This can obviously be much debated, so I broke it down into the divisions. Think of it as: if your a AAA team the toughest league is...

AAA-LBCSHL
All the AAA temas played each other once, so that all cancels itself out. Ghost, Ryan, Judge, and Roman all play one another again, and play Pennsbury and Neshaminy too. No other league has 4 AAA teams.

AA-SHSHL
7 Flyers Cup AA Teams. Enough said.

A-ICSHL
5 of the top 7 A seeds were ICSHL teams. 8 Flyers Cup Teams overall. This is undebatable.

SHSHL having 7 teams is respectable but only having 2 in the quater finals..

SHSHL had 14 AA teams, half got in, with 2 good LaSalle teams that were ineligible for FC. No other league had more than 2 in the quarterfinals (Intercounty had 2).

On that basis if you are talking about an AA league, who else would you consider????

Again I know I am always bias towards the ICSHL, but consider that the ICSHL is home to 5 AA teams I believe. One of which is not eligible for the flyers cup (Lower Merion) so that leaves 4 AA ICSHL teams eligible for the flyers cup (Conestoga, Downingtown East, Downingtown West, and Methacton). ICSHL teams played 4 games total (Methacton played Conestoga) and the ICSHL went a total of 3-3 in the flyers cup. So their winning percentage was 50%,

The SHSHL has a total of 12 eligible flyers cup teams and 7 made it but in a total of 11 games none of which were against SHSHL teams their record was 4-7. Their winning percentage was about 36%.

Also keep in mind they went 2-1 in the “play in” round not playing a seed higher than 16. So not counting the play in round the SHSHL had 6 teams that went 2-4.

The suburban league has more AA teams so of course they will get more flyers cup bids.

Another fact to consider

In the top 10 seeds the SHSHL has 3 of their 7 teams while the ICSHL has 2 of their 3 teams. So 4 of the SHSHL were seeding under 10.

I don’t mean to knock the suburban league but their flyers cup performance doesn’t make them the best AA league.

Ah - this is fun....

Other things to consider....

Are Springford, Boyertown and Coatesville A or AA??? (In the previous year when ICSHL had a AA league, they played AA - I just don't know).

The wildcard in your argument of seeding and record in FC comes down to the upset of Methacton over Pennridge, if that goes the other way, the league records are very different in the FC games.

You also had the #17 & #9 seed from SHSHL play 1 goal games against the #1 seed, where ICSHL's #4 seed lost to them 7 - 2 in the semi's.

We can beat each other to death with stats, the bottom line is that 4 (or 7???)teams spread over 3 divisions that don't play each other in league play does not make intercounty an AA "league".

SHSHL had 14 AA teams that all play each other (twice in the same division - once across division).

ICSHL North played 6 crossover games each against SHSHL teams that counted in their league standings. (Why didn't they play ICSHL south teams for some of those crossovers??). SHSHL does not count crossovers in their league standings. What is even more bizarre that ICSHL counts them in the standings when there was no consistency across the board on who played who. For example - Methacton played 5 SHSHL "A" teams in their crossovers (6 wins - including Norristown twice). I believe someone in an earlier thread brought that up in mentioning Springford who had a losing record and didn't get in FC played 6 "AA" teams (all loses) from SHSHL. Take that variation out of the crossovers out of their two records - they're both a couple of games over .500 playing common opponents within their league.
(Note Springford and Methacton split their games against each other). If Methacton plays all "AA" SHSHL teams, are they an above .500 team and even get in????? (the upset of Pennridge in FC notwithstanding) I'm not knocking either one of those teams, just using them as an example of the inconsistencies in the scheduling.

IC had seeds 4, 10 & 12, Suburban 5, 7, 9, 11,15,17,19 - not much variation in the top 3 seeds.

FC records and seeding is not the only barometer in this argument. In terms of shear number of teams, consistency of schedule and level of play of as an "AA League", sorry - it's hard to pick anyone else.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ralphy,

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We can beat each other to death with stats

I know, this is why I kept my reasoning for my opinion short.

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FC records and seeding is not the only barometer in this argument

This is true, but it is the only 'standard of measurement' we have between teams in all the leagues. The Flyers Cup records are still not a good barometer of the quality of teams.

Springford, Coatesville and Boyertown are All AA.
Other AA ICSHL teams are St Pius, Downingtown East plus the AA Flyers Cup teams.

Also Jigga, Lower Merion would be "A" if they were pure, it is only when you combine their enrollment figures with Harriton do they become AA.

I completly forgot about Pius,Coatsville, Spingford and Boyertown.

Also i misread the topic i thought this topic was best leauges in the flyers cup. I do agree that top to bottom the SHSHL has the strongest AA teams. I was just pointing out that the ICSHL seemed to do better in the flyers cup. Also i was pretty bored with my large break on campus today.

Thanks Matt for that confirmation on the teams.

And Jigga - just having fun with you on this one (and I was typing this before I saw your last post).

So ICSHL went 3 for 8 on getting eligible AA teams into FC, SHSHL went 7 for 12.

ICSHL North has 5 AA teams out of a 7 team league, only 1 of 5 got in.
Springford, Boyertown and Coatesville went 2 - 12 - 1 (with two SHSHL forfeits making it 4 - 12 - 1 for the record) against SHSHL AA teams - which in turn hurt their records (particularly Springford and Boyertown).
St Pius and Methacton went 10 - 1 against the weaker SHSHL A teams (11 - 1 including the forfeit - St Pius/Cheltenham - BTW how do you get a 4 - 0 score on a forfeit awarding goals & assists????). Heck, two of Perk Valleys league losses were to SHSHL AA teams (Abington & Pennridge).

Does that make SHSHL overall a better league than ICSHL - No, but if we are just talking about the "AA" Classification, I think the overall "standard of measurement" is met in this case.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ralphy,

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BTW how do you get a 4 - 0 score on a forfeit awarding goals & assists????).

That's nut's....I hadnt noticed that.

I don't even know how it can be a forfiet since Cheltenham didnt even have a team this year. How does a game get scheduled against a team that doesnt exist....and give a player a hat trick and an assist in the game?

I guess even I could score a hat trick against a team that doesnt exist.