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Rewster

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Rewster last won the day on March 5

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Pee-Wee (3/11)

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  1. There are several great points that you made. Inevitably, everyone’s pursuit of playing at the highest level, with/against the best competition, and in the highest profile league possible (or school) gradually comes into focus. These are the same internal struggles that players, families, parents have to come to terms with at some point. I remember hearing Chuck Noll’s saying (with regards to athletic careers): “Maybe it’s now time to get on with you life’s work.” Meaning, competitive athletics is such a short period of time in one’s life. For better or worse, either try to get as much of it as you can, or cut it off when it’s apparent that you’re the at the best as you’ll ever get.
  2. This ought to be good… I will start by answering part of the question: Pittsburgh Penguins Elite are usually 1 or 1A in the region and Esmark Stars are 1B or 2…historically speaking.
  3. That’s a great question. It’s blurry anymore as I don’t think that there’s anymore Junior “B” leagues (or Junior C for that matter) here in the states. I’m sure that there are others on here that can explain it much better than I can. In fact, I’ve had to do research multiple times this year just to figure out what junior leagues/teams exist within the USA—and am still not totally clear. But, to answer your question (correct me if I’m wrong): In the USA, Junior A is basically now the umbrella term for 20U. It’s like, there was suddenly a stigma, and nobody wanted to be labeled as being affiliated with Junior B (or Jr C). So, they eliminated any misinterpretation that the teams/leagues would carry as being “sub-Jr A.” Junior A leagues/teams are all still separated by the customary Tier system…Tier 1: USHL; Tier 2: NAHL; Tier 3: EHL, NA3HL, USPHL. I don’t understand the nuts and bolts with qualifications that distinguish USA sanctioned Junior hockey leagues vs independent leagues. Don’t ask me about Canada as I need a road map just to begin to understand their seemingly endless onion layers of Junior leagues.
  4. That is utterly insane. The market will not bear that kind of price hike for nothing more than a color scheme and name change. What are they getting that would justify that absurdity? A team bus? A new sauna and jacuzzi? It’s gotta be more than just 2-3 additional private locker rooms. “How about…for the low-low Tier 2 hockey fee price of $4,500…we will do the unthinkable…we will create, and implement, the plan for the formation of—‘A’ team within ‘THE’ team.’ This could be ground-breaking stuff, if true. This obviously ain’t your run-of-the-mill, grand-daddy inspired, hodgepodge of random equipment-wearing, players that we’re accustomed to seeing in the PAHL.
  5. AAAA is correct…at least from my non-analytical scientific data & information extrapolation techniques (*patent pending) that knows (at least what it once required) to make a legitimate Top 20 ACHA D1 school’s roster compared to now. The résumé’s of prospective ACHA D1, D2, or even D3 that step on the ice for tryouts today are so much more competitive (at least on paper, which could be saying something too). There’s surely marginal AAA players on weak a** cheese teams that barely play on the 4th line on their midget team coming in with nothing more than the third “A” on their hockey bag and nothing else to back it up. Then again, it’s *mostly politics we’re talking about here anyways. It always is, and such is life… Everyone can’t be naive to believe that hockey is immune to that caveat. Case in point: You got a recognizable hockey family name (that played in the NHL)? Bingo, you’re on the team! Or, in some cases it just takes some extra dough to grease the head honcho’s palms “for that little extra look-see” during tryouts to make sure he sees Johnny’s number. Its simply not an even playing field with a tight, vacuum-sealed lid on top where everyone could see and tell who was the best of the best. The consistently Top ACHA coaches will tell you where they recruit from. It’s not mostly juniors and seniors in high school like we see in other sports. It’s mostly Jr A. The bottom line that I’ve heard is: If you could take that same player either straight outta high school; OR, 1-2 years removed from HS (still as a freshman with 4 years eligibility), who are you gonna take? Considering my maturity level when I was 17-18 years old vs when I was at age 20…it was huge gap just in personal responsibility. There’s always outliers…but from the limited number of ACHA coaches I’ve talked with… it’s trending where they’re primarily looking Junior A as their recruiting base. I think that it’s crazy as well. But, it’s the reality of the situation.
  6. Yes, you’re exactly right…hockey is an entirely different animal. And it has only snowballed into this gigantic enigma that has (I’m guessing) mirrored Canadian U-Sports in terms of taking seasoned 20- year old Junior A players; instead of immediately recruiting 18-year old high school players. Even in this area, a lot the current ACHA schools have evolved from an “idea” of starting a program, to assembling a coaching staff and players in terms of without any recruiting or prior student athlete player knowledge. They would simply form a club team. Then roll the dice on finding already enrolled students that could pose as functional players that can skate and shoot. I remember when Pitt, and even Liberty University basically launched their programs from the ground up. Now, in order to seriously be considered as a player on a top 25 program, you have to pretty much play Junior A; or at least AAA and sit out a year or so. I was talking to an ACHA coach that was at the Pennsylvania Cup trilogy of games 2 years ago in Philadelphia. I remember asking him if he was scouting or actively talking to any players in the games. Surprisingly to me, he said no. He was there as a fan and to support a relative that was playing. He said that very same thing about only scouting Jr A players anymore. I didn’t realize how fast the competition and arms race that this sport has morphed into. It’s crazy to me.
  7. This whole thread seems like it abruptly turned into Western Pennsylvania Youth Hockey’s version of “Grumpy old Men.” Frankly, it reminds me of a multi-generational commiseration of the “back-in-my-day” old farts sipping coffee and telling stories about how they should have listened to their mom & dad and played baseball (or football); instead wasting their childhood years and dreams by playing hockey in Pittsburgh…since, ya know…’nobody from Pittsburgh ever gets noticed, scouted, or goes anywhere.’ I can still picture so many people saying, “Sorry kid, you should have been born further north if you wanna play hockey…yeah, you gotta be from Canada, New England, Michigan, or Minnesota if you want to ever go anywhere in this sport.” It’s weird how there’s never any mention about how quickly this region has progressed from next to nothing as a legitimate hockey region—when discussed by all of the blue-blood and traditional North American hockey markets (i.e. Boston/New England, Buffalo/Western NY, Detroit/Michigan, Minnesota, Toronto/Ontario, Montreal/Quebec, even Western Canada). It’s truly included in those circles now and accepted as such when considering the talent pool of hockey players that come out of Pittsburgh…only not on par with their overall numbers, of course. Put it another way, it appears that Pittsburgh is way past the emerging hockey market problems. You don’t ever hear stories about people complaining about 5:00 AM available ice slots; only having 3-4 ice rinks available within an hour drive; or having generations of parents that never skated or played hockey and having to resort to being self-taught… or receive marginal hockey knowledge and coaching from guys that were only qualified because they were born in Canada or Maine.
  8. Meh, now you could very well be right about the 16U AA PAHL hockey quality being terrible. I have not kept close tabs on the skill level disparity across the board, or the coaching levels, competition, recent history, etc. I know that this year’s PAHL 18U AA hockey was honestly some of the best Midget Major hockey that I have seen as a conglomerate in this region. Armstrong is obviously the best as they have gone toe-to-toe with just about every reputable Tier 2 18U AA league in the nation; and either won, or tied. Considering that Armstrong was this year’s PAHLs 18U AA measuring stick. There were 4 or sometimes 5 league teams in the PAHL that could have been legitimate players in Tier 2 18U Nationals. Maybe this is the culmination year for PAHL and the entirety of their divisions and organizations. It could be the brilliance of the bright flame going out in PAHL 18U AA…never to be rivaled again. I’d argue this season was …possibly/probably the best “ever” that came together in the history of the league’s apex age classification.
  9. I believe that “crawl” that you are describing is also known as protecting one’s own self interest. Sometimes, it’s actually not the ones “standing proud” that win. As the Gambler once said…you’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away, and know when to run. I’ve witnessed the “proud standing” ones that find themselves on a train bound to nowhere.
  10. I would think that a lot (or most) of the teams would charter a bus. At least those based East of the Mississippi River. I’m only guessing based on showcase tournaments.
  11. At the very least, Liberty appears to be the current incarnation of ACHA college hockey’s version of “how to build a hockey powerhouse program through the same principles that the USA military implements everywhere it goes…spend an absurd amount of dollars acquiring an absurdly excessive amount of superior assets that will simply overwhelm any competition.” It appears to be a sound strategy if money is not an object.
  12. I don’t know Jeff Docking. I never met him. All I do know, is that he almost pulled off the exact same feat at W&J as he is currently doing at Adrian. Just didn’t quite get the overall push like he wanted from the school. As far as I know/remember, he was thee entire reason W&J had a brief, but illustrious ACHA college hockey flash in the pan. He was the reason why W&J acquired their own Iceoplex locker room, training room,, everything that comes with a traditional legitimate college hockey program during a time where it just didn’t happen (unless you were NCAA).
  13. Does anyone remember Life University back in the 1990s early 2000s? They “were” (I honestly don’t know anymore) a chiropractic school in Georgia that somehow managed to lure in a team full of ringers from Canada that nobody knew anything about. They dominated out of nowhere for several seasons.
  14. Are we talking about one game? You know (as well as I know) that it “could” be the #1 team in the nation playing #50 from EBF Wherever, Iowa. If the inferior team has a goalie standing on his/her head whilst making unconscious saves on multiple occasions…and team Numero Uno starts having internal struggles with who gets the puck and coach starts panicking by switching up linemates (only to hinder offensive production and impede defensive responsibilities) it can inevitably come down to who’s going to blink first. When you have that large of a disparity in rankings…and the longer the time goes where the margin on the scoreboard is negligible…the more likely that the higher ranked team implodes and the lower ranked team builds esteem and momentum.
  15. I think that there’s two different understanding of the title “MidAms” on this thread. One is the MidAm tournament that leads directly into Nationals. Tier 1 and Tier 2. The other is individual tryouts for MidAms that lead to the National Developmental Team. While scrolling through this thread it’s challenging to follow along. Different interpretations by a lot of people. With that said. Armstrong 18U AA wins today against Mt Lebanon 18U AA 5-2 (empty net goal) to move on to nationals. The competition at by all of the representative PAHL teams was outstanding, in my opinion. This season was one of the best in terms of competitive balance by the top 5-6 teams in AA as I can recall. It’s a shame that only one PAHL team gets to go on to nationals. This league was probably as deep as its ever been. Best of luck to the PAHL 18U AA Champions— Armstrong Arrows as they move on to USA Nationals in Delmont, PA.
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