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W A oa D R to StatE hen the topic of hockey lore comes up in Minnesota, state tournaments are often a focal point of the conversation. The tradition of the Minnesota State High School Hockey tournament is renowned throughout the country. Not much is different at the youth level. State hockey Tournaments in Minnesota are simply one of a kind. "Playing in a state tournament is a memory of a lifetime for most of these kids, and Minnesota is the only place they can experience that in youth hockey," points out Tim Timm, District 10 Director and co-chair of Minnesota Hockey's Tournament Committee. This year more players, teams and associations will have the opportunity to experience how special the state tournament really is due to Minnesota Hockey's "A/ 12 AA AA" State Tournament Pilot Program. The initiative, which adds a "AA" level to the yearend tournaments for Peewees and Bantams, has been in the works for several years. The program is similar to the model used by the Minnesota State High School League. Large schools or associations participate at the "AA" level while smaller communities play in the "A" classification. During the season, teams from different classifications can play each other as they choose, but they are separated for playoffs. Associations have the ability to petition to move up or down in classification but minnesotahockeyjournal.com // February.2013 must do so before the season. For district, region and state tournaments, the Peewee A and Bantam A level will be separated into "A" and "AA" tournaments. The addition of the "AA" tournament has two major advantages. First, it provides a significantly larger number of players and teams the opportunity to experience regional and state tournaments. At the same time, it helps address the large disparity in size among the communitybased associations in Minnesota, giving smaller associations a more realistic chance of sending teams to state. More Teams "An extra classification has a multi-faceted impact when it comes to including more teams in the end-of-the-year tournaments," says Timm. "Not only do you add another state tournament, but you create a new set of regions, too." photos by Jim Rosvold by Derek Ricke New "A /AA" classes sending more kid s to state, de veloping better h ockey players