Leaderboard

ALL: Once again I am getting emails bounced back to me as a result of email addresses that are on your account, being deactivated or changed. The system generates emails to you when you get direct messaged or you are subscribed to threads, when someone replies to that thread. I am ask everyone to go into their profile RIGHT NOW and check the email address that is on your account. CLICK YOUR NAME CLICK ACCOUNT SETTINGS CHECK YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS When you are done please do a LIKE (pick an emoji) of this thread to acknowledge you've checked your email for me. THANK YOU PB

At the Moon Richland game last night. Richlands first game back in PIHL and the after the 2 hour drive, they had to stand through a 15 minute 67 jersey retirement for the Moon player who passed away last spring in a car accident. So how did they handle it? By hanging a 67 Richland jersey behind their bench. Class act all around from Richland. tenband tv broadcast the ceremony and game if anyone is interested.

My daughter was the goalie. She has been on skates since she could walk. Has been playing hockey for as long as I can remember! Eats, sleeps and breathes hockey. No amount of harassment will keep her from playing. She has handled this way better than I have.

I am the mom of the mars goalie. I unfortunately was not at the game on Thursday, although I am glad considering the events that took place. She is extremely resilient and is doing fine. She refused to say she was upset. She said all the players on the Armstrong team are friends of hers and were very upset by this. We have gotten a phone call from both the mars and Armstrong administration. Armstrong was very apologetic.

My son felt he was ready for AAA hockey around 12 or 13. Tried out at Esmark - was cut. Was told his size was too small. Pens Elite tryouts were the next week He asked to tryout. We believed all the things we had heard - the team was pre determined, If you didn't get invited you didn't stand a chance, it's all political....blah, blah, blah. We still let him tryout. He made the team. Yes, he was a bottom player. The next year (14U)- was the very first year black teams were being introduced. He was put on the black team. Coach explained - if we put you on Gold - you'll sit on the bench for games. If we put you on black - you'll get top minutes. My son was crushed - but after cooling down and thinking it through he decided to stick it out. He played the next year on black team. My kid worked hard as did every kid on that black team. (That year - the Black team beat the gold team at Mid ams.) My son continued to develop - loved the game. He continued to learn to play the speed of the game and to even pick up the speed on his shifts. It wasn't always roses and sunshine at Pens Elite. But, he continued to grow. He stayed through 16's then played 18's at a prep school. He ended up playing in the NAHL and is playing NCAA Div.1 hockey. He was a bottom player of a AAA team at 12 / 13. What changed that? skating, skating, skating - drills, practice, lessons, shooting pucks everyday in the driveway. Does the kid want to wear the jacket to wear the jacket or does he actually want to put the work in to develop? I watched Pens Elite cut a kid that then went to a prep school - that led to being drafted by the USHL and then committed to an Ivy league school for Div.1 hockey - the Pens Elite aren't the final say on a kids destiny.

This is absolutely not what the judge said. What the judge actually said was that he found Montour's arguments compelling, and that the ambiguity in the rules is also troubling to him. However, he noted that in order to issue an injunction there would have to evidence that irreparable harm would come to Montour, and that Pennsylvania case law has found that a loss of opportunity to play in a potential playoff season does not constitute irreparable harm. Because Montour was unable to show that irreparable harm would result from the situation due to the case law, the judge could not issue the requested injunction. Note though the first part - the judge did say that he found Montour's arguments for why they believed the player was eligible to play credible. Paragraph 1 says (in part) "the innocent and highly successful Montour Hockey Team". That doesn't sound like the comment of a man who thinks Montour would fail in court on the facts. He also notes that he wasn't commenting on the other prerequisites for issuing an injunction because case law is clear on the question of irreparable harm in this situation and further analysis is not required (this is common in these cases - because you have to show irreparable harm to get an injunction, judges often use that as the first test and stop their review if irreparable harm cannot be demonstrated). I'm thinking the judge here believes that Montour would win this issue in court, but he cannot order an injunction. My take is that PIHL needs to overhaul their rules regarding transfer students completely, and also needs to take a lesson on due diligence here. PIHL should be able to rely on organizations to fill their paperwork out completely and correctly, but the issues with ambiguity in the letter of the rules are undeniable, even if it is reasonably clear what the intent of the rules is. As I said before, it's not hard to imagine this happening with everyone acting in good faith, and misunderstanding the rules. It's clear, at least now, what PIHL intended when they wrote that rule, but the rule itself is fuzzy as written.

Happy Hockey Fan, Unless you are a member of USAH district or national staff, or in a position of administration in a league, you have no right to expect to see such a list of evals any more than you have a right to see the nightly evaluations of NHL officials. AND NO, you do not pay the officials' game fees.... you pay money for your kid to play at xyz org and xyz org in turn pays money to play in abc league... It Is abc league that is responsible for providing officials for their league games and in turn pay for the officials so if anyone gets to see such a list it should be the folks responsible for running the league - not some pissed off self important parent. Just like eval lists, discipline of officials is not normally something made public. I know of two officials that received 1 year USAH suspensions and many other occasions where officials were removed from the schedule for a month or more. The leagues were notified of the actions but it wasn't posted on the interwebs to satisfy the need for a pound of flesh.... Does the HR department where you work send out a memo to all employees detailing infractions and disciplinary actions taken against employees?

I can't believe there's even a discussion about these rankings after the first release. Let's revisit these in about 8 weeks.

I make my 9 year old rewatch every single practice and tell me exactly why he messed up the drill or missed the shot. Then he does 100 pushups for every mistake he makes. He will thank me when he’s in the NHL in nine years. Couldn’t do it without livebarn!

Because there is community value in PAHL and good economies too. When my AA team buys in to PAHL but your AA(A) team doesn't, what happens? Hockey gets more expensive for everyone. In PAHL we might both pay $2k for our kids to play. But to be independent/AAA, you pay $5k-$6k for your additional A. Next year, because there aren't enough PAHL teams, now I have to shop for that additional A too. So where we were once paying a combined $4k, now we pay a combined $10k. Aaaand since we are too proud to play each other, both teams need to go out of town to play when they could just as easily have played here. More $$$ flushed away. Bad for us as community because we live in the same town, hold common interests, yet unable to share them. Bad for us financially because we pay a premium on something that could have been had for 50% the price.

Thanks but I have the most accurate information since I’m actually on the team

Since Jim Black was unfairly maligned in that same post, when ironically, his rink is one of the best to play at if you are female, I would name him a good one. Bob Arturo from RMU, retired. Marianne Watkins. Brianne McLaughlin. Howard Smith. Just about every coach my kid has ever had. The ones volunteering time to run their programs. Be their team managers. The young people coming out to help with the mite programs. There are lots of good refs. There are a lot of good people in the hockey community. It's why we say 'hockey community'. This Board is mostly used to complain.

The best part about all of this is we live in a world of cameras where an NHL team can go offside 40 seconds before a goal and he called back or a baseball homerun can be 2 centimeters off and be waved off but we can't punish a bunch of rednecks calling a minor girl a whore.

He was impressed with the extra "A"

People have too much time on their hands

Ya know what the real shame of it all is? There have been a lot of good, knowledgeable, dedicated people that have worked their asses off over the last 40 or so years to try to facilitate better opportunities for local talent. But, here we are nearly right back where we were in the 70's and 80's where you pretty much needed to find a way for your kid to play in Michigan, Massachusetts, or Canada (maybe Minnesota if they are really good and your family is from there) if you wanted a half of a sniff at JR's or NCAA D1.. just to try to get a fair shake at proving they are good enough. and even then the deck is stacked against you because you are just not part of the club. Now here's the real ironic thing.....Everything we bitch about daily just doesn't matter. For the most part, it has always been a "who you know, who you blow, or who you can buy off" prospect. The hockey world is a lot smaller than most really know. It's more like an exclusive Country Club and you gotta have the right pedigree, have enough money, or be useful to get past the front gate. Probably the only reason that kids from the hoi polloi families (as that radio personality Mr. Madden would call us) have any chance of success is that they DO have family resources that have been through the grinder. Who were chewed up and spit out, while having had their dreams shattered and eyes opened. We remember and learn from that experience. We know the game and can teach the game. We know and can teach the skills. We pass our knowledge and experience on to our kids, grand kids, nephews & nieces. And we do their best to try to guide them through the jungle.

Hi! Board member here? You had a bad experience a few years ago that I am sorry to hear about. BUT a majority of the current board was not involved in that so the continuous barrage of “bad people on the board” is annoying and offensive. Many of us are new and working extremely hard. I swear, you just sit and stare at the website waiting for something scandalous to pop up. Yes, Posey resigned on his own accord. His decision. And his “resume” is really not any more impressive than the next when you consider he did not play past high school hockey. The coaches that are lined up have all played a high level of hockey past high school: i.e AAA, Juniors, college. Is he a good skills coach? Absolutely. But so are 100’s of others. That’s not an insult it’s just a fact. Yes, we had attrition. We were expecting a high amount. We were surprised how high that amount ended up being. There was definitely a lot of self reflection and plans put in place moving forward. Hockey is fickle. I’ve been around it long enough to see many organizations have mass exodus’s and push forward. Parents are always looking for the next big thing or greener grass. Some organizations profit from it, some don’t. It ebbs and flows. The “it” organization isn’t the “it” organization for more than a few years in a row. I honestly wish you would just move on from NHAHA and find a new obsession. Some of us there are truly there to make a difference and to grow the organization. This week alone, I’ve put more hours in on the phone and sending emails than I did for my own job. Please just accept that your previous experience sucked but it had literally nothing to do with those of us there who are putting in the work to make other’s experience a positive 1.

We played AA from Bantam on. It was appropriate for his dedication level. He had talent to potentially play higher but not the passion. That’s fine with me. He had a blast. Made great friends. Played two other sports. Went to proms and homecomings etc. Hes going to play either D1 or 2 ACHA depending on his dedication level. I’m fine with either one. AA tended to cost us around 3K in fees. A couple years we played independent and PAHL so more travel was needed but everyone understood that. Some years we did 3-4 tourneys with 1 or 2 in town. Some years we did 6-8 mostly out of town. From Bantam to midget we lost about half our kids. Some to whatever AAA. Some to school full time. A few just had enough and focused on other sports. Had my son worked harder and wanted some level of AAA I would have supported it. To me hockey was red about an expectation of NHL glory. It was about the time we spent together. That was worth every dollar. He played travel baseball for a while and my daughter played travel softball. I spent a lot of money. The same I would have spent on a nice vacation every year. Adults make decisions. I’m glad we do have some intelligent discussions that newer parents can get info from. I often wonder why the bulk of this board is slamming PPE or “faux” AAA but to each their own. The fun part is my grandson played his first year of mites this year. I have the experience now. I also laugh at the ridiculous mite parents although my wife reminds me that was us 12 years ago. if your kid is playing now then cherish the time and understand they probably aren’t going to play in the NHL. Understand that there are great camps and skills development but also understand that their are people out there who will tell you anything for dollars. Sit back and get your joy from the joy your kid has. Isn’t that what it means to be a parent? If you are constantly pissed off about coaches/playing time etc. really talk to your kid. Are they really pissed off too? Ultimately listen to your kids. Understand what they really want. Fill that need if you can. If your kids aren’t playing anymore than relax and offer sage advise. Don’t just say xyz sucks. Tell them why and don’t say it if it sucked for you because of whatever. Give them a little more perspective.

unless you're PPE....

I think any parent addressing another child should be an auto ejection.

Gonna need to update my user name

I feel it is necessary for me to speak up on this forum and offer my apologies to the entire Western Pennsylavania Hockey Community, the Mars School District Community, the Mars Area School District and the hockey team itself for the behavior of our student section Thursday night. Since we first heard of these behaviors as school adminstrators we have been in contact with the owner/operator of the venue in which the game occured, as well as our local president expressing our displeasure for this behavior as well as the lack of action taken on the security officers’ part as well as the arena management. They agreed that more should have been done. We have reached out and discussed this incident with the administration at Mars High School to offer our aplogogies not only to them but mostly to offer our apologies to the young lady that was ridiculed. The school adminstration stated that they appreicated our efforts in this regard. We have been in contact with the PIHL and have been part of banning our students from attending any further games until a point in time in which the PIHL feels we have taken enough steps to ensure apporiate behavior. We will respect any decision they make and will be supportive in any way in which we can. Ironically, we are in the process of creating and implementing a sportsmanship program within our school to serve as an educational opportunity for our students. Unfortunately, we were not fast enough in the implementation of this program. We are still trying to identify the students from the video to take disciplinary action. The bottom line is we do not condone these actions from any of our students and will look to take appropriate disciplinary actions as a school. This is certainly a mess. We are embarrassed and working hard to change the behaviors and ensure what happened Thursday night never hapens again. Mike Cominos Principal

Maybe people can't afford it, too. The cost of these programs keeps skyrocketing, and they've been around long enough to see you don't get the return promised.

As an official, sometimes you do miss the secondary assist, when that occurs I normally ask a coach or the goal scorer something like "which d-man made the 1st pass?" or something along those lines. They are good with giving me a number 99% of the time and I have to trust that they are going to give me the correct information. I only ask if I know that there was a 2nd assist and I missed the number, I won't hand out an assist just because a kid skates up to me and claims to have made a pass. If teams want to send in stats corrections, so be it. I'll be the first one to admit that I'm not perfect but I can say that I do the best job that I can when I'm out there. I always wanted my son to get credit for points when he deserved it back when he played so I make it a point to give these kids the same credit today.

Not to completely derail this thread, but the Preds are a joke. You mentioned you “spoke to the coaching staff”. That’s great. They will tell you anything you want to hear to get your tryout money and if your kid sucks up to them enough, or your wife is hot and flirtatious, your kid will make the team. However, he won’t see any playing minutes unless you are ponying up and taking weekly private or small group lessons with the coach. Thats a fact. DM me for more info. I know these guys personally and have for many years. Nothing ever changes. Ask some of the 08-12’s who have left because of those exact reasons. They over promise, under deliver, and over charge you.

My son played in the AHF. I'll say that the league does a much better job of managing their website. Live scoring, stats, players of the week, all-star teams are all pretty cool and certainly add to the experience. I'll also say that the level of competition in that league is absolutely not worth the 10-12 hours of driving you'd do for a weekend, even if you do get 4-6 games. If you're in PAHL already there's no point in adding that amount of driving and hotel stays to play teams that are equal to the competition out here (at best). If you're an independent team you can easily find equal or better competition within 2-3 hours (Ohio, Buffalo) and not take that long trip on the turnpike.

The "parent coach" discussion always makes me laugh... don't get me wrong there are also parent coaches out there that know very little about the game and just are trying to help, but it's like someone that is good at hockey, knows how to coach, cares about the kids, has considerable hockey knowledge is all of a sudden null and void once they have a kid?! I get it, everyone is worried that kids will be treated "unfairly", "favored", etc. if a parent is behind the bench. If anything, I probably gave/give my kids less leniency when I coached them. I know that isn't always the case, but nothing ever is. So "parent coach", "non-parent coach", who gives a shit. Can the guy/girl coach and treat all the players accordingly? That's all that should matter.

What is the team average GPA and what are the jobs graduates are now in, that is the only stats that will matter after their 4 years 🤷😁

Tier 2 hockey is becoming such a cesspool of misleading organization leadership promoting the pathway to higher opportunities. I was reading various websites promoting that they will connect their players to junior and college teams. Add to that the 9 million private training outfits that charge ridiculous amounts of money to get your kid to the next level and the advent of Tier 2 tournaments advertised as “AAA” showcases or “College Exposure Showcases” where nobody is really there to be scouting. And even worse the advent of competing Tier 2 AA “National Bound Tournament Teams” as we see in Altoona and State College where kids play mostly for A level PAHL teams all season while playing tournaments expecting to compete in States effectively all for an additional $1500-$2000 on top of your regular PAHL team fees. Altoona does have 1 team doing it right as a full season team so I lay credit where it’s due. The increased emphasis on Tier 2 National Bound glory has become an extremely unhealthy obsession in some areas. Add Black Bear to this and the line between non-profit organization and ice rink business is increasingly disappearing where you see organization higher ups running the organization and are on the rink’s payroll at the same time. And with multiple rinks set up this way it creates the potential for the business to keep these programs in cahoots with each other thus creating the shell game where players can be encouraged to be moved around to satisfy their situations of need in their respective organizations and facilities. Based on what I’ve witnessed thus far I’m led to believe that’s already happened. it’s a sad reality with the direction hockey is going in these parts I think the volunteer run organization that’s there for the kids is fading away fast for adults to profit off these kids thus driving up costs and potentially driving families to the point they can’t afford to play all while not re-investing a portion of those funds back into facilities to where we have quality customer service oriented staff, clean restrooms and locker rooms that don’t have puddles of piss on the floor, mold growing in the showers, no extra glass on hand requiring plywood as a fix, as well as effective preventive maintenance on the aging chillers, dehumidifiers and Zambonis A lot of these rinks are not taken care of and it shows I hope I’m wrong but it seriously concerns me where we are going to be say 5 years down the road I’m a realist and I know it’s never going to happen but it’s time to refocus on being honest and doing what’s right for kids End rant!!

Unfortunately all the independent/“faux AAA” teams impact the other players and families who would love to play a good, competitive, LOCAL schedule. That is why people get frustrated with organizations like Icemen that take some talent and travel all over the place instead of playing PAHL.

I'm going to take a guess that at the upper ages, especially 18u, that kids are deciding to play for school only. And why not? I think it's hard for a lot of kids to do both, or have little enough interest in anything else to have the time to do both. Now if these club teams just played PAHL and a few tournaments, that's one thing. You can do 20 games, maybe 4 tournament weekends, 20 school games, and the practices to go with it if you wanted to. But add another 35-45 independent games to that, and now you're playing more than an NHL'er. And going to school, and trying to have a life in there on top of it. Makes it not very easy. They come to the realization that chasing PAHL/Independant isn't worth what they might have to give up. Hockey is supposed to be a fun thing, maybe there are other things they enjoy, too. Whether it's spending time with friends, a part time job, spending a lot of time looking at colleges, wanting a few nights to play video games, or whatever else they could be doing instead of being at the rink 6 nights a week. Friends going out to the movies this weekend? Girlfriend wants to go to the school dance? Too bad, you have to drive to Philadelphia or Columbus to play a handful of games to count towards your My Hockey Rankings. It's stressful, it consumes a big chunk of free time, you might get split up from your friends you like playing with, higher costs, etc. And it becomes increasingly apparent for just about everybody that there is no scholarship to Notre Dame or getting drafted to the OHL coming any time soon. Or alternatively, you can play for school. Still be part of a team, still play good hockey, and actually get a crowd engaged in the game, other than half a dozen dads yelling over the glass at you. And unlike the independant teams, you're actually playing for something. You're at school half of your day, 5 days a week with your peers. It's more likely some of those kids you go to school with care more about talking about and cheering for their school team than the Pittsburgh Icemen, or the Allegheny Badgers did over the weekend. I don't know if I'm right, but my guess is that is contributing to where these players have gone.

I follow your argument, but I disagree entirely. It's been my experience that closed tryouts are far better for both the organization and the players. I do not agree with the implication that most organizations are holding closed tryouts to hide the actual potential playing level of the resulting teams from parents. From an org's perspective, you don't have parents yelling at their kids during tryouts, or accosting evaluators during or after tryouts about their kids. From a player's perspective, observing closed tryouts both as a parent and as a coach/evaluator for years has convinced me that most kids play better at tryouts when their parents aren't watching and preparing their withering car coaching speech the whole time. Most parents have no idea how to evaluate their player relative to their peers. That's just a sad fact. There are many things about how organizations run tryouts that I have issues with, but I am absolutely convinced that the benefits of closed tryouts far outweigh any costs.

I do question the inference that paid coaches are better than “daddy ball” coaches. I’ve seen more than enough paid coaches develop a system of pay to play forcing players to sign up for their skill sessions to earn playing time. There are some very good parent coaches out there, they just happen to have a kid that plays. There are obviously very good paid coaches and very bad parent coaches as well. Having a kid on the team or not doesn’t tell you anything about the quality of the coach.

Nobody seems to have noticed that Pittsburgh was well represented in the girls brackets. Pens Elite won 14U Tier 1, Rebellion won 14U Tier II, with Steel City Selects and Arctic Foxes coming in second and third. Steel City Selects won 19U Tier II, with Armstrong in second. A strong showing for Pittsburgh Girls' teams! Congratulations to the girls.

Well I think it may be time to shut this one down.

Anybody that’s been through the eligibility process with PIHL for a case like this knows that there would be a long paper trail with emails from Rules Interpreter, eligibility forms/questionaire, and approval by committee. It is not just the commissioner decision. PIHL is not difficult to work with if you make the effort. If none of this process was done, then shame on the team’s board. Ignorance is not an excuse here!

IMO this is a ridiculous argument. People will make the drive wherever they have to for what they are looking for in a program. Some people value location more than others. Some people value ice time, or coaching, or like when the practice days/times are, or even status more than anything. There are a handful of folks who are driving to Cleveland 3-4 times a week so their kid can make Barons practices. There’s a family who is flying down to FLORIDA so their kid can play in games for the Alliance. There is a family at Pens who lives in Morgantown. There’s a family at Rebellion who lives in Renfrew. I live in the south hills and drove to Alpha for a couple of years. Never met a hockey family that wouldn’t make a drive to play. Ever been stuck in a PAHL division with Johnstown or Erie or State College and have to drive out there for one game? The shit we do for our kids is hilarious. A funny somewhat related true story. I used to work in Southpointe before Covid and I worked with a guy who lived in Leechburg. Yes, he would drive from Leechburg to Southpointe every single day. Taking 28/376/79 every day for his 8:30-5 job.

I'd prefer a change back to when the best candidate for the job was hired, with no regard given to color/race/etc. But I am probably going to get blasted for saying that. I think the best person should always get the job or we are promoting mediocrity in the name of "equality". How is an employer supposed to force various groups to apply, especially if they aren't qualified or less qualified? Let the slappage begin.

Boy this pretty constructive conversation broke down quickly

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all our members. Thank you for participating in our free forum on Western PA Hockey. I wish everyone nothing but the best in 2023. PB

But..... aren't the majority of the "AAA" players not actually AAA but in reality "faux AAA" as many on here profess? If that's the case, then the AA players should have no issue competing with them and the A players should use the opportunity to push themselves to their best. It can't be both ways.

;

I posted this in the girls section but it deserves general acknowledgement. The SCS U19 girls just defeated Arizona 1-0 in OT to take the National championship! Great job ladies!

Nice to see this team get to go again and win after getting it stripped away from them 2 years ago because of covid. Congrats, an awesome experience all those families will never forget! well deserved

@Clonbur We get it - you have an axe to grind with the board and I think at this point, you have grinded that axe down to a nub. Kinda like Andy Dufrain did with that rock hammer of his when tunneling out of Shawshank prison. I think it is time to let it go and move on - this is getting really old.

Hockey across the country has suffered a huge setback in hockey IQ due the overwhelming focus on skills, skills and more skills. Players need to be taught the basic concepts even at the youngest ages. Otherwise it's bee-hive hockey until well......... the beer league.

Um....no. Taunting based on sex and race is done. It is sexual harassment. Could be defined as a hate crime depending on what was said. No one is saying that students can't taunt a goalie. There is a line, however, and it was crossed. There are a lot of things that were done in the day. The focus should not be on her reaction to what happened, as that is entirely irrelevant. We want this crap out of the game. This type of reaction is why women and minorities have felt excluded from sport. Don't defend bad behavior.

I would like for this thread to continue because this is a topic that is absolutely due a discussion, however lets all please remember what the topic at hand is, and to have some respect for the individuals involved. Trolling comments like this will no longer be tolerated: This is blatant verbal sexual assault against a minor female we are talking about. Please don't come back here again with this type of crap.

At this point why would anyone consider PPE a organization that "serves" this area??? They are a Tier 1 program that operates here. All of the organizations mentioned feed of off each other like canibals. PPE on your resume will get you at least one guranteed year at Esmark and probably two years at the Vengeance and so on down the line. Yes, none of these programs are perfect BUT they are still better than PAHL. Tier 1 is about exposure. Exposure to top competition and the opportunity to move up which is something that playing in a glorified house league cannot offer. Yes, parents brag...AAA parents sound like a$$holes to AA parents and AA parents sound the same to A parents...and so on. Get over it. With all of the TIER 1 options in the Pittsburgh area the question people should be asking is "Why isn't PAHL developing players to fill all of these Tier 1 roster spots?" Cities with a lot less hockey history than Western PA have produced multiple competitive Tier 1 programs, think Nashville, Dallas, Florida (and yes I know they import). Why is Pittsburgh behind??? PAHL is the main feeder for "development" (cough!) for all of these programs based on volume at the younger ages. Yet it can be derived from comments across this board that the kids they are "developing" aren't good enough to move on to play "Legitimate" AAA. At the same time people suggest that kids stay in PAHL to be developed and save some money. For what??? To be "developed" enough to be accused of chasing an A or told they're not playing for a real AAA program?.....We should be grateful that there are opportunities other than PPE for local kids to play Tier 1. Please stop calling it faux. The fact is none of these programs are really developing kids so much as it's the individual kids that put in the work and are being recruited to play and/or seek better competition on their own, both local and abroad. The really good ones play for free (wink, wink). It's the old saying "there are hockey players and there are kids playing hockey". Hockey players want to be challenged, embrace adversity, put in the work and appreciate the journey. Kids playing hockey want to be with their buddies, have snacks, show off their participation trophies and make up excuses why they didn't make that FAUX AAA team. Figure out which one your kids are and make peace with it...

While that may be true, the PPE laid the groundwork for early recruiting with the "Elite Mites". They use the Jam to secure every participants contact info and then the great push by Trevor Edwards to get them to bring their SuperStar to the only place for developing their great talents. Then 5 years (2 @8U) of bleeding them dry before they cast off more than half at 12U Major and then of course, the final purge of local players at 14U and 15U to get the high rent out of town players to stay, play and mostly PAY. What a great job they've done growing local hockey.