Icebucket

I agree the link has no place, but the camp in general does seem kind of questionable. A special camp where you stay at his house and the only way in is to personally call him. I'm not saying anything bad is happening, but it does seem like he's opening himself up to more liability than he should. But at 1750 a head maybe it's worth the risk for him

I was not. But a number of the other "key words" are common vocabulary for many teenagers.

It's not that it's "fine". But if you've been around 14-18 year olds, it's most certainly not uncommon to hear these things said....

I have first hand seen a player get a match for saying "that's fucking bullshit" about a call against him. While it's certainly not the right way for a 17 year old to speak to an adult referee, handing out a match is a disgrace.

I am not saying the players and parents aren't in the wrong in many cases. I just think there needs to be even the slightest system in place to make sure refs are actually do the job correctly. The players do get penalized and reprimanded when they are in the wrong. The refs do not, and they are the ones getting paid. There are plenty of good refs in the area, but it is a result of their own personal drive to do the job correctly and to improve. Good on them.

For a ref to hand out a match because a teenager said something to him is absurd. The problem is that no one ever holds the refs accountable because they are afraid they will quit if they get reprimanded. So in the end you get refs who are making very good money to do a very poor job for the most part. How many other jobs out there are paying the hourly rate refs make and have zero accountability to improve, or even just do the job correctly?

At the end of the day HS hockey here just isn't a high level. I agree that most local players should play as it's nice to represent your school and it's good socially, but for the highest level players it's a waste of time. All it's going to do is lead to bad habits developing

I have to think this would be pretty easy to do. Worst case if they think it's too hard to do early in the year, just use last years 8th through 11th numbers.

They do factor enrollment into the formula, but it probably doesn't play a big enough role. The problem with enrollment when it comes to hockey is that it's less about enrollment and more about wealthy enrollment. In the case of Canon Mac, despite having plenty of capable players their club is a mess. Coaching and management of that club has put them in a free fall from AAA to A in just a few years. But in no way should a school of CMs size and wealth ever be close to being a single A school. Essentially they have been rewarded for mismanagement. What I can't understand is. why can't they use the amount of USA hockey members each school has? That would give the better figure than just using enrollment alone.

The top 2 teams in A would likely be in the top 3-4 at AA. That alone tells you there is a serious imbalance

Mid level mens league level hockey. They would lose by a pretty good margin to any of the local A/B mens league teams

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Once you hit the 14U AA level, alot of the refs in this area struggle to even keep up with the play to be in position to call offsides. I'd much rather them do everything they can to call penalties, offsides, icing correctly than to make sure little Johnny gets his assist.

It's amazing what the coaching change has done there. They have always have one of, if not the top player base every single year. Just a little bit of structure from someone who knows the game and they are clicking

I agree the goalie will help and they should be in the mix. I just don't see them being in a situation where they dominate the division like SV will in AAA.

While I agree that Seneca is far and away favorite in AAA, I don't see Hempfield being a top AA team. They might be in the mix but not a favorite by any means.

Had nothing to do with what was physically typed out. Anyone who read your message knew what was implied

I think most might not have completely written off you post if you didn't add the part about how amazing your son is and the fact that he didn't play is why they lost.

Private schools can get anyone, but the players actually attend the school. Co-op teams will never play in a pure division as they technically aren't a HS team. Might as well start letting all the PAHL 18 teams in while you are at it. Maybe Alabama/Georgia/LSU should co-op so they can win a national championship every year.

This post is literally just the same crying everyone does about their kid not getting enough ice time. Usually people learn by 14 or 16U that ice time is earned and not given. This guy still hasn't figured it out with a kid who finished college

I'd think PIHL could use the data from the previous years amateur programs. I get that not every HS player plays amateurs, but a lot do and in particular, usually the better ones do. I also understand that some players improve and make a higher level team so it's not perfect, but this would certainly net you more competitive divisions. If you wanted to make it as simple as possible, lump Faux AAA and PAHL 16/18 AA from the previous season together. Then just look at each HS roster and use that quantity to determine where they should fall. Something like, less than 7 is A, 8-13 is AA, 14+ is AAA. Counts might not be accurate, just trying to make the point. PAHL does a lot of things very poorly, but their use of players history to determine team levels seems to be a much better method than what PIHL uses.

I was just stating that top end players from those HS teams are on the PPE 18U team for the upcoming season. Assuming PPE doesn't let them play HS, those teams will suffer a bit.

Even if you didn't have teams submit rosters. All you really have to do is look at teams standing from last year, then look at departing seniors and if they were impact players. You can assume that all underclassmen will return and while it's not always the case, the overwhelming majority in PA HS hockey do return so it works. It would paint a pretty good picture of where teams stand. There are always going to be outliers of players who play PPE, decide not to play, or even teams who acquire players who never played HS but decide to sign up for their senior year. But even with those, they wouldn't throw it off nearly as much as using 4 years of results does.

Looking just at PPE 18U the following teams will take a bit of a hit Seneca (they will be fine though) S Fayette QV Chartiers North Catholic Montour

Looking at the two divisions of A, it seems like each has 2 or 3 teams that will dominate the division. Maybe another team or two in each that might give them a test, but the rest will probably get blown out against the big 2/3. Gold will be run by Avonworth, Mars, and maybe CV. Blue will be run by Canon Mac, QV, and maybe Moon. And I could see NC being a possible player as well. Just the way I see it.