James Gatz

I have not heard anything recently, but I'll recap some of the old highlights on this topic. When the Lemiuex Center was built, there was supposedly some thought that future expansion could include a third sheet with a larger seating section on the North end of the building. That third sheet/stadium bowl would be an attractive draw to a USHL team. I don't know how, if at all, the Wegman's going in on that side of the rink might impact the room to grow. Separately, I'd heard that their was interest/hope/ambition to get the Youngstown team to relocate to Cranberry. Given that the Youngstown team is a Blackbear property (BB bought them in 2018), I don't know if that plan is still viable/attractive.

I know how it works, and I know early season tournaments are tough because there are no My Hockey ratings for the organizers to reference when placing teams. I've warned new managers about this particular promoter though. Their registration instructions are confusing. I just checked and it looks like they have updated them a little, but their instructions direct, "USA Hockey Official Team Registration/Roster Form (1-T), stamped & registrar signed, is required once your registration has been submitted. Atlantic District teams are required to register and play in the same division and classification as depicted on your official USA Hockey roster. Out of district teams that register below their designated division and classifications will be placed after careful review." Many of the teams that play in the B division of the Hershey tournaments have "A" designated rosters. The unsuspecting manager, doesn't know they can register their team in that division, and Atlantic Division teams, like the Hershey Jr. Bears cannot. They were probably comped this tournament to fill out teams when registration was low (speculative on my part), but I appreciate the tournament directors out there that will let a team know they may not fit well and give them the option to withdraw early. Looking at the season final MHR for the Hershey Jr. Bears, they had two PeeWee teams. Their best team was an A team and finished with a final rating of 85.91. Their second team was a B team and finished with a rating of 71.25. I wonder if the team in this tournament was comprised of many players from the lower team from last year. I know they seem to be an A team this year, but there are some tournaments out there that would have moved this team to the B division or helped them find a better fit on a different weekend tournament.

Having had bad experiences with Hershey Labor Day tournaments in the past, I look to see if they have gotten any better at placements. Doesn't look like it. Results are at: HERSHEY LABOR DAY SCHEDULE 2026 - Google Sheets One 12U A division team from Hershey, lost their four games with scores of: 20-0; 20-0; 10-0; and 14-0. That's a real shame that the people running that won't make changes mid-tournament. Maybe that team was comped their entry, but that's a miniscule consolation. Doesn't do much for the other teams playing them either.. Local teams saw some success. An Arctic Foxes team won the 18UA; a South Pittsburgh team won the Bantam A; and Beaver County team won Squirt B.

It has been quiet. PAHL pre-season slotting was released last weekend and for most age-groups, placement games start on 9/12. 10U pre-season slotting will be released then too. I'm wondering if in 12U, the Erie Otters 1 and 2 teams were mixed up somehow. I'd usually expect the 1 team to slot higher than the 2 team. If this was a mistake, given the placement committee's tendency to only move teams up or down 1 division, it could lock these two teams into an ultimate position. Maybe they will consider this, if in fact this was an error.

The meeting minutes from the PAHL meetings provide some insight into the initiatives and trends capturing the attention of the league administrators and member organizations. The 2026 annual meeting was held on May 3. The minutes are at: Draft Minutes Some of interesting notes are: --The 2026/2027 season will still have the same number of games, but the season will end a earlier for most age-groups. Whereas the 2025/2026 regular season ended on 2/15 for girls, 3/1 for 12U-18U coed, and 3/8 for 8U-10U, the season will now end on 2/21 for 12U-19U coed and girls, and 2/28 for 8U-10U. This cuts a little over a week out of the season, but teams will have to play the same number of games. This year's calendar is below, --Will have to play a minimum of 3 games in the first 2 months of the season and a minimum of 3 games in the last 2 months of the season. --Can only play 1 placement game per day. Some teams took advantage of playing additional placement games. This will be harder now. --Fayette Ice Miners and Vipers organizations formally lose membership status. They have been dormant, so this is more an operation of the bylaws. --several comments in the minutes suggest there is percolating frustrations over tryouts. A committee will be formed to evaluate policy proposals for future consideration. --"The Executive Administrator presented a few topics that will be considered for rules/policy changes in the near future, in advance of tryouts next season: non-PAHL rosters, PAHL AA2 rosters, and the policies recommended by a committee for tryouts, poaching, and recruiting." --Interesting comments from Second VP report on placements for all levels. While claiming overall success, they acknowledge members' initial declarations can be improved. They specifically call attention to a situation in 12B1 division where a player may have been overqualified and raise that a player could be ruled ineligible to a team due to overqualification for a division. They don't identify a team, but a quick look at the 12U-B division shows there was a Huskie with 58 goals and 15 assists in 18 games. Interestingly, there were no higher placed Huskies teams at the 12U level, so it will be interesting to see if they really disqualify a player from the only team in his organization. --May migrate away from SportsEngine as the website provider. Don't anticipate any data loss in a migration. --Took action on several changes to the rules and game manual. All proposals emanated from the league. The proposed rules were at Rule's Proposals The actual new rules are in the minutes. Some were modified from the proposals. --one interesting change is that while a player can still drop to a lower division post-placements if he or she changes organizations, it is impossible to drop to a team in the lower division in the same organization. There were already rules in place requiring a 75% vote of the placement committee to make such a change, an athlete cannot drop to a lower placed team in their organization. I can see issues with this if a team folds during placements, which should be a rare occurrence, but with injuries, it is possible. They may have over-regulated this one, because they will still permit a player to change organizations and play at a lower division with the 75% approval of the placement committee. Given the comment about the 12U-B player, we might see the placement committee actively block more player movement than they have in the past. For the casual observer with no seat at the table, the minutes are helpful to see what's coming down the pipe.

But enough people showed up to the Tier 1 triple A tryouts for them to make a team. Maybe they had to cannibalize the PAHL 2014 BY roster to the point that's now a mixed year team (at birthyear prices), but how dare you say they are not Tier 1. You seem to be confusing long standing the USA Hockey tier system with the Vengeance rebranding marketing entering its fourth season.

They have a 2014 Tier 1 team.

I don't know the answers. Not that free AI is much to be trusted, but it may be that Icemen are rostered by the Pittsburgh (PHA) Icemen Hockey Club. I didn't know if some of the independent Badgers teams were rostered by Black Bear. At some point it can be semantics. The non-profits single biggest expense/liability is paying the landlord for ice. Many of the landlords are for profit, and carry significant influence over the nonprofit tenants.

I have never done a study of the branding and identity of the formal rostering Hockey Associations to see, but I suspect wonder if there are some other for profit teams in the region. The ones that come to mind are Icemen and certain, but not all, of teams playing under the Allegheny Badgers brand. I'd define for profit as "not a registered 501(C)(3)." Being a for profit entity does not always mean a profit maximizing heartless monster. I think Icemen are for profit (ie not a registered non-profit) but they don't seem to be in it for a money grab.

Vengeance Tier 1 is a for profit organization as I understand it. I do not know that the Steel City Ice Renegades/Vengeance Tier 2 is. for profit. Isn't the tier 2 program the Pittsburgh Amateur Hockey Association, Inc.? For anyone interested in looking at the non-profit tax returns, they are all publicly available. The Pittsburgh Amateur Hockey Assoc on is at Pittsburgh Amateur Hockey Association Inc - Form 990 for period ending May 2025 - Nonprofit Explorer - ProPublica for example.

This info helps. Take all this with a grain of salt because I don't have a daughter playing, though several of my friends do. Maybe some parents of girls can weigh in too. Though the PAHL league starts at 12U, there are a several 9-10 year-olds on the rosters of most of the PAHL teams. Some even have a majority of 10U players, so I would not rule out looking at any of the girls team in the area so long as taking on a whole season obligation is not too heavy a lift. Every team we have been a part of has included some girls that also played on a girls PAHL team. There were some scheduling conflicts but fewer than you might thing and everyone made it work well. Now, assuming you still don't want to join a 12U PAHL team, forming a 10U team for local tournaments is doable. I still think it will be easiest to partner with a recognized organization who can handle the rostering. I'd reach out to the different organizational presidents/directors to talk through your goals. Some of the bigger organizations (Arctic Foxes, North/South Pittsburgh/Vengeance ect.) may not be interested or will push you into their programs, but it is worth asking. Some of the smaller organizations (Aviators/Beaver/Lawrence County/Yetis ect.) may be happy to handle the rostering and help find some half-ice slots. Another route could be reaching out to some of the different school club organizations. I may be wrong, but I think most are USA Hockey recognized organizations and can roster teams. May not be the case, but a couple years ago, Hampton had more ice than it could use, but they did not want to give up ice slots. If that is still the case, they may be happy to "sublease" out some ice and to roster your team. I wonder what type of competition you will see at 10U tournaments. I'd look into that a bit more. I can envision a scenario where you face stiffer competition in a 10U girls division than in a lower level 12U division just because of a selection bias of there being so few 10U teams. Looking at the my hockey rankings seems to refute this concern, but I'd try to research which teams are in the tournaments. There are very few 10U teams in the Mid-Am District and they seem to run the gamut ratings-wise. Last thought is that maybe some of the tournaments you are considering do not require USA Hockey rosters for teams. If that's the case, the rostering concerns are moot.

Not to rain on your parade, and maybe I misunderstand your situation/objective, but there is more to amateur hockey on the organizational side than just forming a team. If the aim is to compete as team rostered as a USA Hockey team, you will either need to roster through a recognized organization or become a recognized organization through the Mid-Am. The former is by far the easiest way to accomplish this. Step one will be to have a solution for rostering with USA Hockey. That step may solve, or limit the ice rental issues. That organization may have access to ice or facilitate rentals/splits. Are you willing to share more about your plan? Locking in to only wanting ice at Baierl (and not really much ice from the sounds of it), is this going to be a team in addition to most of the players' usual club team, or would this be the only team most play on? Do you plan on opening tryouts, or is the objective to avoid the try-out process and keep a group together that wants to stay together? Depending on the goals, people should be able to offer some advice that might help.

Hilarious Freudian slip.

Total for Wildcats: 5 penalties (4 minors + 1 match). One player accounted for 2 of them, including a match. Total for Badgers: 12 penalties (7 minors + 3 misconducts + 1 game misconduct + 1 match). One player accounted for 3, including a match and a misconduct. One player accounted for 2, both minors , and coach accounted for 2, including a game misconduct. Unless any of the players with a misconduct has 5 in the season, there should be no fall-out for the minors and misconducts. The game misconduct will likely be an automatic 1 game for the coach. The most serious consequences are for the match penalties. This is speculation, but seems the rules may result in the following: Immediate Suspension: Both players are suspended from **all USA Hockey activities** (games, practices, team events) with all teams (including non-PAHL like high school) until a hearing is held. This starts immediately and lasts up to 30 days if no hearing occurs (rare; hearings are mandatory). - Hearing Process: PAHL Discipline Committee or Mid-Am (USA Hockey affiliate) reviews, typically offering a suspension length or requiring a full hearing. The player's family/association is notified. Representatives (e.g., parents, team rep) attend; outcomes can include multi-game suspensions or more based on severity. - Specific to the Wildcat (Removing Helmet): Under USA Hockey Rule 601(e) or 304 (equipment), deliberate helmet removal during an altercation is often treated as unsportsmanlike or intent to injure, leading to a match. Usual range on some reports is 1-3 game suspension post-hearing, plus any supplemental if part of a fight. - Specific to Badgers (Abuse of Officials): If verbal/physical abuse (e.g., profane language, threats), it often results in longer suspensions (e.g., 3-5 games or more). Coaches with 3 abuse-related game misconducts in a season face suspension until a hearing. Progressive under Rule 411: Repeat offenses escalate. The Badgers had exactly 12 penalties in the game, triggering an automatic 1-game suspension for the head coach.

The scoresheet is at 16U AA1 Scores

Dan isn't coaching 16U this year. I'm not sure he did last year either. He was coaching 16U and 18U at the same time for a season or two, but he has been the 18U coach solely for at least this season and maybe last.

Sometimes the Allegheny Badgers, Rebellion, and Aviators will have a team not play PAHL and play independent. It’s team specific. Icemen play in the THF or AHF depending on the team. I think Predators do the same. There are the non-PAHL Vemgeance teams. Mercyhurst plays in independent schedule.

So was I. I thought the notion of a 5 year old billeting was hilarious.

There are three players on the Aviators 2010 Blue team page who are listed on the roster of the PA16U2 PAHL team playing in the AA2 division. The Aviators PA16U1 team is a 2009 team playing in the PAHL A1 division. The Aviators 2010 Blue team is not a PAHL team and is playing an independent schedule. While not in keeping with the spirit of PAHL's claimed mission, I don't know that double rostering players on an organization's independent quintuple A team and their PAHL team is forbidden. The PAHL rule that address this is in the administrative policies. PIHL Governing Documents - Draft The rostering limitation provides: 4. A male player who appears on the roster of any Tier 1 team – or on the roster of a 10U or 12U team within an association that primarily fields Tier 1 teams above the 12U classification – at any point of the season shall not be eligible for participation in league games with any league team unless removed from the Tier 1 roster and submitted – or resubmitted, if applicable – to the league for approval for the league roster. The Aviators AAA team is not a Tier 1 team, so this rule would not apply as I read it. Aviators win again.

I enjoyed this announcement in the latest PAHL Pulse. I've been involved for a few years, and read all the linked pages. It is still and enigmatic process. This is the distribution for 12U based on my hockey ratings. And here is a similar chart showing the My Hockey ratings for the 10U age group. I've excluded the teams with a 0 rating in MHR, which happens when teams are on a "statistical island" and have not played outside of their grouping of teams.

PAHL permitted the transfer.

You can usually spot them. They are mature beyond their years because they started living with billet families during their Snowplow Sam years.

I think it works both ways, but agree with you it is worse when you team is the one that is severely outmatched. The developmental risk to being the better team is that it is harder for the coaches to get the kids to develop good habits playing the right way. Not a huge deal at 10U, but if those kids can skate it end to end and score, most will take that chance. They aren't having to see the game unfold and find passing opportunities. For the goalies in particular, playing on the dominant team is not great experience developmentally.

You are still in the placement season, so hopefully PAHL gets it right. Your scores seem to strongly suggest moving up, but your coaches can further push for that in their post-game reports and make it be known to PAHL that you want to move up. Being in the wrong division can make the year a lot less fun that it should be. I'd be in favor of PAHL having two short seasons with realignment in the middle or make the playoffs some sort of realigned process. For as much as USA Hockey belabors to "make it fun" we somehow become wedded to these set divisions for an entire 14-18 game season. Having two 7-9 games seasons would be possible albeit with a bit more administrative and scheduling hassle. Ideally, you want to be in a division where you end with a record close to .500. If your team is doing well above or below that mark, you are in the wrong division and development is suffering.

If you kid didn't participate in AAA Try Hockey for Free and a session of AAA Learn to Play, don't bother signing up.