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Just to play devils advocate here, there are people who spend $30k or way more a year on clothes and shoes, or hobbies like hunting and fishing, or on eating out at restaurants for God's sake so what exactly is the difference if they choose to spend it on their kid playing hockey? I guess I'm in the minority of people here who don't mind teams going independent, mainly because I have been around and involved with PAHL for over 30 years and I can totally see why people are sick of it. I also love the traveling part of playing hockey because it's what I grew up doing. My kid loves it too. I personally would rather spend my weekend driving to NY to play 2-4 games against teams you wouldn't otherwise play, do some other "sight seeing" stuff, stay in a hotel, eat at some good local restaurants, and throw back a few whiskey sours with the other dads, than drive to Westmoreland for a 9am game on a Sunday. Then again, everyone's lives and financially situation is different so I completely understand the other point of view. I make a comfortable living to support that type of thing without the financial stress, and I am fortunate enough to have a job where I am able to get the "honey do" list done during the week. Yes, all roads lead to beer league. There likely isn't a single person on this board with a child who will play hockey professionally, but the argument that it's a waste of money to play at the highest level you can is a stupid one in my opinion. A busy kid is a good kid. A kid whos traveling for hockey every weekend is likely a kid who isn't getting into trouble otherwise. That's it. Carry on. P.s. the younger BY Preds teams all look very strong. This trend of going independent will not stop. *Steps off soapbox*

Setting my watch for 2027 when these 09’s declare which ACHA program they will be playing for…

Putting all of this in real numbers, these 09 “superstars” that haven’t even started checking yet and their parents have it rather easy from a financial standpoint. That is, until they have to attend NC High School, enroll in Excel and pay hockey tuition that totals over $30K+ for one year. That is close to a full year of tuition and living on campus at Penn State. Then again, roll the clock forward and by the time these 09’s reach HS age PPE will no longer have any local kids on their teams. “But my kid played AA Independent when he was twelve years old and he dominated.” Parents, start watering that money tree - pronto.

Not many. Acha M1 is very good hockey. It’s full of kids that played AAA from real programs, some nahl, ncdc and various Canadian tier 2 juniors.

I don't think a few teams choosing to not play a PAHL schedule is necessarily hurting the growth of the game. I'm probably going to sound like a broken record, but there's plenty of ways to do this, but teams playing games vs. out-of-town teams as opposed to PAHL wouldn't be anywhere near what I would argue could help "grow the game". These players still live in Western PA and will probably play PIHL for their schools as they get older. If you want to "grow the game" here's a few suggestions that would be way higher on the list than teams playing independent: 1. Better "learn to play" Programs 2. Find ways to make the cost more affordable 3. Better parent education programs 4. Coordination with other sports to allow kids to participate in multiple activities at the same time instead of forcing early specialization due to conflicting schedules. 5. Organizations/coaches have honest conversations with parents about where their player truly is skillwise. There's a big jump when an "A" player moves to "AA" and there's an even larger jump when a "AA" player jumps to "AAA". Parents who are "undereducated" from a hockey perspective won't understand this and thus make decisions based only on the number of "A's" Feel free to add to the list.

It's just kind of funny that it is the Predators doing this. Not exactly known for their production of players. My kids are almost done thank goodness. I just vehemently believe that if you are taking AA players out of the local league, you are exponentially increasing the cost of hockey, which hurts the growth of the sport. And not that I know you personally, Forbin, but the whole 'I just.love to travel' reason typically rings false'. Parents who tell me this also do things that suggest they are reaching for AAA. And to do your little weekend dream, you have to have a team, and there are definitely parents and kids there being sold a bunch of malarkey so you can have a whiskey sour with dads in another city. It's disingenuous and doesn't grow the game around here.

Maybe when they are 22, their parents will invent travel beer league.

There is nothing wrong with club hockey in the sense of continuing to play etc. but these people who sell their souls to the devil along with multiple mortgages on their homes need to realize they have a better chance of winning the lottery than their kid becoming the next Crosby out of Western PA.