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I don't want to over dramatize this because I haven't seen every team or every kid but from what I have seen at the squirt and peewee levels (changes as they get older) these teams do struggle to play a team game. There is a lot of puck hogging, selfish play, skating down the boards with heads down, over decking, and it works well against medium to high talent and they lose against the elite talent (which is why despite being ranked in the top 10 they feel a need to bring in outside help as the kids age). That being said the kids are very skilled so it does work sometimes. A lot of this may be driven by the fact that ever kid feels they need to be the best in order not to be cut next year and kids measure best by how many goals they score not how many times they attempt passes or play defense.

So you are going to let the people who are just getting into this fend for themselves and not be guided by your wisdom? I think people like you might be a big part of the problem as they only care about their kids and then complain about the big picture after they have gained all the experience. Why do you even bother coming on here if you don't care?

Sorry - the post didn’t quote properly. The question was asked, who’s really making money on hockey - my reply was “plenty”.

Brian Mueller was a Vice President of 200x85 and the Coach of the 2003 Chicago Mission. At that time there was no chance for PPE to beat them so........... they bought him and his star player whom just so happened to be the grandson of Rocky Saganiuk. Who is Rocky Saganiuk you ask? A former NHL player who also had a lucrative business in Chicago called Rocky hockey which was a great program and was 8U ADM before USA hockey joined the bandwagon. Rocky now oversees the Little Pens program and does a great job with it. Now back to the 6 figure coaching salaries. What number do you think it took to uproot these guys from their existing lucrative jobs and their families? Hint: there's a better chance it was 7 figures than 5 figures.

You must be new here. There are a lot of people on this forum that firmly believe western PA rivals other hotbed hockey markets, which clearly it doesn't. Have you looked at a PPE roster lately? More and more kids are imports from out of state and word is with recent PPE tryouts many local kids from last years teams got cut and are looking at other options. Vengeance, Lebo, Preds are all comprised of local players yet those teams can't compete with PPE...........I wonder why? I am not salty about anything, just stating facts.

How many would you be happy with? Who said Western PA is a hockey hotbed anyway? Is that the way it should be in your mind? If so that's great but I think any representation in the selected best 49 in the country from our little section of Western Pa is great! There are too many people on here who are salty for whatever reason about Western Pa Hockey! I don't understand!