Icebucket

38 minutes ago, Carl Racki said:

Butler has a new coach.  He seems to be doing a good job as they have really struggled the last bunch of years even moving from AAA to AA.  Hopefully he will bring them some success 

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.

10 hours ago, Pa Hockey said:

TJ looked strong against improved Mars 

NA survived shootout vs PR who outshot them 43-20

CC beat up on Shaler 

Latrobe way better than Canon Mac 

Mt Lebanon looked strong against Baldwin 

Seneca edged USC in one of better games of the night 

Butler upset Bethel 

Franklin with three unanswered in 3rd edges Armstrong  

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.

52 minutes ago, PUCKCOVID19 said:

how well you think that wanna be pro league team will do? I see they are ganna eat up sone serious ice time on the weekends they play at home 

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

1 hour ago, hockeyisgreat said:

Interesting!  Looks like old glass and boards!  Recycled from some place else.  You would think they could have cleaned the glass before they put it up.   But who cares as long as we get another sheet of ice.   Is Hunt Armory happening this year?

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

29 minutes ago, PUCKCOVID19 said:

shocked press even have a team in AA.  their AA team for u18 was very weak last year 

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?

1 minute ago, ice is cold said:

I'm speaking for all these faux teams you speak of. Again, let people make their own choices. Why do you care so much what other people do? Usually people who do that are jealous or just don't understand. Let the kids play where they want. Let the parents pay what they want. 

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.

54 minutes ago, ice is cold said:

My response to that would be, why should they do what you want them to do to make your life better?

Some kids, who realize their lives beyond 18u is club hockey still want to be challenged, travel, and not play against the same kids they play in PIHL every week. Some kids don't want practices that are bare because kids would rather go to a football game or hang out a Sheetz vs go to practice. 

I was a D1 full ride athlete, growing up, if I was on some of the PAHL teams.i have witnessed,. with kids not dedicated, my dad would have yanked me and found somewhere to challenge me, hold me accountable and help me grow as a person. I learned more as a player and human on a team who didn't win one game. My coach was the best I ever had. I learned to lose with grace, push myself, help my teammates get better and not bitch,.blame others or complain. It was the team and season that propelled me to one of the top in the country. But I guess I could have played somewhere else to make all the other families happy....

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.

28 minutes ago, Duster19 said:

The same Icemen 18 team (16U last season) that got crushed in Mid AMs by the Lowly Tier 2 PAHL 16UAA teams?

That is the definition of MONEY GRAB.  Masquerading as AA but really A Major.  But, if those kids and parents are happy, then that is all that matters I guess.

Except for that 09 Icemen team, the rest are just pretenders and everyone knows it.

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.

1 hour ago, fafa fohi said:

DW is part of the ownership group that bought the shithole that was Ice Connection and poured a ton of money into major improvements.  People that have issues with Frozen Pond today either have a very short memory of what the place used to be like or had never been there prior to it being sold.

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.

16 minutes ago, zam said:

I heard from a reliable source that only children born in a UPMC hospital will be considered for the Pens Elite Learn to Skate Academy.

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.

8 minutes ago, fafa fohi said:

NP, SCIR, Foxes, Mt. Lebo, Armstrong, Preds will have teams for sure.  Allegheny will have a U18 AA Independent and possibly one playing PAHL aster tryouts are going on now.  SHAHA should have a team as well.  The Viper Stars and had a supplemental last weekend and Westmoreland has one next week so who knows. 

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.

50 minutes ago, hockeyisgreat said:

That makes sense considering that Mt Lebo did not have a 16UAA team last year.  I believe their 16UA team was pretty good. I know their 18UAA team was very good! I know people in the South don't like to go North so I couldn't figure out where those kids from SP went,  Will be interesting to see how many 18UAA teams play in PAHL this year. There were 9 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.

28 minutes ago, bb2j3z said:

Well we had 50+ kids tryout and there was an original roster of 18 skaters and 2 goalies. Post tryout, there were many withdrawals because players only wanted to be on this team so a general tryout did not seem feasible to assemble a second team so general tryouts were cancelled.

Then with the original roster, we had called everyone prior to posting to get verbal agreements... then after posting, there was so many roster declines by the deadline + supplemental tryouts did not bear any qualified players to make it feasible to continue on.  The bad situation just snowballed as families got nervous about the team status.  We tried what we could to alleviate the situation, but it became untenable.  

We are disappointed that we weren't able to continue with the team, but this seemed like the best option for the families that remain - many of which are playing their last year of youth hockey.  

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.

6 minutes ago, sample39 said:

They did not field a single team.  I've heard conflicting stories as to why.  First being they cut most of their players for "AAA" players, and those "AAA" players bailed after accepting their placements for a different team.  I have also heard they cut better players to accommodate their returning players, and that's why those "AAA" players left.  The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. 

It's been amusing to watch how absolutely absurd this 18U tryout season has been.  I have never seen it this bad.  That's a good coaching staff at the Rebellion that now inexplicably doesn't have a team to coach.  

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

12 minutes ago, Murray Chadwick said:

Heard South Pittsburgh 18u folded. 

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?

1 hour ago, bender05 said:

anyone know preds and shaha u14, u16, and u18 if they have aaa teams this year or top team as AA? Pretty sure 2008 and 2009 are AAA for both 

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.

4 hours ago, RicoFata said:

100% 

PAHL would be just as good as the CSDHL.

Top 25 or so teams are AAA, the rest are high level AA teams with a few AAA players.

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.

12 minutes ago, RJUSHL said:

I think everyone knew this was coming but Allegheny Badgers joined the Atlantic Hockey Federation (Black Bear league) for next season. 

https://atlantichockeyfederation.com/allegheny-badgers-join-for-the-2023-24-season/

The announcement says 18UAA, 2008 AA, and 2009 AA.

I'm assuming they are doing what it appears the Rebellion are doing: playing PAHL but then also playing a partial season or showcase season in the AHF.

Obviously Black Bear wants to gobble up market share, but this is going to be pretty appealing for parents and kids. They get to compete for a PAHL AA championship, and they also get to compete for an AHF championship. Also have the chance to make the AHF all star game for their particular division.

Badgers AA and Rebellion AA teams are going to keep getting stronger because of this I would think.

This is all stuff people on this board have been predicting for the past few years. By next season there will be an entire AHF "west" division.

And with Tier 1 hockey and Esmark continuing to struggle and may not even field teams at all birth years, it's just a matter of time before Black Bear starts their own Tier 1 program. There's precedent for this. They've done it before. They are leaving so much money on the table with AAA registrations at Preds and SHAHA. 

I'll be shocked if Black Bear doesn't start their own brand new Tier 1 program out of Printscape (now that they have two sheets of ice). It's just too obvious.

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.