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Hey Genius, Finite doesn't mean the same thing as ambiguous. As far as giving an organization "Credit" Shattuck St Mary's seems to get lots of "credit" for the players that come out of there, but they only have U14 and older teams. So, those kids came from somewhere else. And very few of their good players play more than 2 seasons there, so by the logic of this board, they don't really develop anyone there either. So, where do all the good players come from? And where is it affordable?

Both 5 and 6 are finite numbers.

Wow! Pens Elite had 5 or 6 of their guys drafted to the NHL this weekend! That's a pretty solid number. Did any of the other Pittsburgh area "AAA" organizations have any taken?

I'm baffled by "mixed reviews" as this implies there are positive reviews for these places.

Lets compare AAA hockey to MLB, You have loaded AAA teams at the top, Yankees and Dodgers. (They take the best of the best players because they can sign whomever they want). Then you have the Pirates and Rockies, essentially the Vengeances and Predators of the world, (who nobody wants to play for unless they absolutely have to). No chance 95% of the Pirates roster could make the Yankees, yet we still call them MLB players. Nobody from Veng, Preds, Esmark are making Little Caesars, Shattuck, or Mission, but are they still AAA players? What essentially happens at PPE would be like if the Yankees fielded a second MLB team. And I think the results would be similar. The Yankees second team would still be better than many of the other MLB teams. Players would sign with the Yankees second team because they are a legitimate organization and people want to be associated with winners. Many guys would still rather play on Yankees2 and enjoy the experience of Yankees Stadium, and being seen and trained by Yankee staff, than they would playing elsewhere.

Maybe all the parents on the gold team ran out of supplemental lesson money by the time their kids were Peewees. Since the OP suggested that's how they made the team.

One of these rinks should offer "Learn to Play - Beer League" for 18U, and I bet there would be higher participation. Instead of $4000 bucks a season, charge $150. No matching equipment to worry about, Players just choose one of the many jerseys they wore over the last few years of youth hockey. Games are at 1am. The real beer leaguers still get the prime 10-11pm slots. No parents allowed, so they players can get used to empty stands.

This should not be a surprise. They are looking for the best players in the district, it would make sense that they come from the highest levels of competition, hence "Tier 1" This is like saying the vast majority of players at the NFL draft come from D1 Universities with only a few D3 players sprinkled in...of course! Thats where the good players are!

I'm not sure what think a talented roster looks like, but if we are talking about a school that is somewhere in the bottom 5 or 10 schools in Enrollment in PIHL, I think their roster of TWO AAA Goalies, 4 AAA Skaters, and another 3 or 4 AA Skaters, sounds pretty talented to me. I don't know that there are any other schools in A that compare to that.

I have been critical, feeling they have underachieved in the last couple years. He was given a "lot of rope" especially when considering guys are getting axed left and right for anything less than winning the championship. But he deserved every inch of that rope. So if he is going out, i hope it is of his own choosing. Talk about one guy doing everything for a program, that is what you have there. 2 of the 3 Pens cup champs this year were with new coaches, so it remains to be seen if the boards were genius or more like when Mike Tomlin won with Bill Cowher's team.

Hope you are taking about the Nashville Preds cause otherwise why would anyone care?

Not a soul at any of them, people have been reading this forum, so all the AAA player's families moved them out of town to save some money and get the proper development to make the NHL.

Really? Not this list again! I have so many questions. Curious if this 1-30 in a ranked order, or just 30 players in no particular order? Only 6 Single A players even there are more teams in A than AA and AAA combined. And B division ignored? Your residence shouldn't matter in a top player list. I know more players go to AAA schools, and the team play is better and deeper, but 6/30 is foolish. Mars had a decent season, but had no worthy players? The lone player represented by the A champion is probably their 3rd best player, didn't score against a good team all season, and then invisible in the playoffs. The best PT player isn't on the list, same with Montour. Ever hear of Noah Calendar? Without him CV doesn't win half their games the last 2 years. Did you catch any Meadville games? BTW, Getting 5 out of 6 of the Stellar 6 isn't that impressive when you had 30 cracks at it. Otherwise, Kudos PaHockey on a job, done.

I would just like to know, once and for all, what organization in your mind is the best example of a model program for player development? Your current complaint is Pens players develop elsewhere. But I look at the MHR and Nationals qualifiers at 15,16,18 and a huge number of the teams are Prep Schools, split season teams, or programs that don't have teams younger than bantam or midget. SSM, Mount, South Kent, MFF, BK, Culver. And if I really took the time and studied the composition of the rosters I would guess teams like Gulls, Mission are also full of out of town recruited players. The team you might point to Lil Caesars, always successful at most age levels, but those players rarely stay on the same team year in and year out, they jump between LC, Oakland, HoneyBaked, and they also pull a lot of national recruits. So I think Pittsburgh is lucky to have a program that players are attracted to play for from out of town. And a program that yearly sends multiple teams to Nationals. The other area "AAA" teams in the area MIGHT be able to keep 2-3 AAA players in a given birthyear, but they are never going to attract any out of towners to come play there. And they rarely have enough quality players to be relevant. And their best players eventually leave those organizations as well, examples 06 SHAHA, 08 vengeance. Just for fun, walk into the office at Alpha someday and ask if there's someone that can tell you about the Vengeance program. You get Larry Moe and Curly looking at you like you interrupted their game of poker. And the team formerly known as Esmark, is more of an immigration program than a hockey program. The local kids compose most of the rosters and pay most of the fees, then a plane load of wealthy Soviet Bloc players arrive at the beginning of the season with a briefcase full of roubles for the ownership. So please tell me if I had a gifted 8 year old, and flexibility to move anywhere, what 3 organizations would you suggest I look at?

Sounds like AAAA is right, they picked up some developed 9 year old studs!

Just to keep things fair and not always about PPE, how are the former Vengeance and Esmark D1 players doing in the NCAA tournament?

Changing cities is common but also changing schools for top teams is becoming the norm. Go take a look at Total Package Hockey Academy "campuses" sprouting up. Kids go to school online in a Conference room in a rink and then train during the day. I'm not sure if that's better or worse than being indoctrinated by Catholics.

If the Faux NHL teams like the Penguins would play in the AHL the.AHL would be more competitive.

Wow Big Guy, suddenly they remind you of a Hall of Famer led NHL team? Does this mean you are done complaining about the goalie finally? You blame the coaches, blame the goalie. How about blaming your boy that hasn't scored a meaningful goal all year and choked in the SO against Mars when given the chance? Maybe put him in net and ride him to the state title!

A month ago QV had the consensus best team, best goalie, best coach, but yet another year with nothing to show for it. Same old story, paper champs. When are we gonna quit living in the past. Reminds me of the Steelers.

Wow! There is a lot to unpack in that message. Everything about the coaching as well as your (parent) expectations smells like a dumpster fire! Shortening the bench, running systems, PP, PK, hiding weak players on certain lines, at the Squirt A level? Really?! Are we trying to give the players (All the players) a chance to get better or are we collecting trophies? Cause I'll let you in on a little secret, If you don't win the Squirt B Minor Black My Hockey Ratings Steel City Cup trophy this weekend, don't worry they will be awarding it again two weeks from now. You have plenty of time to get a whole shelf full of them. Dunno if things are better anywhere else, but you really should consider getting the heck out of that situation!

I smell a lawsuit! Who did they have in net for that kiski game?? Sorry, too soon?

I think Montour is the most likely lower seed to advance. But there are usually surprises so I guess that's why they play the games.

See the earlier announcement! I'm afraid you don't have ol' Pa Hockey to kick around anymore! I am concerned about how will we find out who the thirty best local players are now? (Excluding those playing Junior, NDTP, Pens Elite, or moved away for other AAA teams, or Prep School, or playing for a Laurel Mountain team, or a Co-op PIHL team or those that just chose not to play for their high school team)

Hockey already has your Elan Musk! It's Murry Gunty and Blackbear. They get rid of all the "wasteful spending" like community programs, reduce competition, limit options, and then have their corporate friends run it "efficiently" (profitable)