly faced with rules that are geared to an expanded definition of “local hockey community” that create disparity among teams playing from different "local hockey communities".  That is the status quo.  Tournament organizers like OneHockey try to organize their tourneys along the lines of best competition to bring these local hockey communities teams together.  Not an easy task.  January’s Peewee AA tourney was a good, successful, tourney despite having teams from Minnesota, all over the USA, and Canada.  It succeeded by letting the teams decide when they entered the tourney (created a single 18 team tourney) their level of play and by using a format that allowed the majority of the teams to remain in contention for the championship into the third day of the tourney (five pool games before deciding the championship round).  There was no "one loss and done" on the first day of the tourney.  Finally, by having all 18 teams in pool play, teams avoided playing teams from their local hockey community.  This had a good side, teams played teams with totally different styles that teams had to adapt to or lose.  It had a bad side in that there were mismatches where teams lost 10-0.  But that happens in any tourney.  In OneHockey’s tourney most of the teams losing big, came back to win one or two games.

Finally most of the teams entered in the tourney, returned home to finish the season playing better hockey.  That is after all what competition is all about.