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Bishop Kearney

Everyone this time of year thinks they become a mastermind. Organizations, parents, and players. We all make it the free-for-all James Gatz mentioned, and everyone wonders why there are so many disgruntled people out there. There has to be a better system than this one. You have organizations saying "come play for us, we're AA" without returning anyone or even knowing who will be on their team! Silly. However, they do that because a parent won't let their kid play there if that organization was honest and said "we won't know our level until kids come to tryouts, accept, AND STAY on the team." Why? "Maybe there is a higher level team out there you get on, Billy." To the "staying on the team" part, I don't know why organizations just don't charge a higher, non-refundable commitment fee to dissuade players from jumping after accepting. Yeah, so more well-off family may be willing to eat that fee, but it's less likely to happen if it really hurts. A $300 deposit is chump change compared to what this sport costs anyone on an annual basis. And more and more people are willing to eat that fee no matter the cost. James Gatz, I like any of those options better than this crapshow, but good luck getting anyone to jump on them. What about having a fourth option where independent organizations go first, then have a week off, then PAHL AA, then PAHL A/B, THEN supplementals? PAHL can't regulate the independents, but they can regulate their members. Logically, it should be AAA, then AA, then A, then supplementals for teams that need players to fill teams. I agree with the original premise, though: This overlapping (especially with supplementals taking place before other organizations even have tryouts) is bunk. Thoughts?

Actually not really any one thing. That's the point. Who are the coaches, does the kid fit in with the other kids, location, do the tryouts show that they will have a enough for a team or was turnout weak, what team will the kid place on, what kind of schedule will there be (will practices or out-of-town travel conflict with school hockey).... There's lots of stuff. Things change year to year everywhere. Whether the kid has stuck with one team for his whole life or played for a few, sometimes kids or a parent want to explore a change. And sometimes they don't, and that works out also.

Local hockey organizations did little to contribute. Or at least, there's more to the story than local hockey.

There are plenty of ways the tryout season could work. The current model is basically a free agency free for all. I am not sure that's not the best. It let's the kids play where they want to play and lets organizations build teams. Players have to be selective with where they tryout and have commitment fees at stake if they want to play the field. The system isn't perfect, but it works. Thinking through potential alternatives each have their own issues. The independent teams add a layer of complexity, for a league like the PAHL, they could have some league rules tryouts/offers. (of course those rules would have to approved by organizations, who are not likely to vote against their interest). Option 1--An offer clearinghouse. It could work like residency placements for doctors. Players tryout at different places. Players and organizations submit priority list to the clearinghouse and the clearinghouse matches players with teams. Players have no choice but to play for that team. Does anyone really want this and trust the clearinghouse? Talk about taking away a coaches role in building a team. Option 2--Impose geographical boundaries on team formations. Any takers? Option 3--Schedule tryouts so there are few overlaps and require organizations to keep offers open until league-wide commitment date. No organization would vote for this and it likely would lead to lots of supplementals. I'm sure there are other approaches, but I can't think of any that improve on the current approach. The current approach maximizes the individual player's freedom of choice. Some of those choices have consequences...

offers on a team that is good enough for Johnny

What are you shopping for that you are going to find out at tryouts?

I think your point about taking your kid to 4-5 tryouts is exactly why they do it. If there was any sort of allegiance to an organization they would just schedule whenever. But with everyone window shopping around town, you have to try and lock your kids in before they see something else they like.

As the title says. Why? Not even just regular tryouts, but teams having supplementals at the same times as teams are still doing regular tryouts? As a parent, I would have no problem with my kid going to tryouts for 4-5 organizations. But it's really hard to do that when you're possibly going to miss at least a day at other places. So now you're sort of forced to put all your eggs in one or two baskets instead of going to several and missing a day or two of each. Now this has to be on purpose, because there's not a lot of hockey going on right now at the rinks but not only are dates the same, but times overlap. I get every org wants to get the commitments first before the others, but they're also missing out on kids that would otherwise perhaps at least get in the door of another org and consider playing there. It's just another hockey thing that seems to be made more complicated than it needs to be.

Well how about that? 2 Pittsburgh players on this team and yet the nay-sayers on here still bash local hockey. Seems it's mostly disappointment of their own that they are displaying.

The best kids don't stick around anywhere for 18u. The best kids are playing USHL, OHL, NTDP at 16u and certainly by 17u. And i'd guess a good number of the "next best" kids are playing some other Junior League by 18u as well.

Edited. Thank you! Tonight 4/25

You're other post says the 16u is tonight?

Vengeance 14U Girls has room for 1-2 skaters. Contact coaching@scirhockey.org for details.

The best kids don't stick around for Pens at 18U. Mooney played up through 16U. Humphries last played for Pens when he was 13 then went to prep school I believe.

Christian Humphreys and LJ Mooney. Both played with the USNTDP this past year. Mooney (2007) started the year w/ the U17s. Now playing up a BY with mostly 06s on the U18 team.

Care to tell us who those 2 are without us having to look them up? Are they both Pens Elite 18U last year? Thanks in advance!

Really well said. And all true.

Props to two local boys making the U18 National Team.

What age group? As far as I know, at the 18U AAA level, there were 2 teams—Gold (Major or better team) and the Black (Minor or not as good team). I think that it was similar to PPE’s Gold and Black. The Gold team billets, lives there, and goes to school there. The Black (Minor) team would do a preseason training camp, then go out to tournaments/showcases, then reconvene on a weekend when no tournaments were scheduled, and do High Performance Weekend training for 2 days. They’d do that every month or so. It would consist of: Tournaments, High Performance Weekend of practice, tournaments…etc. Players lived at home and commuted for everything. As far as I know, that Black team folded. The Gold (Major) team has players that live and stayed in/near Cincinnati. It’s the customary billeting, online schooling, some minimal commuting, and/or something similar where they have regular practices during the week, and games or tournaments on weekends.

I came across this.

Not even that so much about the parents seeing the dream isn't attainable. But where before the parents gotta get Little Johnny to the Vengeance tryouts because those kids are "better" and clearly Little Johnny is better... At 15, 16 years old Little Johnny is now Adolescent Johnny and he's saying, "I want to make extra money, I want to hang out with friends, I like hockey but it's not the only thing I'm interested in that I want to put all this time and effort into when I have a bunch of homework and a part time job and want some video game time, etc." And for the dreamers- I don't think most people realize what that dream really takes. Meaning the work, time, money, and commitment that is in your control nor the "have-it-or-you-don't" genetics and mind for the sport, and luck that is not even in your control.

Yes and no. They’re springing up all over the country now. They’re part of TPH (Total Package Hockey). Philadelphia is starting (buying) one for this coming year. I draw parallels with the model that PPE uses. Only, they’re in a lot of places that are not traditional hockey markets. They simply don’t have much in the way of home grown talented hockey players to compile a AAA team. Places like: Cincinnati (Tri-State), Nashville, Des Moines, Atlanta, Ft Lauderdale, Estero/Ft Myers, Huntsville, Phoenix, Waterloo, etc. So, they tend to have to bring in players to fill out their rosters. If you’re a kid that loves hockey and is not going to get seen because you play in rural Iowa, and your parents have the dough to give you a shot that’s better than the local outdoor farm rink in-house league. Pittsburgh is pretty spoiled by the proportionally high number of newer rinks/ice sheets and our proximity to some of the blue-bloods in Michigan, Western NY, and Ontario/Toronto. So, what happens is when non-traditional markets get enough money and support to build a new facility and then TPH moves in and does their thing to attract these kids and their money. Which makes me think (and it’s a little off topic), there’s a lot of old, dark, moldy, smelly, and dingy barns the further north you go (especially in Michigan and Ontario). I’d much rather play out of a new, clean, bright building than some where like an inner city Detroit rink where they use chain link fence instead of glass. Programs like Tri-State (and other TPH) attract players from hockey hotbeds as well because they can sell the facilities, along with their version of high-intensity on/off ice training, and their overall hockey-centric lifestyle. Some kids want that whole experience vs what Pittsburgh has to offer. If you think about it, there’s a shrinking number of AAA programs here with only 3(?) U18 organizations now. That’s a pretty limited number of positions. Most of those positions are already spoken for anyways. Don’t get me wrong, I would not do it. I would have to make a ton load of money to even ever consider it for my son or daughter. But, I get what they’re trying to do.

Still time to register for tonight! 8:30 PM PGHAVIATORS.COM