Great league , tough teams , you won't get much response on this board because of all the FED people , they won't admit that this league is comparable to FED elite and in some cases better .

And it's not in New England,

Chowder Cup was loaded with these kids , from what I saw at the 02 and 03 level all of them could play . Real good . Didn't see any full teams but kids were on a lot of the teams . Very strong players .

The teams are comparable in my opinion.
At each birth year, they have strong teams, weak teams and average teams.

The top-3-4 teams in each birth year can play with just about anyone.

One thing I've noticed is, there is a lot of variance in which clubs field good teams at different age groups. An AYHL club might have great PeeWees but then will have weak Bantams......and/or vice versa. It seems very random.

At 03 and 05, you'll find several in Top-10. 02s and 04s usually have 2-4 top-15-25 teams.

Good league but at 04s I would EHF is stronger but overall a little better than the E9 on the whole...

At 04 level, the comparison depends heavily whether you consider part-timer MFF a true part of that group.

If yes, then it's a no-brainer.

EHF is deeper regardless. Middle of pack teams in Fed would beat middling AY teams more often than not.

Going off last year's rankings of top teams, I'd say Islanders/Kings/Flames have the edge, on paper, on Team Maryland/Oilers/Valley Forge. NJ Rockets got a lot better in off-season, but left AYHL.

Regardless of perception, it seems that many of the top-half teams are going to be playing in some of the same tournaments this season, so it'll be interesting.

I think it will be interesting at the 02 level with some full and some split , should be some good match-ups at the Breakout , quite a few good teams there .

The 06 Boston breakout should be good. It's a good mix of Ehf,E9,and AYHL teams. Should be fun to watch. My kids team has played AYHL teams in the past and they have pretty good and well coached

The AYHL is superior to the EHF overall. The almighty myhockeyrankings will show that. There's good, bad and middle of the road teams in both. The older the kids get, the more top heavy the EHF is once the best teams finish poaching the last of the good players from the mediocre teams nearby. This happens to a lesser extent in the AYHL making it more competitive overall. AYHL teams are more spread out geographically, so there's less competition for players and they are drawing from a larger area. With that said, the teams at the top of each league vary by age group. The best 05 team may be in the EHF but there won't be much separation with the best AYHL team or vice versa. It's the middle to the bottom teams that make the AYHL more competitive overall.

AYHL has too many teams and is watered down. EHF is a smaller league and has been able to maintain a higher quality overall.

The entire Atlantic District has 36k registered players. Mass has 49k according to USAH.

49k registered players in Mass, 7 EHF programs. 19k registered players in NJ, 7 AYHL programs.

B teams dont count