Icebucket

Most of these results seem in line with what would be expected, but quite shocking that butler knocked off BP and Latrobe dominated Canon Mac

Alpha is well known for cutting corners on just about everything they do. However, it's still a much better facility than places like frozen pond or PIA.

That thing is going to be a mess. I'd be surprised if they make it through the whole season without folding

They probably just stole the boards from the the no good new ken rink 😂

I actually think their u18 team should be one of the better teams in PAHL this season. If I had to guess today I would think the top 4 will be SCIR, Preds, NP, and Armstrong

I believe they usually come out the beginning of August. Anyone have a copy they can share?

I guess it's more the deception that irks me. I'm all for letting people do what they want, but I find a problem with families who are being tricked into paying a premium for such a poor product. Again, they should sell it as a low end AA group who will travel to play instead of playing local. If the parents/players think that sounds good, then go for it.

There is a massive difference between playing legitimate tier 1 hockey with the hopes to move on, and the circus that the icemen put on. You say they are getting better practices, but I have a hard time believing that as there are a handful of tier 2 coaches at the 14U, 16U and 18U level that are top notch. If the icemen want to travel to play teams outside of Pittsburgh, at least call it what it is. Label the team AA and travel to play AA and A major teams. They run a ploy to deceive parents and players into thinking they are playing AAA, just to get them to pay the premium that would come along with a legit AAA program.

Yea it really is a shame what they do. I'd think that "AAA" 18U team would be in the bottom half of PAHL AA.

It's certainly better than it used to be, but the bar was set very low if that's what you are comparing it to. I give them credit for being around though. The other rinks that were comparable to ice connection back in the day have all closed down. But in looking at all options available today, it's very much a bottom end option.

The ice at frozen pond actually isn't terrible. It's everything else about that rink that make it most people's least favorite rink to play at.

I'd be interested to hear how this went as well. The few people I talked to all seemed angry enough with BB that they went to Belmont or Harmar instead of staying with the huskies.

No way they pass on those Chicago imports if they want their learn to skate to be the best!

Also, U18 is really only a 16 month age group. 05 players who are born Jan-Aug are out of HS and likely not playing youth hockey.

Good call. Completely forgot about foxes. I heard shaha had very low numbers and couldn't get a team together, but that could be wrong. Seems odd considering they had 4 u18 teams last year.

I'd guess AA will be a few less teams. Last year you had Lebo drop down from AAA, and AAA was a team or two lighter than other years. This year you have Allegheny AA who won't play PAHL, and the icemen have an A/AA team who is playing AAA. SCIR and NP both have very strong 16 groups moving up. Lebo should also be strong between their 18s who return mixed with SP 16s. Armstrong will certainly be AA as well. Beyond those 4, it looks like other teams broadcasting that they have AA teams are Predators, Viper Stars, and Westmoreland. Not sure they will all place in AA though. Am I missing any?

I saw the comment the parent made above about SP not picking the best players, but I just don't see that happening when picking an 18 AA team. Sure, they might take their returning players when splitting hairs on last few spots. But I have to assume they picked the players who rated the highest for the majority of the roster. What 18 AA teams still have tryouts or are holding supplementals? I know Mt Lebanon was light at tryouts, but it looks like they filled the roster with their supplemental. We are getting pretty far along in the process and players are running out of time.

Kudos to you guys for pulling the plug when you knew it was a lost cause. So many teams drag it out just to call it down the road. Leaving nobody time to find a home elsewhere.

That's nuts. Have to think it's going to leave at least a handful of kids with nowhere to play.

I was told they had around 50 kids at tryouts. Did they not field a single team, or did they just fold the second one due to declines?

The preds have always had AAA teams at 16s and 18s, but they aren't really AAA teams. Last year for example, both the preds 16 and 18 AAA were each weaker than 3-4 PAHL AA teams. The 16 preds didn't play any PAHL teams. The 18 preds lost 8-1 against the top team in PAHL.

Keep in mind that the CSDHL is in an area packed with way more AAA teams than here. But it also serves as the point that there isn't nearly the player base around here to support more than 1-2 AAA teams at any age.

The Allegheny 16u team didn't play PAHL last year so I doubt those guys moving up to 18u will this year.

With PPE taking a handful of Vengeance players, it has to make you wonder if PPE got a bit of a wake up call at mid ams. Recently they have been filling out the bottom half of their teams with out of town players who are no better than the local players they were passing on. All it's really done is made it easier for other teams to close the gap and knock them off with those same local players they passed on. At 14s and 16s, PPE lost out to vengeance and barons who were both loaded with PPE cuts.

That upper runway is actually nice as it looks directly down at the rink, but there's no seating so it's only good for those who want to stand the whole game.