zam

Maybe someone should go knock on some doors at their fancy new building in Sewickley and see what's going on in there. Perhaps it's just a big Ponzi scheme that you finally cracked. Or maybe they just need a new social media, website, linkedIn, coordinator.

The North Hills Vipers were a pretty successful organization until the late 80s if I remember right, I had friends that played for them. I think they had money problems or leadership problems and declined, maybe tried moving rinks. They ultimately merged with Steel City Stars and played a few years as the Viper Stars. As far as Esmark money, I'm sure they were still getting sponsor money from them. But the Esmark owner/CEO jut retired and sold the Tomahawks and is probably just winding down his hockey philanthropy.

But what about the NHL drafted but never signed goalie that is featured on their website? He played there one year and has spent the last 5 on the front page of their website. The Hurricanes jersey looks more impressive than his actual ECHL jersey. The other guy is more of an esmark success story, be nice if they could spell his name correctly tho As for the actual topic of this thread, LOL. No USHL players are being developed during a 1 week camp. Maybe just Maybe you get put on some scout's radar, but those scouts already have 100s of players on their radar and they watch those kids many many times live and on film before they render an opinion on them.

Well look at them being proactive. It's been a full decade of futility for us down river. Multiple Division winners but no hardware to show for it, even after being dropped back to A. Most of these current players were in kindergarten! Erie McDowell anyone??? Believe me I know this is an unpopular opinion but some might use the term outcoached. #HaveYouEverSeenTheQuakersWinTheCup

He is doing something right, plucking hockey players off the front lines in Kharkiv and bring them to New Kensington! Yes those tenders are great for those guys, but their t1 league is tied to the Nahl, so teams have to invite a number of players. I'd be curious how many make a team, I don't know the answer.

Either patience has wore thin at Avonworth after playing 2 years in the A league with no championships, or maybe there was some scandal??? but the Varsity and JV coaches were supposedly just axed.

Wow, this seems a bit personal to you. Did your kid not make the cut for his spring team? And no I don't condone coaches sending players out on the ice to seek retribution, if that's what happened.

Short shifts

I'm shocked!

I think I found 1 player that fits your criteria! From Western PA Played,PPE 14U,15U,16U, Invited to NTDP tryout Drafted USHL Boston University Commit Drafted 3rd round NHL Who gets the credit?

Maybe we could give a little credit to the kids themselves for taking some natural talent and adding in a bunch of hard work and dedication. And the team or organization where they played or trained only played a small part. I'm pretty sure if Mooney adopted any of our kids years ago and sprinkled his magic training on them, they still wouldn't be representing the USA at world championships.

Sometimes it's hard to keep up with all the many wisdoms this forum provides. So far it's generally understood that, Good players leave PPE but we should credit the players' success to the team they left for. Good players come from elsewhere to PPE but credit should go to the organization they came from. The new one I got to wrap my head around, Good players start at PPE and stay there but we should credit the father's training and hype. Any others I'm missing?

The best kids don't stick around anywhere for 18u. The best kids are playing USHL, OHL, NTDP at 16u and certainly by 17u. And i'd guess a good number of the "next best" kids are playing some other Junior League by 18u as well.

I wasn't saying AA players aren't capable or deserving of moving up to AAA teams at that age. I was being more critical of the organizations. They treat AAA as a club, you either belong or you don't, it's hard to break in. So they keep bringing in "AAA" kids that peaked when they were 11 years old. Reminds me of NHL coaches, same 30 dudes keep switching teams. How often does a new up and coming coach get a chance?

It's possible those kids aren't interested in a more rigorous AAA practice/travel schedule. But it's more likely, AAA players (parents) don't want to play with half a team of AA players. It's all perception. Unfortunately you don't see many PAHL AA players making the jump to a AAA team at these ages no matter how good they are. Instead you see these "Has-been AAA players" move around from other "AAA" organizations. Sounds better saying we brought these kids in from the Barons than the Lawrence County Lightning.

One need not look any further than the Great Walt Disney who said "All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." But if, in fact, you do want to look past the great Walt Disney, perhaps The Office's Michael Scott said it best "You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take. Wayne Gretzky"

Other than the birthyear when the Pens drop the black team and only field one team, is there ever a large enough cut of players to "Come to the rescue??" At least historically maybe 2 or 3 players get cut from a team, they either go to prep school, Barons, or Esmark. Has that changed?

Believe me I'm not trying to defend Catholics and their dirty little secrets, but you make it sound like Cardi W roamed the halls of North Catholic assaulting students.

I just watched a few minutes of that YouTube game, there are guys wearing white practice jerseys with numbers taped on the back, a couple of them could barely skate! It's impressive that even 100 people would come to watch that. I did see a fight though, so that could explain it.

Is it safe to assume with the additional number of games and travel involved that paid coaches for Club hockey is an even higher amount? Or maybe pay is higher in PIHL because of club sponsors and fundraising. A few years ago a friend on a local AAA club team said each family had to pay 1000 cash to start the season and they put it in a bag and gave it to the coach as his salary. Not sure if he got paid additionally from the organization.

I assumed Dad coaches get paid a warm up jacket and kid plays for free.

Can we just get a permanent thread pinned at the top called "Pens Elite Problems"?? It's the most amazing thing about this message board! There are roughly six or seven "current" threads, they all have different headings, but every one of them has turned to something related to Penns Elite. And nearly every one of the posts starts with "I think" or "I heard". With so many contradicting theories from one thread to the other. One thread says they only let locals play the younger ages and it's a fundraiser for the program and they replace all the local kids by the older ages, but another says they don't care about 18U so they let locals play without going to North Catholic. One thread says all the best kids leave town to go play elsewhere. Another thread says all the best kids are out of towners. One thread says Excel and North Catholic aren't "required" for the good players that it's typically the 15,16 and 17, 18th best players have to do Excel. So what I gather it's a Fundraiser thru Middle School. Strict North Catholic requirement for freshmen and sophomores, money grab with a bunch of schmo's playing Junior and Senior year.

Still in the hunt to play adult league???

The best player in PIHL could just as easily be on a D2 team or a single A team than on a PIHL AA or AAA team. If the co-op schools are in their own division, shouldn't Private/Catholic schools also be in their own division?

There's the suggested retail price, and then there's the price that the Insiders and the top players pay. It's all negotiated depending on how much leverage you have.