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Way to dilute the talent pool some more. Moves like this will be the demise of T-IIIA. If you want to strengthen the level of play then get rid of a couple of teams and then, and only then will this sad excuse of a league represent itself well on the national level. Until then you are simply Hoodies pawns to play with.

Memory serves me that I have seen this cash grab before. Almost the same business plan that was the Southwest Youth Hockey League. It started well as a AA league then expanded to AAA, Tier II, A and B. Have any of you seen any of these games lately??? They are brutal, absolutely brutal. It has become a B league at best. The man behind the SWYHL?????????......... Ron White!!!!

So lets see here...... Boise, Fresno, Colorado Bisons and Arizona all new teams as far as I know and Capital to Bakersfield, Dallas to New Mexico in relocations. I think I got it right, SweetP help me out if I missed anything.

Hmmmmmmmm..... Looks like a pretty stable league and a great investment.

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While I understand the excitement of expansion I also understand the realization of to many teams and not enough talent to continue to push the development curve of players. These four expansion teams will need approximately another 100 mostly west coast players, I don't know where they are going to come from. If you take a hard look at WSHL and NPHL teams you will see that the top 4-5 teams in each league have 7-8 strong top end forwards and 3-4 top end dmen. The next tier of teams have 3-4 good forwards and 1-2 top dmen. Thed bottom feeders in each league have only 1-3 top players total so what happens when you add 4 more teams?

I don't have a crystal ball but I hate to think about the outcome. This will probably bring more parity (and god knows how we love parity here in the states) to the second tier of teams in the league but the level of play will suffer dearly in my opinion and because of this the AAA option will once again be a viable option with the exception of the cost. As the level of play sinks so will the reputation of the league and fewer and fewer players will be scouted and recruited by Tier 1 and 2 programs and colleges and with good reason. If you don't face solid competition your skills suffer in a big way and fast. Don't look now but instead of your top southwest players staying home to play in the WSHL there will be a mass exodus to legit T-III programs in other leagues and the WSHL will be back to junior B. Just my thoughts.

I brought the SWYHL into the topic as an example and I think that in many ways overexpansion in the WSHL will parallel the demise of that league. I was a part of the SWYHL in the beginning and for the first few years. While it was a great concept it has become an incredibly soft and low skilled league. I still make a point of catching some of their games each year and I can tell you that the last couple of years there have only been 5-10 players total that could even make the jump to any competetive team in T-IIIA. They ran the league into the ground and talking with those in charge they have absolutely no interest in improving it. What a shame.

"I'm Just Sayin"

Juniors is the place for players to hone their skills now that they have a command of their physical skills and gain exposure for NCAA and higher levels of play. Players don't have to be on a top level team to gain exposure to higher levels of play, although it helps.

The WSHL has developed a system of show case tournaments to display player's talents and it is working. I was fortunate to be attendance at the 2008 Dec showcase in Las Vegas and was impressed to see the attendance, by Coaches from East Coast NCAA Teams. They were scouting talent for upcoming seasons. I spoke to several of these Coaches during the Showcase and was pleased to learn that they were impressed with the level of play, talent displayed and that they intended to continue to come to the Showcase in the upcoming years to scout players. Collectively, they were not aware of the level of talent on the West Coast and how far the League had developed. Granted, Las Vegas is hard to pass up in Dec. and was a factor in coming, however, that draw quickly went to the way-side when the games began.

All of this does not mean that your son is a "shoe-in" to be offered a slot on some team, rather, it does mean the your 18+ player has place to continue to play, develope his skills, make contacts that will live through their middle years and they have put themselves in the right place to gain exposure for a reasonable financial commitment.

Yes there is a satuation point for the talent pool, however, I am not convinced we have reached that point simply because of the great distance between the most of teams locations. Ice hockey is not the oddity in the Western US as it once was and there are many youth teams and leagues out there with quality players that want to continue to play for the love of the sport and keep their dreams alive for a little longer.

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Originally posted by TopShelf2:
I've heard rumors, nothing even close to concrete though, that this new Red-Hawks team doesnt have a place to play and that things are all screwed up down there.

My question is: Is there any chance that this team won't actually be able to play the '09-'10 season? It seems like they're all set based off of the WSHL website, but I need to know for personal reasons... Thanks for any information.

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If I remember correctly, the demise of the SWYHL was brought about by the new playing format and re-scheduling rules of CAHA & SCAHA for California teams. In the good ole days, a club had to put down deposits for the SWYHL a year in advance. There were different levels of membership, depending on when clubs joined & how many teams clubs registered. This also gave certain clubs voting rights at the annual SWYHL meetings. Not all decisions were made exclusively by the SWYHL President.
I was able to witness the final year of SWYHL. My son was an assn't coach for a PeeWee team. It was still fun for the players & spectators.

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Norpac was on that same road of growth. There are 2-3 too many there as well. Although they have been strong at Nationals since the III A lock on growth, I suspect this will change now that the floodgates have opened in the WSHL.

When will the powers that be wake the *&(^*&*% up and do what is best for the kids and keep the level of play high. It seems that the WSHL is a revolving door of teams and markets. Stability is what makes a league strong. Not that Norpac is the say all end all but it sems to make sense that their lock on expansion has an effect on their play. For that matter, Minnesota has done the same. Stop looking out for the next sucker to drop $$$ on a franchise and look out for the kids.

Eight teams may be too many in the west but who knows until they play. Stability is a process. The league will shake out the weak sisters. **** , the NHL has a couple of teams in trouble. But I look at this league as THE BEST place for my son to grow as a hockey player. He loves the junior game and has told me he never wants to play the youth game again. His team was the youngest team in the west by a lot. It was set up to be a viable alternative to AAA hockey and I think the coach succeeded with a very competitive team.