champeen

2006 is 16u this fall.

you might be interested to know that an ad for the film popped up in my fb feed tonight. looking forward to watching it with my '08 as he heads into bantams this fall. he was run over by a garbage truck back in november and was lucky to survive, so we are more apprehensive than ever about him getting hurt. parenting isn't easy!

I always look at the health of a hockey market not based on its NHL team (though that certainly helps get 4-5 yr olds on skates) but more based on how much Junior hockey, College hockey, Minor Pro, and Midget hockey there is. Living in Texas, I see Dallas-Ft Worth as having not just the Stars, but NAHL (Brahmas), 2 Na3hl teams, an ECHL team (Allen Americans) a couple of ACHA programs, and a Tier I elite program (Dallas Start Elite). All of that is actually really good! But D-1 college hockey is absolutely a hole in the market unlikely to fill any time soon. Hate to see PGH lose that piece of the larger hockey picture.

let's exclude PPE for now.... if you had 5 aaa teams at every birth year, how many of those teams would be top 5 in Tier 2? top 10? if you can't say you would be a contender for a tier 2 national championship, then why claim to be aaa?

Thanks for all the suggestions. My son has been on the ice with Marianne twice before-- I think she's really good, and her gruff style is no problem for me or my son. Since I live in Texas, I don't really know the scene up there, so I was just wanting to see if there were other coaches that people recommended highly. This gives me a lot to work with.

also, i'm heartened to learn that all of you like your coaches so much and trust them so implicitly as to not seek out any other opinions, ever. bravo!

what if i told you we don't live in PGH, but will be there for part of the summer. would you be willing to help me?

Title says most of it... but a few extra notes: Player is a 15 yr old (2006) lower AAA player who is good in nearly all areas but needs to improve skating to make a jump up. Mostly interested in private lessons, but open to small groups if there is individualized feedback. Would be interested in someone who does treadmill + video. Not particularly interested in old-school power skating coaches who haven't spent any time looking at today's top skaters. Also not interested in debating what constitutes AAA. lol.

i would be interested to see his elite prospects page, if true

looking at where their 16u kids from 2014-2015 are today. about half the team is playing D1/D3/NAHL. that's pretty good, imo.

There are approximately 150 NCAA D1 & D3 programs in the United States. Why do people seem to think there should only be like 20 AAA teams and if you aren't playing teams in the top 10 you are a sham? Very good players will and do come out of these "joke" programs.

as someone who doesn't live in PA, i find it fascinating to see the wildly contradictory takes on PPE. One person will say they are the only real AAA program around and everyone else is just delusional parents paying for a third A, and then the next guys will say they are overrated and only take players for political reasons and cheat MHR by not reporting games, etc.

I don't live in PA (one of my sons plays in pgh) so perhaps this is just a crazy question. How is it that Vengeance and PPE have not or seemingly DO not play each other? Two AAA teams within a half hour of each other, during a pandemic that makes interstate travel difficult.... can't set aside their egos and schedule some games?

As an LGP lurker/occasional poster from years ago, I just wanted to acknowledge your username. Well done.

to clarify-- the little caesars team that was there is the farmington hills LC 18uAA team, not their tier I AAA team. they really weren't any better than any of the pgh AA teams. (i think their numerical rating in MHR was like an 88.something going into the tournament. so their spot in the final was not a forgone conclusion. pretty sure they tied Armstrong (iirc), and they didn't blow anyone out. Ashburn was the only team that was clearly stronger than the rest of the pack.