Lifelongbender

Yes. I agree wholeheartedly. That feels like a recipe to waste half an hour of expensive ice.

Never had any issues there myself, but I've never been there late at night.

This is a fair question, @The King. I was speculating about why a kid would come so far, to a place where they speak a different language, when opportunities much closer to home exist in abundance (and there are very good opportunities for development in Europe). This might have been somewhat uncharitable, but that wasn't my intent. Frankly, I don't have the issues with PPE that many folks who regularly post here seem to have. As for the rest of your post, I generally agree with what you said.

@nemesis8679 while I agree with you regarding your second paragraph, if we have learned anything from this message board, it has to include the realization that there are a very large number of people who are irrationally concerned with their player "getting the best opportunities" and playing a the highest possible level, rather than simply letting their player enjoy playing. Now, regarding the question posed there, I assume that you move here from Kazakhstan because you haven't been given a better shot with anything really advanced over there - I haven't the foggiest notion what PPE-level opportunities exist in Kazakhstan, though obviously there's lots of high level hockey in Europe - and the PPE can offer you financial help courtesy of all the lower level players they accept solely to generate revenue for this specific purpose. My guess is that there is a certain type of person who views such an opportunity in the US as superior to one in say, Sweden, for obvious (if somewhat fantastical for the simple reason of the very long odds) reasons. It may be that in Boston they're not looking for recruits in Kazakhstan because their hockey culture is so much more advanced than that of Pittsburgh. Lord knows. Seems like a serious ordeal to go through for such a small chance of the huge paycheck to me.

Wow, you were being serious? I'll bite - so what? Predicting that the Penguins might be involved in construction of a new rink is not exactly earth shattering. Of course they will.

Umm, fellas, I think the CC reference was a joke. You know, something that rarely occurs here because too many folks have no sense of humor whatever. At least I hope it was. I certainly took it as a joke. If it wasn't intended as a joke, it is simply another kind of joke.

Yeah, you're right. I don't know what I was thinking. Rough morning!

Yeah, I'm afraid that @HereWithPopcorn is right on this one. The floor there is a permanent wood floor. There isn't going to be any ice hockey there in our lifetime.

Don't underestimate a few things regarding the rink itself, too. You'll be going there quite frequently for six or seven months in the year, so the distance and convenience is a factor. Also, you'll actually be INSIDE the facility quite a bit; if it matters to you, for instance, Pittsburgh Ice Arena (NP) has a gym in it, a decent snack bar, and is convenient to the turnpike. Lots of parents take their kids to practice and hit the gym for a workout while their kids are practicing. For me, the convenience of the rink to my home trumps all of these, since I am typically on the bench or on the ice with my kids anyway, and not standing in the lobby waiting. But I hear comments about these things from parents all the time (because our home rink does not have some of these amenities). At any rate, because you'll be going there all the time, these are things to think about. @RegDunlop7 and @fafa fohi made good points that don't need to be repeated. (Though I have to agree that when an organization messes around with schedules instead of having a set schedule for a season, it is pure misery.)

And, of course, there's also the inevitable question of why the whole thing is such a big deal to so many who aren't directly affected. If the kids' families have the money to pay-to-play, and it matter that much to them, so be it. It's on the kids and their parents to do the research and be properly informed.

I agree 100%. This design takes care of one of the crippling issues that site would have had - parking. I can't see any way to make the Armory work without parking vehicles inside the building, under roof. I also read that the City/County/DOT have committed to upgrading the local road there. Because access to this location is the other crippling issue. It is not going to be an easy site to get into and out of, and I bet the locals come to hate the rink almost immediately because of the traffic.

Well, I assume that if you can build a sheet of ice and a refrigeration plant this way, you can get the Zamboni up there, too. Hard to imagine they missed that in their considerations. Dumber things HAVE happened, though.

One of the guys I know sent me to this website when I just asked him: http://www.perkinseastman.com/project_3432843_hunt_armory_ice_complex And to this website as well: https://www.nextpittsburgh.com/city-design/hunt-armory-ice-rink-office-development-moves-forward-thanks-to-state-grant/ The key takeaway is a paragraph near the bottom: "Once completed, the new and improved complex will be centered around two skating rinks — an NHL regulation-sized rink and a smaller, 100-by-60-foot rink." That's one sheet of hockey-suitable ice. It would appear that parking is planned for indoors.

I've heard conflicting rumors about this, some from people in a very good position to know. I'd love to hear the truth on it, too. I don't see how six hockey teams could drive to, park at, and then get out of the Armory at the same time (if they use the typical two on the ice, two coming in as two leave model). I'd heard they were planning to park cars under the Armory's roof, but I then heard that was off the table. And I just don't see how the neighborhood roads can handle that level of traffic. Cool building though.

These two sentences probably apply to the "AAA" teams at every organization in the entire tri-state area.