Icebucket

I've seen both play more than once. I think Mars is a good bit better than CV.

It really is sad how some of these programs sell AAA just to be able to charge the parents more money. I know the MHR aren't 100% spot on, but they are close enough to get the idea. There are multiple "AAA" teams from a few different organizations who rank below all/most of the AA PAHL teams in the same age group.

The better mens league teams in the area would beat the river monsters by 10+

And that is where the issue comes in. The guy who owns the team has a history of being very shady. I can only assume the team will fold mid-season and he will have "lost" all the sponsors money.

Those teams would be far better served playing the local AA teams. I've seen a good number of tier 1 and 2 18U games this year. If all 3 played in PAHL, vengeance would probably be at the top but would play close games. Preds somewhere in the 3-5 range, and Icemenn would battle to stay out of last place

Butler has certainly caused a lot of it's own problems with their recent string of coaches. Hopefully the new coach can help them move back in the right direction. It wasn't all that long ago that Butler was ble to hang at the AAA level.

I don't see any way there was intent there. The player who cut him had just made contact with Johnson's teammate right before leading to him going off balance. Do you think Johnson's teammate should also face charges for making incidental contact leading to the skate being raised?

The FPP is just brutal. Standings end up being determined by how many games a team plays with refs who prefer head contact instead of roughing calls

Would be nice if PAHL gave just a little info. I don't expect a detailed plan, but something like: MLHA acted quickly and will be utilizing rinks A, B, or C to fill in gaps in the schedule. Right now noone knows what to expect or where they might have to travel to

PAHL announced that Mt Lebo found a good solution to the rink being down but didn't mention what it was. Anyone know any details?

SV has top end talent every year but pretty much always disappoints. Not completely sure why, but it would be nice to see them turn it around.

We all get that he had a good season, and great for him. But it's most certainly not a position any USHL team would even consider exploring.

Nothing worse than weekend HS hockey

Yea if it's 5 games you can blame the clubs, but 80 has be PAHL who dropped the ball

I always feel like baierl is one of the most well kept rinks in the area when I'm up there. To think that baierl and alpha used to be identical is wild now with how rough alpha is.

I don't necessarily expect the preds to be the top team. But basing it on games already played, they have been competitive with teams who will likely be near the top. All you can really go by for now. As you said, time will tell.

I think you mean shaha and not preds. Preds have a very solid AA group

While I agree that people will leave to chase the extra A regardless of what PAHL does, I can also say that I know they have driven good AA players away. I know of at least a dozen players who were perfectly content to play local AA hockey, but instead played on subpar AAA teams because of the fair play point system. It has essentially turned PAHL into a non-contact league for fear of losing points for a ref making a judgement call and giving a 2 and 10. For anyone who would like to play either juniors or club hockey, it's hard to play non-contact through all of bantam and midget and then have to learn how to take a hit by a full grown man.

I'm not saying that Esmark isn't a legit AAA team at u18, but hard to make the early comparison to PPE and think Esmark is better. Esmark has played mostly weak opponents and PPE has lost to powerhouse programs.

I'd think alpha will force everyone to use their guys at a fair rate for this season, then will jack up the price year after year. Those clubs won't have any other option aside from trying to find ice at another rink.

As goofy as it sounds, I think it was for items like pucks, bottles, helmets, and gloves. I know there are a lot of teams who play out of alpha that don't get uniforms from them so not sure if that was part of it too

This doesn't surprise me at all. A couple friends who have kids who play HS there said Alpha did the same thing last year. If they didn't buy their team supplies and equipment from house o hockey, Alpha wouldn't sell them ice.

SV has had a coaching problem for a while now. Almost always have top end talent but are badly outmatched against schools like Peters when it comes to coaching.

I saw Canon Mac had a long running post up looking for a new varsity coach. Hopefully they found someone qualified and the new guy can turn it around. Another down year this season would likely bump them down to AA.

Yea the new coach is a great guy and I wish him luck. Still kind of a shock to see them knock off two AAA teams though. I know they have gone through a lot of coaches during their freefall from AAA to AA to A. I'd bet he will have them back in AA sooner than later.