I have never seen the NAHL kid play, but I'm sure he's a good player. The circumstances of him leaving Johnstown to come back and play high school are a bit head scratching. I hope he's doing ok. I wish him nothing but the best.
At the same time, it does get old when people downplay the talent of the SHAHA/Peters kid just because he doesn't play for PPE. Maybe the kid just actually has his own personal priorities and wants to play for a really good amateur team (currently #18 in the country) that is close to home, which allows him to also play high school games in front of his classmates, for one of the better high school programs in the state, and for one of the more successful highschool coaches in PA history. Those all seem like good choices to me.
Looks like he has 14 points in 6 games for Peters as a sophomore and 44 points in 28 games for a SHAHA team that is playing some good national level competition. He's doing just fine and he's going to have some options in the near future. Just because some kid played for PPE and spent some time in the NAHL doesn't automatically make them a higher "pedigree" player.
PPE is a great program, but I don't buy into this idea that in order to do anything meaningful in junior hockey you have to play for them. If a kid is good enough, he will be found. Every good junior program have scouts who stay up at night thinking of unique ways to find diamonds in the rough to give their team a competitive advantage. They make a living finding these kids. It's not PPE or bust in Western PA. Everyone has a different path.