there is also an extra cost for the extra letter, again at squirt AAA isn't the way. I thought it was with my 1st kid. With my 2nd kid he played tier2 AA up tp 1st year bantam. We took they extra cost of AAA and put toward different private coaches and spring AA/AAA tournament teams . My oldest played 9yrs at AAA never played higher than 2nd line forward. He spent 2 yrs in the Juniors and now got a partial scholarship for a NCAA D3 program. My younger son was 2nd line his 1st yr at 13AAA and was 1st line the last 3yrs. Now in his 2nd yr of Midget he was offered a spot on 2 Junior teams plus a NCAA D1 coach came to see him. If you are seriously considering the THF I hear good things about the Woodbridge Wolfpack. In the end its your money, spend it how you see fit.

Depending on the Tier 1 program vs AHF program. My sons Tier 1 program offers 3-h hr. practices/wk, 1 hr. skills/wk, 1 hr. video/wk and 1 hr. gym/wk. He also jumps on another teams practice every other week.  Include in tuition was 2 spring practices per week, plus a 4 day 6 hr/day summer camp. His old AHF program offered 2-1 hr. practices/week, every other week skills, no video, no gym, extra pay for spring practices and no summer camp. We did 1 day/ week private for 20 weeks and paid for  a week summer camp. When adding it all up we paid more for AHF than Tier 1. Now travel is more in THF, but not much more since AHF added teams every where. My son improve so much more this year at Tier 1 than last at AHF. Pace of play is also way faster at Tier 1, unless you are playing top teams in AHF AA.

Choice is yours, but when choosing a Tier 1 program make sure they skate as much as possible. Some Tier 1 teams spend 15-20 minutes per practice working on positioning while the coach holds a clipboard. Out Tier 1 program skates the kids hard entire 1st practice (power skates with and without pucks), more passing, shooting and outlets with skating 2nd practice, and third practice is 15 minutes of hard skating and 45 minutes of team concepts. 2 practices per week we get 1hr 15 minutes on ice.

Remember none of this means anything until kids hit puberty. For my kid, Tier 1 has improved him much more that his year at Tier 2, but his coaches concentrate on development- skating, passing and shooting over wins. Everything drill they do has skating as the center piece. Whatever works best for your family is what you should choose. Good luck!