Spear and Magic Helmet

Great! let us know when the field is finalized.

I don't think people are saying the kid isn't good, they're saying that the hockey is not as good. I don't think that's really an unfair statement. Any level of AAA hockey vs any level of PIHL, the AAA is better. That doesn't mean there aren't excellent players in the PIHL, even as far down as, gasp, the B division.

Don't want to get too into this, but I disagree. The money has always been there, people just pretended it wasn't. That same money's in youth sports too, i.e. aau basketball.

I agree. Even at AAA, high school hockey is just not comparable to tier 1 hockey. Honestly, even though everyone here mocks the "faux AAA" teams, THAT hockey is still way better than high school hockey. The only HS hockey that got anyone anywhere from a Pittsburgh high school team was the Chicago Showcase, and that's been gone for a few years now.

I'll believe it when it happens.

Not to pile on too much, but it is also obviously a bit unfair when you consider some high schools can play 60 games and some barely get 20. I know a lot goes into it, but the fact that a high school team is even allowed that many games is kind of ridiculous. You wouldn't ever hear the end of it if a local HS football team flew to Florida every weekend in the spring to play games, yet it is very easy to imagine a high school hockey team doing something similar.

I don't think anyone is trying to minimize the effect that this will have on the Mon Valley. It would be a very sad day for Pittsburgh hockey if Rostraver closes its doors. Unfortunately, it just feels like the writing is on the wall. Yes, the other rinks are far from this rink, but, for example Jefferson Hills is slightly closer to the YMCA rink than Rostraver. Unless the community buys the rink, I feel like it's difficult to see this rink lasting more than another 3-4 years.

I agree. In Rostraver's early days, the fact that it was the only game in town probably mattered more than the location. Even Lebo was built in the late 70s, Rostraver still had the advantage of relatively scarce ice. But now, YMCA (Bethel), Printscape (Southpointe), Lebo, Ice Castle, Center Ice, and Connellsville are all just close enough to be a problem. YMCA closed a sheet a few years ago and Connellsville is always in a state of disarray, so maybe it's just a matter of which domino falls first, but something is going to lose for sure. I would think if you are going to open another rink anywhere in the area, it would not be in the Mon Valley. Maybe closer to the new developments in the North Hills would be the best choice, but I think just about anywhere but the Mon Valley would be a better choice.

I realize that this could be paywalled for some of you, but the gist of it is in the first paragraph: "At 75, Jim Murphy would gladly retire — if he could only find a buyer for the business he has poured everything into for the last three decades." and this: "A “for sale” sign is posted at the entrance of Rostraver Ice Garden in Westmoreland County. Mr. Murphy said some potential buyers have expressed interest in the 14-acre property with 65,000-square-foot building, which he estimates is worth $3 million. But no serious offers have come through." https://www.post-gazette.com/business/career-workplace/2022/04/25/business-owners-buy-sell-company-succession-retirement-finances-covid-19-pandemic/stories/202204240032

I think a lot of teams do spring tryouts to determine their numbers. At the lower end, where programs are struggling, the spring tryout will determine how many teams they will have and how much ice they will buy. The split season thing is hard for a number of reasons. I don't see it happening and personally I don't see any good reason to try to make it happen. #1, there are a lot of high schools that don't have teams. What are those kids going to do? It's a LOT of players. #2, in many places, the split season only further divides the high school/amateur split. There will be a lot of teams that are not bound by that agreement. In Western NY, the junior teams don't play split season, for example. I think some of the midget teams play full season now too. And good luck getting PPE and Esmark to adhere to a split season. I'd bet many of the affectionately named "faux AAA" teams also will not be bound by split season. Money issues aside, I don't see how any kid would pick playing for a terrible high school team over playing for PPE. Back when I was paying attention, around 2005-2015, many kids in Western NY were opting to play Jr hockey instead of fully-funded high school because Junior was "better". Like the old saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. #3, the PIHL season is way too long to accommodate split season teams. Tryouts in the spring, on ice starting in July or August, games starting in October and going through March or early April - none of this works for a "split" season. PIHL would have to be November to February, just like other winter sports. They just aren't interested in doing that.

I agree with everything you said, actually. I just don't get why it seems like every 2 years there is some other change made to off-sides. I feel like people are putting in into the same class as not allowing icing on the penalty kill, and I don't think it is. I think the penalty kill thing will be permanent. Delayed vs. Automatic off-sides seems like it will just go back and forth until the end of time.

I have never understood why USA Hockey keeps going back and forth on the automatic offsides. I honestly can't keep up with it. I think that rule is just on its own planet.

This has been rumored to be coming to the NHL for years. I imagine this is a test run. Interesting that high school is excluded

It does seem to matter some. 154 from Jan to April, vs 77 from Sept to Dec, which is more than double. I don't know how evenly distributed births are in a normal population, but just eyeballing it, it does seem to be better to be born in the first third of the year than the last third. Also, this must be all players (as opposed to being just scholarship players). There are about 25 players per team and about 60 D1 teams, so roughly 1500 total players. This is a total of 373 players, and it's just freshmen. I would be interested in scholarship numbers too. At most, teams can grant 18 scholarships still, right? And a lot of them only have 9? I would guess that more scholarships go to the foreign players to entice them to come here.