Best Youth Hockey Programs in Canada?

[danishh]

i'd say the raiders are above the titans in the ottawa valley (despite the AA vs AAA qualms). Maybe this will change in the future, but historically that's how I feel.


(for the record, this isnt homer, i was a junior senator out of jim durell growing up).

 

[JFA87-66-99]

Great info guys, keep it comin!

 

[Garyboy]

1.toronto marlboros
2.toronto jr canadian
3.york simcoe express
4.notre dame hounds
5.elgin middlesex
6.Vaughn Kings
7. Toronto Young Nats
8. Missausauga Rebels
9. Ottawa Valley Titans
10. Thunder Bay

all in ontario...just say top 10 ontario teams that i believe in (catenacci and murphy) played in top prospects game (express alumni) plus ii played there so its sick lol

There were 3 Marlies in last nights Top Prospect game as well (Strome, Lessio, Piercey).

 

[nags]

1.toronto marlboros
2.toronto jr canadian
3.york simcoe express
4.notre dame hounds
5.elgin middlesex
6.Vaughn Kings
7. Toronto Young Nats
8. Missausauga Rebels
9. Ottawa Valley Titans
10. Thunder Bay

all in ontario...just say top 10 ontario teams that i believe in (catenacci and murphy) played in top prospects game (express alumni) plus ii played there so its sick lol

Must be a surprise to the folks out in Wilcox Saskatchewan that they are actually located in Ontario????

 

[Sammy*]

Edmonton Knights of Colombus by FAR in all of Canada.

Oh please. Their brutal thru & thru. From Novice right through to Midget
Theyve now taken to recruiting kids from out of town, getting the parents jobs in Edmonton, just so their rep teams can have some semblance of competivness (& their not).

 

[Sammy*]

Edmonton Knights of Colombus by FAR in all of Canada.

Oh please. Their brutal thru & thru. From Novice right through to Midget
Theyve now taken to recruiting kids from out of town, getting the parents jobs in Edmonton, just so their rep teams can have some semblance of competivness (& their not).

 

[Sammy*]

In what provinces/cities have no borders?. In Alberta, you have to play for the organization that is in your area.. I understand that at least in Toronto, you can play for whomever you want.Obviously if thats the case, organizations can recruit, therby making them stronger.

 

[pappin]

An earlier poster mentioned the Whitby Wildcats. It's a Hometown Hockey organization that has helped so many outstanding athletes develop and move on to the highest levels of the game. Joe Niewendyk, Keith Primeau, Wayne Primeau, Gary Roberts and Adam Foote are not a bad starting 5. More recently, James Neal, Tyler Seguin who went 2nd overall in last year's draft, Paul Ranger, Jay Harrison, Liam Reddox. There are probably a few I've missed. In the OHL right now, Ryan Martindale and Josh Shalla are among the league's scoring leaders, and 16-year-old Marcus McIvor was a first-round OHL pick last spring and played for the gold-medal Under-17Team Ontario squad.

 

[Daneurism]

It's confusing to me that Whitby has such a great minor league system and Oshawa's is so awful.

 

[joe66]

In what provinces/cities have no borders?. In Alberta, you have to play for the organization that is in your area.. I understand that at least in Toronto, you can play for whomever you want.Obviously if thats the case, organizations can recruit, therby making them stronger.

Yes and no to teams recruiting in the gthl when you first sign with a team you have to sign a card/contract and have to play for that team for two years. The only way you can get out of that is to move up or down in the system, ex (aaa to aa or aa to aaa) or be traded which rarley happens

 

[puckfan13]

Yes and no to teams recruiting in the gthl when you first sign with a team you have to sign a card/contract and have to play for that team for two years. The only way you can get out of that is to move up or down in the system, ex (aaa to aa or aa to aaa) or be traded which rarley happens

I can see that system getting EXTREMELY political with parents heavily involved in things. System here in Alberta works pretty well (evidently).

 

[featherhawk]

Thunder Bay has the most NHL players per capita in Canada, greg and ryan johnson's father had alot to do with that...of late there are the staal's, pyatt's, sharp, and of the past alex delvecchio, edgar laprade, jack adams, lee fogolin jr and sr and many more...

thunder bay kings is the organization

 

[Torts]

Notre Dame Hounds and Toronto Marlboros

Period.

 

[sjmay*]

Yes and no to teams recruiting in the gthl when you first sign with a team you have to sign a card/contract and have to play for that team for two years. The only way you can get out of that is to move up or down in the system, ex (aaa to aa or aa to aaa) or be traded which rarley happens

I believe they got rid of the card system now...

 

[j12]

Outside of the GTHL where teams are restricted to residency rules I don't think there's any rhyme or reason as to which organization is best. You can find one team at one age group be fantastic and the year younger or older being horrible.

Case in point, look at the '84 and '85 Welland Tigers clubs. The organization hasn't produced much of anything since or even before that (apart from Matt Ellis (1981) and Cal Clutterbuck (1987)) but in those two years you had: Nathan Horton, Paul Bissonnette, Dan Paille, Dan Girardi, Andre Deveaux, Jamie Tardif and Sean Bentivoglio, as well as a handful of guys who played in the OHL, NCAA, ECHL and in Europe.

Now with regards to the GTHL teams like the Marlboros or Red Wings, I think it's moreso a case of the best players clustering. I don't think they produce the best players because of their system. They just happen to be the clubs the best players want to play for.

 

[UvBnDatsyuked]

Outside of the GTHL where teams are restricted to residency rules I don't think there's any rhyme or reason as to which organization is best. You can find one team at one age group be fantastic and the year younger or older being horrible.

Case in point, look at the '84 and '85 Welland Tigers clubs. The organization hasn't produced much of anything since or even before that (apart from Matt Ellis (1981) and Cal Clutterbuck (1987)) but in those two years you had: Nathan Horton, Paul Bissonnette, Dan Paille, Dan Girardi, Andre Deveaux, Jamie Tardif and Sean Bentivoglio, as well as a handful of guys who played in the OHL, NCAA, ECHL and in Europe.

Now with regards to the GTHL teams like the Marlboros or Red Wings, I think it's moreso a case of the best players clustering. I don't think they produce the best players because of their system. They just happen to be the clubs the best players want to play for.

Absolutely! Big difference between PRODUCING and attracting top players. There are quite a few programs that do a great job of producing the players that end up on the top AAA teams in the GTHL.

 

[Pick Six]

Absolutely! Big difference between PRODUCING and attracting top players. There are quite a few programs that do a great job of producing the players that end up on the top AAA teams in the GTHL.

Can't it go both ways though?

I won't say teams like the Marlboro's aren't known for attracting good players, because they are. But I'd argue the main reason they do attract top players is because they produce top players. The Marlboro's in specific have run a pro-style system for years that's very helpful for not only winning games but for developing players.

As for the thread, I can't speak for the rest of Canada, but the Marlboro's are easily the top program in recent memory in Ontario, thus should be in the conversation. Each year they seem to be the top team in Ontario (and the surrounding US), and if not then they're in the discussion.

 

[Pick Six]

An earlier poster mentioned the Whitby Wildcats. It's a Hometown Hockey organization that has helped so many outstanding athletes develop and move on to the highest levels of the game. Joe Niewendyk, Keith Primeau, Wayne Primeau, Gary Roberts and Adam Foote are not a bad starting 5. More recently, James Neal, Tyler Seguin who went 2nd overall in last year's draft, Paul Ranger, Jay Harrison, Liam Reddox. There are probably a few I've missed. In the OHL right now, Ryan Martindale and Josh Shalla are among the league's scoring leaders, and 16-year-old Marcus McIvor was a first-round OHL pick last spring and played for the gold-medal Under-17Team Ontario squad.

Not exactly sure when he moved to Brampton, but I know he played at least 5 years in the GTHL before he got drafted off of the Young Nats. Not taking anything away from Whitby, you're right about McIvor I was a big fan of his the past two seasons in MM.

Also just wanted to say how impressive the '92 Toronto Young Nationals Minor Midget team was. They had the 2nd overall pick in Seguin and the 7th in Skinner, both playing in the NHL as 18 year olds. Not too bad.

 

[j12]

Can't it go both ways though?

I won't say teams like the Marlboro's aren't known for attracting good players, because they are. But I'd argue the main reason they do attract top players is because they produce top players. The Marlboro's in specific have run a pro-style system for years that's very helpful for not only winning games but for developing players.

As for the thread, I can't speak for the rest of Canada, but the Marlboro's are easily the top program in recent memory in Ontario, thus should be in the conversation. Each year they seem to be the top team in Ontario (and the surrounding US), and if not then they're in the discussion.

Well I grew up playing AAA in the OMHA and summer hockey with many GTHL guys in the IHT program (and played with many guys in both who ended up being NHLers), I can tell you that in my opinion good players are good players no matter where they play. Especially at the high-end of the talent spectrum, whether someone played for the Marlies or the Oakville Rangers, they'd still be the same player. I played with guys who went from the OMHA to a top GTHL club and regressed for whatever reason.

A good example of why I think it's mostly based on the clustering of good players in certain organizations is during my Bantam year we played the North York Canadians in the OHL Cup and they were a team with 3 guys who made the NHL. The Marlies weren't even on the radar that year. For whatever reason, the best players in the GTHL decided the Canadians were the team to cluster around that year. Also, I'm familiar with what various organizations do in terms of training and whatnot, and the Marlies and Young Nats and Red Wings, etc. aren't that much different from any other AAA team that takes itself seriously.

 

[UvBnDatsyuked]

Can't it go both ways though?

I won't say teams like the Marlboro's aren't known for attracting good players, because they are. But I'd argue the main reason they do attract top players is because they produce top players. The Marlboro's in specific have run a pro-style system for years that's very helpful for not only winning games but for developing players.

As for the thread, I can't speak for the rest of Canada, but the Marlboro's are easily the top program in recent memory in Ontario, thus should be in the conversation. Each year they seem to be the top team in Ontario (and the surrounding US), and if not then they're in the discussion.

Going by a lot of the names on rosters that I have followed for AAA hockey in the U.S., there are many that played a vast majority of their hockey with their local program and then later made the transition to the highly ranked AAA club. The small amount of players that I do know of that play/played GTHL AAA hockey did not play year after year with that AAA club.
I do not know the Canadian rosters like I know the U.S. rosters and apologize if the few I know about are not the norm. It is good to hear that AAA Canadian youth players do not jump from AAA team to AAA team and that the rosters do not change drastically from squirt minor to midget minor.