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Not for the birth years I know, the black teams could not compete with the “elite” teams. I’m taking 99 down to 03. I’m pretty confident all the kids on those black bantam teams were all dumped by ppe going into U15, yet they pushed a good amount of them through the district camp. The Ohio Blue Jackets, along with Culver had a fallen out with mid am over this about 3-4 years ago.

The reason why our locals don't have mentality is because they value games over practice. NCAA DI hockey programs play 30 games a year but 12 year olds need to play 60 games. Even NHL players have over 2 practices per game if you include game day skates.

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

I do see them from Esmark.

Mueller lives here full-time in a condo. Fact.

Nope - your memory is failing you right now. Looks like we were there around the same time. I believe the first year "black" teams were available were the 01's at the 14U level and those younger. My son also played 15U after his year as a "black" . So , nope he wasn't dumped. Made National camp 2x.

Welcome to the real world. Nothing gets handed to you! Money might make it easier but in the end the best, most dedicated, hardest working rise to the top. In most cases where you start out has no bearing on where you end up because somewhere along the way the player decides how bad they want it and how hard they are willing to work for it. Nothing wrong with all that! It's life. I just don't like people who blame the organizations for wanting to be the best. Or catering to the demand for an extra A. It's law of supply and demand. From what I have heard there will be a lot of kids who

I know a few very wealthy people who have apartments in one city and permanent homes elsewhere.

I heard at the 15u they cut 4 d, 1 goalie and 2 forwards, now I belive in addition 1 d and 2 or 3 forwars did not tryout. They took kids from LA, Dallas, Little Ceasers and a goalie from British Columbia. They also added 1 kid also from Pittsburgh, that went to play in the ccm 68 a year ago. The team has 3 kids from Pittsburgh if you count the 2007 that will play up with them most of the year, but not at mid am or nationals, the new kid they added, that never played there ever and 1 kid that has played on the team since first year squirts. The team will be good, some additions maybe better the

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 t

I personally think alot of peoples gripe with PPE bringing in outside talent is that when the program was first introduced its MAIN selling point was to offer an avenue to develop local talent at the highest level possible. We are all coming to find out (or have known for years) that it was crock of sh!t. This program was started to give certain executives children a place to play and has since morphed into a tax shelter for the NHL team. The more national championships they win, the more ad revenue they can bring in, the more money they can line their pockets with. Hell, the freaking OFFICIAL

This is not my opinion, but I'm willing to bet the response will be "play PAHL AA".

I don't know that anyone on here really refutes that. The issue is how they go about their way of getting to that position. So what would you suggest that the players who fall in this category do? Take the recently completed 15U tryouts. A handful of local players who have played there for 6 years have been replaced by players from all over the US and Canada. Is your contention that these players have no reason to continue their pursuit of high level hockey because the PPE and its' associates prioritize profits over everything?

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!

It would be foolish to state PPE isn’t the top dog AAA program around. Esmark a moderate 2nd. These pop-up teams otherwise? Not so much.

Congratulations to 2021 SCS Girls 14U - Bronze Medal 16U - Silver Medal 19U - Bronze Medal

I haven't had kids at local tryouts for a number of years. But, I remember all to well and wish I knew then what I know now. My two sense....I'll never forget the year my kid played AAA - then at the end of the year a ton of kids crossed over from another competitive AAA organization to try out because this one was first. Two teams were being put together ~ the Gold (national) and Black team. After a week of tryouts, my son's current coach pulled him aside and told him he was going to suggest a difficult decision for him. He was going to put him on the black team. He felt the black tea

Exactly. Western PA produced a kid who is at the camp...exactly zero kids at that camp from ohio or eastern PA! That kid played AA through squirts. Don’t hate on a talented athlete that western PA AA and AAA hockey helped develop!