Icebucket

This. I think it will be very cut and dry if Montour had the go ahead as it will be documented. I guess we should have an answer soon.

I was thinking about this earlier but decided not to comment about it. Clay was such a stand up guy and got pushed out. Then they replace him with a coach who's biggest knock is that he is a win at all cost guy. Could be completely unrelated, but just seems like an odd coincidence.

You just said that they have another player who is an emergency goalie. Has to make me think he is willing to do so when there are 2 games played on the same night. You can make all the arguments you want, but at the end of the day it has nothing to do with giving the players a chance to play. It's about Montour doing whatever it takes to be in the best spot to win.

I just flipped through the stats in their division of A and I realized that Avonworth has just one goalie for both Varsity and JV. So it's hard to claim it's not possible.

I'd assume none of these teams will declare so it's probably not a big deal. I know a few of the teams who play at rinks who close down for the spring/summer have their tryouts in March. Wonder if this means they plan to close down and fix that mess of a rink.

They also have strong ties to Canevin so I'd assume all imports will now go there. I don't have any proof of this, but seems the most likely based on their history.

I thought you were done with the conversation like 7 responses ago...

This whole debate is comical. Flavio obviously lives way out east and is just trying to grasp at anything possible to trick someone into thinking PIA is better than Southpointe.

As it stands right now, I don't see anyone who is a viable to push the pens, but Esmark is probably the closest. If Esmark were to actually move to southpointe I could see that being a great option. Otherwise just based solely on location I'd think shaha might be the next best. I don't know much about shaha other that what I know about some of their coaches, but the few coaches I know there are all quality guys.

I honestly don't think PPE hurt him. I see no other option than he is a higher up at vengeance. Yes, PPE has plenty of problems, but no one would ever push vengeance as hard as he is. Their management is brutal and alpha has been a wild lawless chaotic mess in many cases. PPE needs another club to push them and keep them honest (like Hornets and Pens back in the day), but vengeance definitely not the answer.

I really wouldn't say he's underrated. The people who know the game definitely know that he's top notch. He was pretty damn nuts back in the day when he was coaching older levels. But he has done an amazing job at reevaluating his approach over the years and found that sweet spot in the middle.

I've seen quite a few u18 games this season. I'd feel comfortable saying the top 2 teams roll over the preds AAA team, and the rest of PAHL would all play competitive games with them. Mt Lebo should be very much in the running to compete at nationals if they can get through playdowns. They are a very solid team top to bottom, and their #1 goalie is top notch.

Hard to imagine PAHL has a plan. They are dinosours who haven't made any changes for the better in decades. Its a shame because the kids can use a legitimate local league to play in at a reasonable cost.. but PAHL hasn't ever had to get better because they never had any competition. Maybe this will wake them up?

Knowing what some of the other teams have to offer coaching wise, I just don't see SV stacking up at the varsity level. Yes, they have some young players, but they are very good and most of them know how to play the game the right way in what they have learned along the way. At the end of the day, as long as they are winning then all is good. But when they don't, it's hard to justify given their talent pool they always have.

SV certainly has the top goalie in HS. They probably lack in coaching more than anything, but they are packed with tons of good young skaters and a top end goalie so its been working out.

It will be interesting with Peters. They have the top group of skaters and the top coaching by a pretty good margin, but they might also have the weakest goaltending by that same margin. They won last year being weak in net, so safe to assume they should make a run again this year.

There's a reason why Canadian and European players are almost all left handed shots. I know most everyone shops online these days, but back when they used to have actual hockey stores run by people who knew what they were doing here is usually how it went. They held the stick out for the kid to grab for the first time. If they grab it right their right hand, they should be playing left handed.

Does the black bear league use fair play points? If they don't, that alone would make me lean towards thinking it would be a good thing. Can't tell you how many players Ive talked to who play faux AAA because they find PAHL to be a joke, and the FPP is always at the top of the list. Maybe it would entice some of those players to stick around at AA and play in a better run league. But honestly I know very little about black bear so I could be off.

I think this is the case for mt lebo as well. They played AAA last year, and while they weren't a strong tier 1 team, they rated higher than all tier 2 teams. I've seen them play a few games this year and they are just going through the motions in the back half of games.

I hope you are right just because the more parody the better, but I watched their game against scir and the two teams were certainly not on the same level. But it's early in the year, so have to assume at least a couple of the bottom 2/3 teams will figure things out and be in the mix.

Seems like lebo and foxes are the clear top 2. Scir is the other I'd think of in that mix at the top.

Hard to use iup as an example for this year. They are certainly in a rebuild as the majority of their team just graduated. There is no doubt they will take a midget player if they are good enough. It just doesn't mean that player will be able to hang right away. It will take most midget players a while to adjust.

While I know those local clubs do not require junior hockey, I talk to a few of the head coaches of those teams fairly regularly and the consensus between them is that the kids who play tier 3 juniors are significantly more prepared. It's nothing to do with the talent and completely based on maturity, responsibility, accountability and the ability to play a more physical game. The ones only play midgets typically take at least a full season to adjust. I could care less where people decide to play, just passing along what I have been told by a few of the local coaches.

Problem at u18 is that there are 2-3 top teams, then the next 5-6 are all close. Can't have a 3 team division. Edit: I stand corrected as u19 girls has a 3 team division. Ugh

The main argument for players to play faux AAA is to get a little more structure and coaching, despite not being any more talented than other local AA teams. However, recently there has been a push for AA teams to bring in qualified coaches. If you look across some of the clubs that typically field AA teams at all levels, they have equivalent (or better) coaches than most of these faux AAA teams. Hopefully the trend continues and that "AAA" push dies down a bit.