Icebucket

50 minutes ago, nemesis8679 said:

Fair play points is the stupidest thing in PAHL. And there's quite a few stupid things to choose from.

Agree 100%.  People here, including myself, complain about faux AAA teams. However, when I talk to parents/players on faux AAA teams they usually list fair play points high on the list of why they don't want to play PAHL.

55 minutes ago, hockeyisgreat said:

So is 8-4 Mars better than 12-0 Chartiers Valley?  Anybody know why the PIHL loaded up A Gold?  How many from each group will qualify for the playoffs?  No crossover play so they really have no idea if any of the teams in Blue can compete with Gold!  Makes for an interesting playoff scenario!

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.

4 hours ago, hockeyisgreat said:

34 days to the first scheduled league games!  Will it actually get off the ground?  What are the odds?  50/50, 25/75.

Will the con-man be the demise of the Pittsburgh team?  Could it survive with someone else running the team?

Maybe Danner should take it over and show us all how to run it!  

Will the league fold before the Pittsburgh team?  So far it looks like 16 committed teams!

Who is the Coach of the Pittsburgh team?  

Would the best Beer League team in SWPA beat the River Monsters?

Can you tell I am bored this morning?

 

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

18 minutes ago, Carl Racki said:

Honestly, If the guys playing are enjoying it why not.  Let them have their fun.  It's funny, there is a pro dek hockey league I never knew about until recently.  It's great guys are still playing and having fun.  I wouldn't want to be the person funding it though.  

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.

1 hour ago, nemesis8679 said:

That's good. Preds, Icemen, or Vengeance be playing either of those organizations? 

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?

50 minutes ago, Saucey said:

Facts. Always get homered at Belmont. Although there are a lot of teams losing FPP in those age groups it seems.

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

4 hours ago, sadday4hockey said:

That's false statement in regards to the PAHL. Not sure about the PIHL.     We do want to acknowledge that there are some mechanical issues at the Mt Lebanon Ice Center, affecting the potential availability of their ice for the near future.  But the Hornets organization has acted quickly and effectively in response to the unexpected disruption, and their swift actions should contain the overall impact to a relatively minimal level across our league.  The cooperation of opponents is necessary for full success, and there is not expected to be an issue that prevents any of the Hornets teams from honoring all of their PAHL games.  There is still work to be done to see that through, but please do not believe any rumors to the contrary.  Thank you to all of those at MLHA for the extra time and effort!   PAHL Home Rinks

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?

2 hours ago, aaaahockey said:

Well after the first couple weeks AAA scores are all over the map.  Almost looks like Rock Paper Scissors.  Seneca hasn't looked nearly as strong as I would have expected.  Player availability?  Who knows?

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 

26 minutes ago, Overqualified said:

Bairel is a dump super dirty

Locker rooms are to small

And the benches are 2 foot wide and big enough for 15 players 

I thought Jimmy was going to fix that place up

New lights and nothing else 

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.

3 minutes ago, PUCKCOVID19 said:

time will tell but going by just roster names and performance. they are a 1 line team. and the aa team last year was terrible, and the remains of the 2005 are carry over too. sprinkle in a major 06's and its not gonna be good. They have a GREAT HC with a GREAT track record, just doesn't have the depth

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.

1 hour ago, PUCKCOVID19 said:

u18 AA still has to many teams.  preds,vipers,badgers all very weak for aa

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.

42 minutes ago, nemesis8679 said:

Well, I mean, that's how the world works. 

But saying that, I'm pretty sure the uniforms for most of the teams go through KB? So are you saying they're singling out some teams and not others? And how would you enforce where they get supplies at? 

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.

1 hour ago, Duster19 said:

PR upsets SV again.  PR upset both SV varsity and jv1 in PIHL playoffs last spring.  SV has the material, so you have to blame the coaching for all.

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.

3 hours ago, Ogie Ogilthorpe said:

Crazy to see how far this Canon McMillan team appears to have fallen.  Armstrong performance seems way below expectations as well.

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.