{"id":523,"date":"2022-11-25T17:28:47","date_gmt":"2022-11-25T22:28:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/?p=523"},"modified":"2022-11-25T20:20:36","modified_gmt":"2022-11-26T01:20:36","slug":"how-will-hockey-eastern-ontario-rework-its-aaa-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/2022\/11\/25\/how-will-hockey-eastern-ontario-rework-its-aaa-program\/","title":{"rendered":"How will Hockey Eastern Ontario rework its AAA program?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><strong>By: Rowan McCarthy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">There was a tense atmosphere in the arena Monday night as the Cornwall Colts U18 AAA and the Kemptville 73&#8217;s U18 AAA went into overtime after three periods of gritty back-and-forth play resulted in a 2-2 tie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Minutes into OT, Kemptville winger John Collins-Williams curled back in his own zone and sped up the ice. Finding a hole in the defence allowed the 15-year-old Ottawa native to cut hard to the net, receive a clean pass from linemate Jacob Ross and shoot it past Cornwall\u2019s goalie to score the game winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not a bad night for a rookie, who ended the night with one goal and one assist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Collins-Williams is one of the many 2007-born players who have just begun their first year playing hockey at Ottawa\u2019s highest minor league level. For many, success here is a key step to a successful hockey career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">John Collins-Williams takes a perfect feed from Jacob Ross and scores his 9th of the season, a big OT winner for the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Kemptville73s?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Kemptville73s<\/a> U18AAA Monday night. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lqHa22pDYg\">pic.twitter.com\/lqHa22pDYg<\/a><\/p>&mdash; HEO U18 AAA (@HEOU18AAA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HEOU18AAA\/status\/1594905254247731200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 22, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Enacted in 2016, the current system sees incoming 15-year-old players joining teams consisting of 16 and, to a lesser extent, 17-year-olds (the league has a minimum number of youngest players each team can have and a maximum number of oldest players).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But this U18 AAA league, now in its eighth year, will not see a ninth. Hockey Eastern Ontario, the league\u2019s governing body, announced in the summer it plans to rework AAA hockey across eastern Ontario. Whether the league\u2019s structure worked best for the city and its players, particularly 15-year-olds, has been a source of disagreement for many years.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With changes coming, stakeholders, including players, parents, coaches, scouts and team owners, are left to wonder what the new league will look like and how the successes and failures of its predecessor will inform a new system that better suits Ottawa\u2019s top talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>More players, lower skill<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There have been consistent complaints about the dilution of the league&#8217;s top talent once they reach the U18 level, where there are 12 teams with an average of up to 18 players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That far outnumbers the roughly 85 players in the league for younger players, where there are five teams.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey have automatically added 40 kids that have never played AAA before,\u201d Blake Callaghan, a scout for the Ontario Hockey League, says.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While there are players left over from the year before, the best players usually get drafted by the OHL in their first year, often removing them from the league. Because of the cap on 17-year-old players, third year players are rare in the league. Therefore, the empty spaces are often filled by players who are being brought up from AA for the first time (AA is a lower level of competitive hockey, where the skill and speed among players is not as high).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under a revised system with five teams composed only of players under 16, the argument is elite 15-year-old players would develop faster due to the higher skill level.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBut you are doing it at the detriment of a late bloomer,\u201d Ottawa Junior Senators (OJS) head coach Steven Malette says. \u201cPlayers develop at different paces.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His understanding of the league&#8217;s purpose was to \u201cprovide an opportunity for more players to play at an elite level.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor OJS, it has been a great success,\u201d Malette said. \u201cFifty per cent of the players that have come through the OJS program have ultimately played Junior A at one time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Changes are coming<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Callaghan, the April 2022 draft the league hosted for 15-year-olds resulted in 15 elite players declaring they would rather leave Ottawa and play hockey elsewhere than play U18 AAA, with some going as far as Pittsburgh, PA.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, a survey sent out to AAA families by HEO revealed that a majority of parents would prefer to see their children play in a league designed for players under 16, as opposed to a league open to players of various ages.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet past critiques of the league have not resulted in any formal changes \u2013 until now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/HEO-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"HEO logo seen from an angle. \" class=\"wp-image-536\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/HEO-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/HEO-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/HEO-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/HEO-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/HEO.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Hockey Eastern Ontario is the governing body for the U18 AAA league. The changes they announce will alter AAA leagues across eastern Ontario. (Rowan McCarthy\/Reloading News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After what it described as a \u201ccomprehensive data review\u201d revealed a \u201cchanging AAA landscape in our area,\u201d HEO says it plans to change the way AAA hockey is managed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The governing body says its desired outcomes for the new AAA program include addressing \u201cdeclining participant numbers, increase player retention, improve the HEO player experience and increase exposure for HEO high-performance players,\u201d according to a written statement attributed to Kim Greer, a director of Hockey Eastern Ontario. Despite numerous requests, Greer was not available for an interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>HEO said it expects to release a draft plan for public consultation within the next week and unveil an approved program by the end of December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Showcasing talent<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the criticism, there are some aspects of the current model that are working well. Many hope they will be incorporated in whatever new system HEO comes up with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One such aspect is the showcase format. On any given Saturday or Monday night from September through March, the U18 AAA league takes over the rinks at either the Richcraft Sensplex in Beacon Hill or the Bell Sensplex in Kanata.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMost of the teams come together on one day and play all the games right next to each other in the same arena,\u201d Collins-Williams says during a Zoom call the day after his team\u2019s win against Cornwall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He says he really likes this \u201cshowcase\u201d format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s cool because I get to watch my former teammates and friends all play.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is a notable feeling of community around the rink on nights when the U18 league takes over the building. Old teammates meet up to talk. Parents swap stories while they wait for their children to finish up in the locker room. And scouts mill about, their eyes fixed on the gameplay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI love the atmosphere,\u201d says Malette, the OJS coach. \u201cEvery game is like a tournament atmosphere. The excitement, the emotions, the amount of fans in the rink is great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are also practical reasons why this model works well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe showcase days are definitely nice,\u201d says David Robertson, who scouts Ottawa area players for the OHL\u2019s Niagara Ice Dogs. He says scouts in the past often missed games due to scheduling conflicts between games.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey are long days in the rink, but you get to see everybody at the same time, which is very beneficial \u2026 I can go to one spot and see everybody I want to see.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The OHL presence at games also means players are being evaluated for the next level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou are not getting overlooked. Nineteen of the 20 teams in the league have HEO representation in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Graph-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"A graph depicting the total number of HEO players drafted into the OHL as well as first-round-picks over time. \" class=\"wp-image-539\" width=\"735\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Graph-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Graph-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Graph-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Graph.jpg 1111w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Despite the changes in the models over the years, the number of 15-year-old players drafted by the OHL remains fairly constant. If anything there has been a rise in first-round-picks under the U18 AAA system. (Rowan McCarthy\/Reloading News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Leveling up<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Another aspect of the league many like is the affiliation system, which allows players to be loaned to Junior teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe AP process is actually very good,\u201d says Callaghan.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By affiliating with a Junior A or Junior B team, a player who is in the U18 AAA league can play some games with older players at a higher level and gain experience.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPlayers, whether it&#8217;s a goaltender, defenceman or forward, have the opportunity to be an affiliated player and have actually gone up to practice at the next level and see what is required,\u201d says Malette.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Collins-Williams says he is hopeful that someday he will be able to attend Kemptville\u2019s Junior A practice to \u201csee what it is like\u201d and learn what he needs to do to play at a higher level.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Players focused on the game<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>At the end of the day, whatever issues parents, coaches, scouts or owners have with the current model, players just want to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI was truly honored to be drafted by the Ottawa Junior Senators,\u201d says Oliver \u201cOllie\u201d Plante, 15. \u201cWe have a great team and great coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Plante says he finds the level of hockey to be competitive and enjoys the ability to improve his skills as he faces off against older players.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"958\" height=\"539\" src=\"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Ollie-Pante.jpg\" alt=\"a player seen from the waist mid turn.\" class=\"wp-image-535\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Ollie-Pante.jpg 958w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Ollie-Pante-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Ollie-Pante-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 958px) 100vw, 958px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ollie Plante forechecking at high speed. Ollie, a first year player, has 17 points in 15 games played. (Submitted by Andrea Plante)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Similarly, Collins-Williams says he feels he is doing well adjusting to playing against more experienced players and has found his stride. He would like to play Junior A or be in the OHL next year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI am trying to play at the highest level possible, and I think the U18 league can help accomplish that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf you play well, if you\u2019re one of the top players, you are going to be drafted.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stakeholders are left to wonder what the new AAA model will look like now that the HEO has announced a rework on eastern Ontario AAA programming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"The Kemptville 73's and Cornwall Colts face off in a tightly contested game. John Collins-Williams OT goal ultimately won Kemptville the game.","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,44,1],"tags":[57,70,9,36],"ppma_author":[27],"class_list":["post-523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-front-page","category-home","tag-community","tag-hockey","tag-ottawa","tag-sports"],"authors":[{"term_id":27,"user_id":7,"is_guest":0,"slug":"rowanmccarthy","display_name":"Rowan McCarthy","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_20221115_124233_596-1-scaled-e1668651818429.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/IMG_20221115_124233_596-1-scaled-e1668651818429.jpg"},"user_url":"","last_name":"McCarthy","first_name":"Rowan","description":"Rowan is an Ottawa-based journalist passionate about hockey and sports journalism. A part-time gig as an on-air broadcaster for Jr. B hockey made him realize journalism was what he wanted to do. Rowan\u2019s new normal involves not just calling Jr. B games but also coaching."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":574,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523\/revisions\/574"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/reloading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}