This is an old article, but the Ottawa minor hockey tiering system is arcane compared to the rest of the province.
For younger groups, Ottawa only allows "A" or "AA" teams. Some tournaments recognize that the top teams in Ottawa absolutely can play at beat AAA teams from Toronto. But other Ottawa region teams cannot. The fact Ottawa has them all in the same tier just for the sake of appearances isn't helpful to them having a good time at tournaments or when playing other teams.
I coached a AA level team from the GTHL who was absolutely murdered (like 16-0) by an Ottawa "AA" team from the same loop. They were forced to play as AA despite their skill level being AAA because THAT particular tournament saw their league status as and refused to let them "move up". However, looking at rankings, they're top 10 AAA team in the Eastern half of Canada.
It's a mess when one regional org doesn't match other regional orgs and then tournaments get sticky about their placement.
If nothing else, use something like myhockeyrankings "points" system to grade teams and let them choose a division. They have the "you are the top team from your club" rule because in other instances, Ottawa teams come in named "A" or "AA" and absolutely murder clubs with a similar name from elsewhere in the province.
This is an old article, but the Ottawa minor hockey tiering system is arcane compared to the rest of the province.
For younger groups, Ottawa only allows "A" or "AA" teams. Some tournaments recognize that the top teams in Ottawa absolutely can play at beat AAA teams from Toronto. But other Ottawa region teams cannot. The fact Ottawa has them all in the same tier just for the sake of appearances isn't helpful to them having a good time at tournaments or when playing other teams.
I coached a AA level team from the GTHL who was absolutely murdered (like 16-0) by an Ottawa "AA" team from the same loop. They were forced to play as AA despite their skill level being AAA because THAT particular tournament saw their league status as and refused to let them "move up". However, looking at rankings, they're top 10 AAA team in the Eastern half of Canada.
It's a mess when one regional org doesn't match other regional orgs and then tournaments get sticky about their placement.
If nothing else, use something like myhockeyrankings "points" system to grade teams and let them choose a division. They have the "you are the top team from your club" rule because in other instances, Ottawa teams come in named "A" or "AA" and absolutely murder clubs with a similar name from elsewhere in the province.