Hey Guys, went to a exhibition game with ND and White City, I'm from Manitoba and I gotta tell you things have to change in Sask. You guys can talk about development all you want but wow, the Manitoba AAA teams would absolutely destroy the Sask teams. Also the Manitoba AAA teams are not the best in the country. You may be developing more players but your not developing your top elite players.
The 'top' elite players are not developing because ... ?
A) You said so?
B) Manitoba has AAA?
C) AAA teams would 'destroy' AA teams?
D) All of the above
Your post wasn't very thought provoking, SNIPE, until you said 'You may be developing more players but ...' - Read that statement slowly.
Ok, sorry I wasn't very clear. Forget about A AA AAA AAAA....Sask has to many teams at the top level of their Bantam program. Sask is trying to develop to many players on the backs of their elite players. Your elite players are not being developed to their full potential as they are playing in a slower less skilled league. This is only my opinion.
Very well researched and thanks for going to the trouble. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the SK development model. We are doing just fine. This is very interesting in that it proves the point that SK is promoting kids just fine to junior hockey. In fact, really what bantam AAA does is pull the top kids from an area, same as anywhere. AAA has two, three (if lucky four) stand outs on a team. No different than our AA teams. I've watched several AA vs AAA match ups and I've found the compete level very good. AAA I would say "polishes" up the top kids and thats what separates them. Of course parents are shelling out thousands more to do it and in the end are not getting much more bang for their buck. I've heard enough of SK not developing players.***DEVELOPMENT***
A few thoughts for you SNIPE. All numbers from WEHP website.
1. Does playing against the toughest competition always 'develop' a player? Might it actually hurt development?
Several leagues send their prospects 'down' so they can develop into stronger athletes.
2. AB and BC have 'dominated' the first 2 rounds of the Bantam draft for many years. BUT!!! Check the numbers...
The population of these two provinces (AB and BC) combined is about 9 million people, SK has about 1.1 million, MB has 1.2 million. One would expect that AB and BC would dominate all rounds regardless of AA or AAA hockey organization in the provinces. One would expect that mathematically Saskatchewan would have 2 or 3 kids drafted in each round.
In WEHP words this was an 'off year for Saskatchewan' -- keep this in mind as you look at the numbers below:
AB pop. = 3.9 mill
BC pop. = 4.6 mill
SK pop. = 1.09 mill
MB pop. = 1.2 mill
AB picks:
Alberta – 77 total picks (34.7%)
Picks per round -1-9 and then 10-12 is the final number
10, 12, 5, 9, 9, 9, 7, 8, 3, 5
BC picks:
British Columbia – 46 (20.7)
Picks per round -1-9 and then 10-12 is the final number
7, 2, 5, 3, 4, 3, 6, 5, 6, 5
SK picks:
Saskatchewan – 37 (16.7)
Picks per round -1-9 and then 10-12 is the final number
3, 1, 6, 5, 2, 3, 2, 4, 3, 8
MB picks:
Manitoba – 36 (16.2)
2, 5, 3, 3, 3, 2, 3, 3, 3, 8
Using these raw numbers:
AB drafts 1 boy per 50,649 people
BC drafts 1 boy per 100,000 people
SK drafts 1 boy per 29,459 people
MB drafts 1 boy per 33,333 people
Using these numbers ... Maybe a better question would be ' What is AB and BC doing wrong?'
Very well researched and thanks for going to the trouble. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the SK development model. We are doing just fine. This is very interesting in that it proves the point that SK is promoting kids just fine to junior hockey. In fact, really what bantam AAA does is pull the top kids from an area, same as anywhere. AAA has two, three (if lucky four) stand outs on a team. No different than our AA teams. I've watched several AA vs AAA match ups and I've found the compete level very good. AAA I would say "polishes" up the top kids and thats what separates them. Of course parents are shelling out thousands more to do it and in the end are not getting much more bang for their buck. I've heard enough of SK not developing players.
Points well made guys
I think your premise is off, you need to compare (drafts, as per your example) to those registered and participating in hockey. BC has a large population but a low hockey enrolment on a per capita basis, according to my research AB has 50% more kids playing hockey than BC with about 20% less population. For those of you in SK who keep pushing this per capita BS keep your head in the snow bank, other provinces have more sports and activities for the kids beyond hockey. In the end, each province produces at about the same rate, based on participants.
What's the scoop so far this fall around the SK bantam scene? Any exhibition game results, thoughts on how the teams are stacking up?
Does anybody know what the actual participation rates (numbers) are per province??
Sask valley 2 Saskatoon Bandits 0
Saskatoon Generals 5 Prince Albert 4
West Central 6 Battlefords 6
Estevan 2 Brandon 1
Brandon 2 Estevan 1
Prince Albert 3 Saskatoon Stallions 2
Saskatoon Outlaws 2 West Central 1
Saskatoon Maniacs 4 Humboldt 3