PuckHead7

What is the difference? Like someone said above, the team is already chosen. If there were going to be any vacancies, they already know who is filling them. If, indeed, there is no second team, DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY TRYING OUT. Same goes for 16U 2004’s.

Not even close DH! ?

According to @Danner27, everyone should stay the F away from Chicago. Last few comments are dumb and have nothing to do with hockey.

LMAO, and you’re calling me the little bitch. Boohoo, both of you are probably from that team.

So what! Can’t play in PAHL playoffs or Midams. What is your point?

Don’t forget, you have to attend NC to be able to be on the PPE Prep team. Esmark will still be a very good team, but probably number 2 in Pgh. Also, high end scouts attend Pens and Esmark games. All this crap about them not seeing Esmark players is untrue. Why in the hell would they only flock to PPE when PPE doesn’t have all of the best players in Pgh. ?

PPE 15U #7, PPE 16U #5, PPE 18U #70 Something is very wrong with one of those teams. Coach? Players chosen at tryouts? Players moving to juniors? ALL THE ABOVE!

Agree! Rule was changed from Peewee to Bantam right around 2013.

Plus, I’m pretty sure that CCHS would never enter into that kind of agreement. Pens are definitely involved! Civic/Mellon Arena site is their first priority though.

Agree! Plus it’s just too much hockey. Fact, only a couple 02 and older kids attend Excel this year. None of the kids from the current 18U PPE team attend Excel. I’m pretty sure that some of the varsity team do not attend. Nor do the couple that are on the Esmark team. I think that it would be very interesting to see the grades and track records of both groups. The ones that want to be at NC and the ones that are semi forced to be there.

Wow, the question wasn’t if the team would play PIHL or not. The question was, will PPE give the players that play on the Prep team the option to play for the NC varsity team.

I know that to be partly true. But, DB @Danner27 @The Kingthinks that they F’ing know everything. How can they not have PPE (Prep) practice at night? If the, loosely named, Prep Team is required to do Excel, they will be on the ice M-TH and in the gym M-TH with Excel. Fact is, those aren’t team practices or workouts. They will still need team practices and team workouts. These will obviously require additional ice sessions. Those specifics are not laid out in the Prep information. So, we will guess that they will have 3 team practices and 2 more gym sessions. That’s basically 7 ice sessions a week and maybe 6 gym sessions for the Prep team. Add in 50+ games, ACADEMICS and down time (also know as recovery time), when are they going to have time to play high school varsity hockey for NC? But hey, what the F do I know? My dumbass didn’t know that a “Prep” team practices five day a week. ? @Hockey1 yep, fact, Excel shares the same locker room and everyday they are on the ice and in the gym with different kids. The same group is never together every day! Also, I never alluded to the entire prep team playing in PIHL. That would be stupid.

Since apparently I’m a dumb ass, please explain their schedule to me.

Personally, I don’t think that they should allow the prep team players to play high school. Excel is on the ice and in the gym four days a week. The prep team will probably practice two/three days a week and be in the gym two days a week. They are also slated to play 50 games. Where is the time for schoolwork and downtime?

Nah! Over the past 4-5 years, many many people have been turned off by the “Pens and Friends” way of doing things. Esmark will still be their at the 15u, 16u and 18u levels. The regular 18u PPE team will be just like all of the black teams. Or maybe both will be sub par since the Prep team has to attend NC & Excel. Might be good next year and the following year. After that, it will drop. Only time will tell.

Lets set the record straight! I never said that they were the same entity or that they are run by the same people. My point is, NC and the Prep team will be fighting for the same players. If the prep team requires the players to attend Excel, they will obviously need to attend North Catholic. That still means that the varsity North Catholic team goes down the tubes. A lot of this conversation was hearsay until today. Reading through the information cleared many things up.

I’d like to know his thoughts also... Preds 18U AA Thomas. 76 goals for, 32 against, 15-2-0 in PAHL. Lost two by scores of 2-1 and 1-0.

You are confusing all of us with your responses. Anyway you look at it, the most talented players will still play for the PPE and Esmark. The others will apparently have a choice. Play for the new team, prep, if that’s what they are going to call it. Or, play for the NC high school Varsity or JV. Those three+ (plus because people still have a choice to not play for any team related to NC or Excel) teams are made up of 70+ players. Are there 70 ice hockey players that attend NC? Not sure where all these players are coming from. Plus, again, the talent just isn’t there. Not when you subtract the elite players off the list. A major at best. Give it 6-8 years and maybe it will evolve into a hockey power house. @RegDunlop7 your last paragraph is what will happen. However, I do disagree with how good you think St Ignatius is. They may not schedule with the best teams, as they should, but they are a pretty darn good team. Excel Prep will be scheduling games with the same Pihl A teams that NC is playing now. Not Prep!!!

Wow, still thinking about this and knowing the kids that would be included on this team this year. Who are they going to play? The really good kids will play for PPE/Esmark or a really good AA team. The avg kids will be playing for this team. Gilmour Academy would kill them. SSA would obliterate them as they did to Preds AAA. St Ignatius would pound them. Knowing a few other that are within a few hours, they’d beat them up pretty good also. They’d have to play team 2’s! IMO, that’s not Prep. Team would be A Major at best! NC varsity would be dead in the water. I just don’t see it happening.

@HSFBLJ Who said anything about three teams? Link even states 18u prep. Also, you can hardly compare a good prep school to NC. Other than they both educate kids. I’d pick SSA or any other well seasoned prep school over NC.

There’s no way that PPE will require all PPE players to attend Excel. This is a stupid concept and a waste of a good conversation. Why in the hell would all of the schools that the players attend allow the kids to be dismissed early? Excel starts at 1:30pm. What, are they leaving school at noon? How are the getting from their school to Cranberry? Dumb! I will say that the 18U NC/Excel team is an interesting idea. There are many kids that go to NC that do not play for PPE. It could also mean the demise of any chance of NC having a good PIHL varsity team in the future. All with a price. 22-24k ish to go to NC, be in Excel and be on the team. Guesstimating, of course. What ranking does this team go on? Definitely not AAA! Why would NC allow this? Less money for them and more for Excel/PPE.

Funny, everyone wants to draw the line in different places.

@Mysonisagoalie We’ve all probably been through that. Travel to Detroit and play a Pittsburgh team. I was more talking about it being two Canadian teams doing the “Sleight-of-hand “ in the USA.

Agree with @Scooby Doo To boot, they were both Canadian teams playing in Pgh. How dumb is that?

This morphed thread is probably the healthiest one on this site. Instead of bickering and name calling, you can actually talk about sportsmanship and play. Go figure. I'm partly with @nemesis8679. I’m not sure that I’m ok with not putting goals on the board. Maybe with 12u and younger, 13u and older, put them up. It is what it is and that’s life. I want my kid to feel disappointment. Hopefully, the disappointment will make them work harder to reach their goal. I get it, not many parents are like me nowadays. Most want to shelter their kids. Sorry, not here. What does stopping the game after two periods teach a player/team? This one just baffles me. Why do we want to teach our kids to “throw in the towel?” Is a rule telling you to give up a good rule? Play the game to the end, use a running clock in the third. Hopefully the winning teams players are coached well and they let up a bit. If not, again, that’s life. I like the fan/spectator rule though. Ref has an ongoing issue, send an assistant coach to handle them. Not optimal. But it probably gets the job done. Better yet, don’t drop the puck until said people leave the area.