Lifelongbender

Folks, while the ad nauseum discussion about the flaws of various organizations might be especially interesting on this topic in particular, I'm thinking that the OP intended this thread to serve as a reference of when everyone is scheduling tryouts. Perhaps another thread about tryout shenanigans would be more appropriate for those discussions. There are probably many, many people who would appreciate a quick reference for tryout dates.

Just my $0.02.

46 minutes ago, nemesis8679 said:

Too be honest, maybe having BB employees in charge will clean up that garbage organization and the homer refs will be reigned in. 

And once again it's proven that we can't have any kind of civilized discussion on this board for more than three posts.

It will be interesting to see how things develop over time if it is true that Black Bear controls the board for Allegheny as described above. As a misunderstood genius once said, "the times, they are a-becomin' quite different". These next few years should prove to be fascinating for hockey players in SWPA.

11 minutes ago, Wes said:

Good question.  In all my years as a team manager I've never heard of a Team PA.

Me either, though there is a Team Ohio.

15 hours ago, Pucks11 said:

When hockey became to expensive for the average person to play and it became a rich kids game only. When sticks went from $20-$40 a piece in the 90's to $300-$400 nowadays.

Hockey has ALWAYS been too expensive for many to play. This isn't a new situation. 

Sadly the fact is that every sport is expensive now, and about the money. Even baseball is expensive nowadays if you want to do it "right". There are schools and clinics and tutors and skill instructors and hyped-up overpriced equipment in every sport. We have reached the point where, instead of the obvious good policy to play many sports and have fun, many - if not most - parents think that if their kid takes the summer off from hockey to play baseball, their kid will fall behind the others who are taking clinics and going to camps and paying private instructors. This has been discussed ad nauseum elsewhere on this board.

There is plenty of fault to go around, including the parents who think they can somehow buy excellence for their players, to the instructors and schools who stir up that hype, to the organizations who encourage players to play year round or they'll lose their edge. USA Hockey officially encourages players to play many sports, but how many times do they actually encourage it out loud? The same goes with every coach I know - they'll tell you that your kid should play many sports to ensure well-rounded development, but then they schedule drylands and skates and try to get their kids to go to schools.

The truth is that to some extent the idea that sports of any kind used to be about the kids was NEVER true, and on the other hand every sport has become saturated with money and people who will gladly take that money for dubious results.

20 hours ago, Spear and Magic Helmet said:

Just out of curiosity - where have people been saying the CHL (Canadian Major Junior) is being passed by the USHL?? I'm not arguing the point, just haven't heard this before.

I was curious about the same thing.

2 hours ago, Jack Handey said:

I'm not aware of a bad league.  I guess I would caution on RMU 3v3.  This can be fun for your kids but it's not exactly hockey as we know it. 

100% correct. My kids love the RMU 3v3 summer league, but usually also play in a 5v5 league. 3v3 is really fun for the kids to play but it ain't hockey any more than half court 1v1 is basketball.

2 minutes ago, Wes said:

Additionally the rink is very humid at times... poor HVAC implementation.

 

 

It sometimes seems like the dehumidifiers are turned completely off. The HVAC in that building is completely unacceptable. Honestly, I thought before BB bought it that the HVAC alone was enough to mess up the deal.

20 hours ago, aaaahockey said:

Now for the important question, have they improved the bar? 

They have not. At least not yet.

1 hour ago, aaaahockey said:

I'm guessing they want to get the first sheet rented out to capacity with a higher ice price before they go to the second.  They haven't even put the second one back in at Printscape yet let alone building a new one at Rostraver. 

And, let's face it, they'd probably have to build a new building to put in a second sheet there.

2 hours ago, Wes said:

Wifi installed but still not for public access.  Livebarn signage on premises but wasn't installed as of ~2 weeks ago.

Didn't know they got a new zamboni, and I will have to look at the lights next time I'm there. 

there were also a bunch of younger guys there cleaning and maintaining the public areas, which is another new thing...

 

At Rostraver I have noticed that they cleaned alot - the windows between the lobby and the rink are actually clear now. I was there a week or so ago and I'm pretty sure they were using the old Zamboni.

SHAHA has new jerseys now - it started last season. They updated their logo and have new jersey patterns and socks. There are probably some players still wearing the old stuff, though.

Whether fortunate or not, this was inevitable when they started buying rinks in the area. This board had discussions about this at that time. I can see definite possibilities for improvements in Girls' hockey, specifically, but I'm not sure what to think about coed hockey. Since we have seen how unserious PAHL is about Girls' hockey over the years - even though in recent years things have improved slightly - Black Bear can probably seize upon that as a money making arena and make substantial improvements.

For me, there are already so many non-PAHL teams in the City, dividing what is honestly a relatively small talent pool into smaller and smaller buckets. I doubt strongly that PAHL and AHF can both inhabit this space. I'd agree with what's been said above about more choice being better, with the caveat that more choice in this sense means more diluted talent, at least in the short term. I'd also agree that there is much not to like about PAHL. Only time will tell what the effect that Black Bear will have on Pittsburgh hockey in the long term. I do hope they'll at least continue to make improvements in the various rinks they own, some of which were substandard by any measure when they bought them.

40 minutes ago, RJUSHL said:

Wow, that is something new. Anyone on the board with the Badgers know what this is about?

It's interesting they list the Badgers and the Youth Phantoms, but not the Rebellion or Vipers. All four play in Black Bear rinks.

And it's early yet, but Mon Valley isn't listed there either.

3 hours ago, aaaahockey said:

I think there is some perception out there that, like Pens, you get replaced with non-Pittsburgh billeting at the older levels. In this case Russian/Eastern Euro kids.  I'm not sure to what extent that is true as I don't have the rosters but I do think most of the teams end up with a number of them.   

Whether it is true or not, this perception definitely exists with Pens Elite at least. And they don't need to come from Eastern Europe - Detroit is far enough.

16 hours ago, GrumpyOldPucker said:

Oh, on the righty\lefty thing..... the idea is to have the dominant\more dexterous hand on top for finer control. Having the dominant hand low will initially provide better control and a harder shot when the player is young and has a death grip in the stick, but becomes a detriment as it often leads to a terminal case of "stone hands".

It doesn't hurt that shooting left puts a righty's dominant eye towards the target for most folks, either.

1 hour ago, Novos51 said:

I gave both my son and grandson a flat bladed stick to play with for a season in mites. This determined what hand they shot with. I also didn’t let them have any curve the first year. I wanted them to learn how to use the forehand and backhand. My grown son has a great backhand and uses a very minimal curve. We will see with my grandson. 

My kids have been out of Little Pens for a ling time now, but back at the beginning at least they were giving everyone a flat bladed stick for that program too.

2 hours ago, Pucks11 said:

Also where do you get that tournament ice sells at a higher rate than LTP ice? Most places have a price for peak season and for off season. They don't charge by who is using the ice. Even still you have 2 teams in a game for a set price for an hour and a half slot (usually around $300-$400) and then you have LTP where they charge $15-$20 and hour with 30-50 on the ice and make$450- $1,000.

This is true, to some extent. The primary reason for the differences in the costs for Little Pens at different rinks is the cost of the ice at the rinks. But don't kid yourself, @Pucks11, organizations/rinks are definitely giving reduced ice rates to Little Pens sessions. At least some of them are. It's absolutely true that LTP ice is cheaper on the average than game ice.

On the other hand, @fafa fohi is also correct, above. In the end there's plenty of money for the ice in the program costs. I just know that the ice is discounted for LTP sessions at many rinks. 

37 minutes ago, Icebucket said:

There's a reason why Canadian and European players are almost all left handed shots.

I know most everyone shops online these days, but back when they used to have actual hockey stores run by people who knew what they were doing here is usually how it went.  They held the stick out for the kid to grab for the first time. If they grab it right their right hand, they should be playing left handed.

I'm not at all sure what the discussion of left/right shots has to do with Rostraver being sold, but as a coach and a player I do have to comment that, unlike in Europe and Canada, most Pittsburgh players are right handed and shoot right (close to the percentage of right handed people shoot right). You'll have noticed, if you pay attention, that about 65% of NHL players shoot left (it's between 60% and 70% according to NHL.com), despite those players almost certainly being mostly right handed as well. 

It may be true that what really matters is how the player feels. But the numbers don't lie. It's obvious that most right handed players in the NHL shoot left from the numbers. Over the years I have come to believe that this is baseball-related - most Pittsburgh players do not have parents who played hockey (yet), but I'm betting that most of them have parents who played baseball and/or softball. And righties shoot right in baseball - that is, they stand to the left of the ball so that their bat is on their right side. I think that inexperienced parents assume that right handed and "shoots right" are the same thing, and kids just get swept up in it. (Amusing sidenote is that I am right handed and shoot left, but both of my kids are right handed and shoot right despite my efforts to get them to try shooting left).

For any given player the handedness of their shot is entirely personal. It is, however, accepted wisdom supported by statistics that righties "should" shoot left.

And by the way, @Icebucket has it right. That's just how I remember stores selling sticks (and by stores, I mean Rupp's) back in my youth.

5 hours ago, Novos51 said:

Got an email today about learn to play at Palmer. Little Badgers program. Free equipment. Year round. That’s seems to be quite the shot across the bow to the Little Pens. Equipment provided by Black Bear of course. 

I had the same thought. Black Bear moves in and runs their own leagues, right? I figure they feel like they have critical mass with rink ownership in the area.

Truth be told there is much to be improved about how things are done around here by both PAHL and PIHL (especially with girls hockey in PAHL). I guess we will see how this all pans out. Maybe Black Bear will push a bit and things will improve.

23 hours ago, Spear and Magic Helmet said:

I forgot to mention those locker-rooms in the basement. Not far from whatever machinery was down there too. Also, only one set of stairs from the basement to the ice, so there would be fights on the stairs or in the lobby between opposing teams, who had to share the stairs and walk through the lobby together.

The place was a deathtrap if there were ever a fire because of that stairwell. Anyone in the locker rooms was trapped.

As for the comment about fighting, what is arguably the most famous school hockey fight in Pittsburgh history happened there between South Park and someone I can't remember in that very stairwell. If you're a hockey person of a certain age in Pittsburgh you remember that one.

20 hours ago, Spear and Magic Helmet said:

East Carson St wasn't as bad as it is now, but bad traffic and, in the late 90s, evidence of drug use around the rink. In the last couple of years, there were rumors the rink was being used for raves. The roof collapsed in 2010, and by then it had long since been abandoned. It caught fire later that year and they didn't exactly hurry to extinguish the fire.

The end of S 21st Street was surprisingly isolated 

I was thinking of the locker rooms in the basement, myself. Though the rest of what @Spear and Magic Helmet wrote is also true.

1 hour ago, Corsi said:

You must have never experienced the old Neville Ice Arena on the South Side.  Legitimately, had fans and players pass out from the fumes there.  There's a reason why it isn't there anymore.

LOL. And that wasn't even the worst think about that rink.

17 hours ago, GrumpyOldPucker said:

Air quality....... start off by purchasing a NEW battery powered ice resurfacer. IIRC, the Zamboni's have been am issue for as long as I can remember.

To be honest a new Zamboni might cost more than the entire place is actually worth.

Well, that may not be literally true, it's probably enough to be a deal breaker on its own.

2 hours ago, Saucey said:

Punish recruiting when it is reported. There's one.

This is a serious issue in this area for reasons which I don't want to start on, because it would take up a whole page, especially with Girls hockey.

1 minute ago, turnkey1229 said:

the rink is sold - contingent on a lot of things being fixed first by the current owner.

Terms are said to be by the end of this year , or deal is voided. 

we'll have to see how that goes 

Yes, after all the stuff we all heard that it was a done deal, it turns out that the Devil is in the details. I've heard that some of the repairs required are prohibitively expensive, including a rumor I heard that air quality is an issue.