A new place to talk about minor hockey in North America & Around the World. Jump in to the Minor Hockey Talk forum and discuss everything about Hockey in Canada & Hockey in the USA
The G isn't better. Only the top few teams in each loop are good. The bottom teams are really bad. In the OMHA, competition is closer.
Not one OMHA team is ranked in the top 3 in any age group. OMHA is AA.
The 2015 WW say hello.
Does top 3 in North America count?
2015 isn't even real hockey yet so no, it doesn't.
2015 WW also play in a weak OMHA league. The one time they played the Marlies they got pumped 4-2.
Soooo ya, not good.
2015 WW crushed every other gthl team this year. Along with beating the Marlies later in the year. Other than JRC, DMF, and Marlies - the top half omha teams pumped the rest of the bottom feeder gthl teams. Likely why their coaches r begging omha boys to join - they couldnt develop their own duds.
WW never beat the Marlies once! Check the stats bud.
Also got their asses lit up 5-0 by JRC.
Not ready for prime time.
Not one OMHA team is ranked in the top 3 in any age group. OMHA is AA.
The 2015 WW say hello.
Does top 3 in North America count?
2015 isn't even real hockey yet so no, it doesn't.
2015 WW also play in a weak OMHA league. The one time they played the Marlies they got pumped 4-2.
Soooo ya, not good.
2015 WW crushed every other gthl team this year. Along with beating the Marlies later in the year. Other than JRC, DMF, and Marlies - the top half omha teams pumped the rest of the bottom feeder gthl teams. Likely why their coaches r begging omha boys to join - they couldnt develop their own duds.
WW never beat the Marlies once! Check the stats bud.
Also got their asses lit up 5-0 by JRC.
Not ready for prime time.
Ww only played Marlies once and it was a loss
WW never lost to Jrc 5-0 bud
Guest wrote: ↑Thu Apr 10, 2025 9:35 am
Let the Toronto babies have their bottle.
Generally speaking, over the last 5-10 years the GTHL have most of the top 5 teams in the province. There are lots of reasons for this, but typically most of the reasons come down to "crazy hockey parents". Parents want their kids on "super teams" and up until this year, GTHL is the only league that had freedom of movement. So groups of kids all flock to 4 or 5 teams and they become phenomenal teams. The rest of the league? Garbage. You can look back over the past few years standings and you will see 4 or 5 teams at the top of the standings and then everyone else with a losing record or maybe .500.
With open borders now everywhere, you will see a course correction over the next 3 years.
Parents from OMHA territory are going to figure out really quick that they don't need to spend 2 hrs in the car every single day of the week to get their kid on a good team. And they certainly don't need to spend $12k. The start of KSL from years U7-U9 are pushing this along even further because kids in U8 or U9 hockey are experiencing no borders in OMHA territory. Kids are finding a spot with other talented kids and they are moving together to places. Perfect example is Whitby for 2015, and likely 2016. I am willing to bet, not a single kid on that team leaves and goes any where else. They value consistency and loyalty while being a great development program.
OMHA is going to be similar quality to GTHL for 2025-26, and even closer come 2026-27 when parents that did do the jump to the GTHL for U10 realize they didn't need to and come back to OMHA territory. There are shit parents everywhere in hockey, but their certainly seems to be a higher density collection of them in Toronto in the GTHL.
Why drive two hours every single day for practice to go to the GTHL, when you can drive maybe one long drive for a game a week with OMHA? You can get on a AAA team for nearly half the cost of GTHL teams. You typically don't need to deal with AS toxic of an environment either.
Let Toronto babies have their bottle, for now, in a year or two - lets see what the landscape looks like.
Finally, someone who knows what they're talking about. Anyone with experience in a borderless system like soccer or volleyball in this province will already know what this looks like. Toronto will have 3-5 teams that remain truly elite, but you will start to see teams and organizations outside of the GTA with the right coaches and programs make significant gains.
[quote=Guest post_id=215111 time=1744306892]
[quote=Guest post_id=215095 time=1744305879]
[quote=Guest post_id=214869 time=1744245742]
Why do all the kids who can’t make gthl AAA go to Brampton, Oakville, halton, Burlington, Hamilton, Richmond hill and Markham 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
[/quote]
Who wants to play in the G with all their money scams? Pathetic that they need to take it to that level because clearly their kid isn't good enough on their own ability. Check the Special Investigation report GTHL just posted with all the allegations. What a joke.
[/quote]
Classic excuse when your kid isn't good enough to make the G
[/quote]
Depends on what your goal is for minor hockey… also, every birth year is so different re: which league is better.
Guest wrote: ↑Thu Apr 10, 2025 9:35 am
Let the Toronto babies have their bottle.
Generally speaking, over the last 5-10 years the GTHL have most of the top 5 teams in the province. There are lots of reasons for this, but typically most of the reasons come down to "crazy hockey parents". Parents want their kids on "super teams" and up until this year, GTHL is the only league that had freedom of movement. So groups of kids all flock to 4 or 5 teams and they become phenomenal teams. The rest of the league? Garbage. You can look back over the past few years standings and you will see 4 or 5 teams at the top of the standings and then everyone else with a losing record or maybe .500.
With open borders now everywhere, you will see a course correction over the next 3 years.
Parents from OMHA territory are going to figure out really quick that they don't need to spend 2 hrs in the car every single day of the week to get their kid on a good team. And they certainly don't need to spend $12k. The start of KSL from years U7-U9 are pushing this along even further because kids in U8 or U9 hockey are experiencing no borders in OMHA territory. Kids are finding a spot with other talented kids and they are moving together to places. Perfect example is Whitby for 2015, and likely 2016. I am willing to bet, not a single kid on that team leaves and goes any where else. They value consistency and loyalty while being a great development program.
OMHA is going to be similar quality to GTHL for 2025-26, and even closer come 2026-27 when parents that did do the jump to the GTHL for U10 realize they didn't need to and come back to OMHA territory. There are shit parents everywhere in hockey, but their certainly seems to be a higher density collection of them in Toronto in the GTHL.
Why drive two hours every single day for practice to go to the GTHL, when you can drive maybe one long drive for a game a week with OMHA? You can get on a AAA team for nearly half the cost of GTHL teams. You typically don't need to deal with AS toxic of an environment either.
Let Toronto babies have their bottle, for now, in a year or two - lets see what the landscape looks like.
Finally, someone who knows what they're talking about. Anyone with experience in a borderless system like soccer or volleyball in this province will already know what this looks like. Toronto will have 3-5 teams that remain truly elite, but you will start to see teams and organizations outside of the GTA with the right coaches and programs make significant gains.
Yeah I think there are a lot of good points made, and I am not sure they hit on this point:
The "better exposure in GTHL" non-sense never really existed, but its even more debunked now. Kids who are good, get found. You can see that in the OHL draft quite easily. But social media, live-barn, etc make things even easier
Parents are going to start making "super teams" in OMHA and you will begin to get parity between the top 4 in the GTHL and the top 4 in OMHA. It will just take a couple years likely.
2015 isn't even real hockey yet so no, it doesn't.
2015 WW also play in a weak OMHA league. The one time they played the Marlies they got pumped 4-2.
Soooo ya, not good.
2015 WW crushed every other gthl team this year. Along with beating the Marlies later in the year. Other than JRC, DMF, and Marlies - the top half omha teams pumped the rest of the bottom feeder gthl teams. Likely why their coaches r begging omha boys to join - they couldnt develop their own duds.
WW never beat the Marlies once! Check the stats bud.
Also got their asses lit up 5-0 by JRC.
Not ready for prime time.
Ww only played Marlies once and it was a loss
WW never lost to Jrc 5-0 bud
Nobody cares your kid doesn't even play real hockey at his age. Obviously you have no background in sports and this is your first kid in hockey. Piss Off
Guest wrote: ↑Thu Apr 10, 2025 9:35 am
Let the Toronto babies have their bottle.
Generally speaking, over the last 5-10 years the GTHL have most of the top 5 teams in the province. There are lots of reasons for this, but typically most of the reasons come down to "crazy hockey parents". Parents want their kids on "super teams" and up until this year, GTHL is the only league that had freedom of movement. So groups of kids all flock to 4 or 5 teams and they become phenomenal teams. The rest of the league? Garbage. You can look back over the past few years standings and you will see 4 or 5 teams at the top of the standings and then everyone else with a losing record or maybe .500.
With open borders now everywhere, you will see a course correction over the next 3 years.
Parents from OMHA territory are going to figure out really quick that they don't need to spend 2 hrs in the car every single day of the week to get their kid on a good team. And they certainly don't need to spend $12k. The start of KSL from years U7-U9 are pushing this along even further because kids in U8 or U9 hockey are experiencing no borders in OMHA territory. Kids are finding a spot with other talented kids and they are moving together to places. Perfect example is Whitby for 2015, and likely 2016. I am willing to bet, not a single kid on that team leaves and goes any where else. They value consistency and loyalty while being a great development program.
OMHA is going to be similar quality to GTHL for 2025-26, and even closer come 2026-27 when parents that did do the jump to the GTHL for U10 realize they didn't need to and come back to OMHA territory. There are shit parents everywhere in hockey, but their certainly seems to be a higher density collection of them in Toronto in the GTHL.
Why drive two hours every single day for practice to go to the GTHL, when you can drive maybe one long drive for a game a week with OMHA? You can get on a AAA team for nearly half the cost of GTHL teams. You typically don't need to deal with AS toxic of an environment either.
Let Toronto babies have their bottle, for now, in a year or two - lets see what the landscape looks like.
Finally, someone who knows what they're talking about. Anyone with experience in a borderless system like soccer or volleyball in this province will already know what this looks like. Toronto will have 3-5 teams that remain truly elite, but you will start to see teams and organizations outside of the GTA with the right coaches and programs make significant gains.
Yeah I think there are a lot of good points made, and I am not sure they hit on this point:
The "better exposure in GTHL" non-sense never really existed, but its even more debunked now. Kids who are good, get found. You can see that in the OHL draft quite easily. But social media, live-barn, etc make things even easier
Parents are going to start making "super teams" in OMHA and you will begin to get parity between the top 4 in the GTHL and the top 4 in OMHA. It will just take a couple years likely.
scouts will never rely on live barn bud. That's one of the very basics. Keep your kid playing in Podunk, nobody has any idea who he is.
Top 4 teams in the province at AAA are almost always from the GTHL at every age group. Teams 5-20 are all very comparable and come from all leagues, on the rare occasion you get a team that can upset the apple cart. Does this mean 5-20 are bad? Nope. Those top 4 teams have players from all over the place on their teams, they compete with anyone in the world. It’s just an insane level that few can attain and it’s known that they will be at that level.
So is the GTHL better, yes, if you play on one of those team. Not worth it if you are not.