hockeydadx3

2 hours ago, Zarg said:

Hello, 

What are the best places in the Pittsburgh area to get a kid a new pair of skates and making sure you get the right fit for them? My kids usually get used skates because they like the feel of them already broken in, but one of them wants to try getting a brand new pair and getting them baked to fit the foot. Any suggestions? 

Pure Hockey

1 hour ago, Corsi said:

Speaking of 16U, does anyone know why 16U is the only PPE team that doesn't have a roster posted for the 25-26 season yet?

The team promptly disbanded after taking the expert advice on this forum to heart and are now thriving in the high-stakes world of RMU in-house hockey.

9 minutes ago, twoboys said:

It has been 3 years.  A lot can happen.  

 

Pretty sure that’s the point being made 

2 hours ago, sadday4hockey said:

We're very happy for you, your player and the others who it worked out for.

Check back with us once these 2 things begin to happen:

1. Checking

2. The imports arrive

These 2 items change change everything

 

Not my player. My kids play at NP. 

3 hours ago, Duck Bill said:

Well, I certainly don't know if the kids from last season were the same kids from the squirt minor year.  If the black team had the same roster the last three seasons I'd see your point.  I don't think 50% of the current Pens Gold roster were players from the squirt minor Pens Black team three years ago, particularly because I heard a very large contingent went to another team (and not up to Gold), but I have no idea if that's accurate.  If they were in fact with the organization on the Black teams since squirt minor, then feather in their cap for good development.

It’s my understanding 8 of the 18 kids on the top team were on the black team squirt minor year

Well, I couldn’t reply directly to the post since the topic was closed, but I’ve attached it here. Fast forward three years, and now half of the former Black team players are on the Gold team for the 2013s. Probably made sense to just stay that Squirt Minor year - even though, according to this forum, they were “forced” to be on the team - since they made the team in April and didn’t even find out which team they were on until September.

2 hours ago, AAAAleaguestarter said:

That’s right they recently added the reapers. I think they actually had to go to court or something to get approval 

They actually added a 6th AAA team last year. Chicago Phantoms.

5 hours ago, zam said:

I would just like to know, once and for all, what organization in your mind is the best example of a model program for player development? 

Your current complaint is Pens players develop elsewhere. But I look at the MHR and Nationals qualifiers at 15,16,18 and a huge number of the teams are Prep Schools, split season teams, or programs that don't have teams younger than bantam or midget. SSM, Mount, South Kent, MFF,  BK, Culver. 

And if I really took the time and studied the composition of the rosters I would guess teams like Gulls, Mission are also full of out of town recruited players.  The team you might point to Lil Caesars, always successful at most age levels, but those players rarely stay on the same team year in and year out, they jump between LC, Oakland, HoneyBaked, and they also pull a lot of national recruits.

So I think Pittsburgh is lucky to have a program that players are attracted to play for from out of town. And a program that yearly sends multiple teams to Nationals.  

The other area "AAA" teams in the area MIGHT be able to keep 2-3 AAA players in a given birthyear, but they are never going to attract any out of towners to come play there. And they rarely have enough quality players to be relevant.  And their best players eventually leave those organizations as well, examples 06 SHAHA, 08 vengeance.

Just for fun, walk into the office at Alpha someday and ask if there's someone that can tell you about the Vengeance program. You get Larry Moe and Curly looking at you like you interrupted their game of poker. 

And the team formerly known as Esmark, is more of an immigration program than a hockey program.  The local kids compose most of the rosters and pay most of the fees, then a plane load of wealthy Soviet Bloc players arrive at the beginning of the season with a briefcase full of roubles for the ownership. 

So please tell me if I had a gifted 8 year old, and flexibility to move anywhere, what 3 organizations would you suggest I look at?
 

@aaaahockey would suggest playing in house at RMU through Bantam and then hockey for your local high school team. 

15 hours ago, YardSale said:

Dowiak and DiMarsico for PSU out of PPE lighting it up tonight in NCAA tournament.  Nice to see the PGH influence.

Zero credit is allowed for PPE on this chain. 
 

- @aaaahockey

1 hour ago, zam said:

Changing cities is common but also changing schools for top teams is becoming the norm. Go take a look at Total Package Hockey Academy "campuses" sprouting up. Kids go to school online in a Conference room in a rink and then train during the day. I'm not sure if that's better or worse than being indoctrinated by Catholics.

It’s worth it if it means my kid can play club hockey at IUP. 

1 hour ago, aaaahockey said:

Way to miss the forest for the trees.   Unless I am mistaken (and I might be) - you don't have to change high schools to play for #6.  Wonder what their model does differently that their kids are still so prepared?

I’m sorry your kids got cut from the program. 

7 hours ago, aaaahockey said:

I'll Add on to this - the truth hurts sometimes.  Pens are the only legit AAA team in Pittsburgh and they have put themselves in a position where they aren't better than Ohio teams.  Stinks that people are paying 30k plus to lose to OBJ and Barons.   Waters down the rest of the talent in Pittsburgh and leads to all the faux crap we see these days.  

A team ranked 6th in the country beat a team ranked 4th. It happens. 

15 hours ago, aaaahockey said:

If by the "ends of the Earth" you mean Ohio I guess you are right -Midams showed they are no better.   Would be interesting if they actually played all the local teams more often but not a great showing   if you mean they need to travel to bump their MHR rankings we should be talking about the formula a little more. 

I would love to know how the Pens burned your kid(s). There’s no way you have this much vitriolic hatred for the program without some serious history behind it. What happened?

35 minutes ago, aaaahockey said:

Go ahead and tell us where you play and how to find these great coaches then.  Also how much the fees are and what the hidden amounts that go a long them are.  I'm personally not cutting on programs but if you truly have an "elite" player, your choices are pens, pens, and pens.   They have made themselves unaffordable and it is about to become more so.  

 

Id also argue there are two issues here.  One is where truly elite players can go and get scouted seriously.  That's maybe two to three organizations that all have money grabs of one sort of another.  They have both good coaches and bad coaches.  The second issue is local hockey for kids that want to have fun. On that I agree with you there are some great teams and coaches.   PAHL is unfortunately a complete mess as an organization. 

It seems like we are in agreement on the lower-level programs. The Pens remain the only program in the area where you can consistently compete against top 15 teams, and we’re lucky to have that. Many areas of the country don’t have a program like that, especially in a city the size of Pittsburgh.  When you look at programs like MidFairfield, TI, and Caesars, they all come with similar costs. Over time, we’ve seen good players leave, but we’ve also seen strong players come in from outside the area. Times change, and hockey has evolved along with them.

I wish everyone on this board had to list the teams their kids made … and the ones they got cut from. So much bitterness here. Maybe precious little Johnny isn’t as good as you think he is. There’s great hockey in this area, great coaches, and the sport is only getting more competitive.

On 3/7/2025 at 9:07 AM, AAAAleaguestarter said:

 

10 hours ago, HockeyFan6687 said:

Way too young and at a level that we should not be looking that in depth at things.  With every passing year, there is increasing focus on pushing kids to develop for a D1, Junior, Pro career.  Some want to pursue that but not all but this should not even be a factor at squirt. Let the kids play and have fun.  The direction each individual kid will/wants to go will kinda sort itself on its own. Sit back, have a cup of coffee and enjoy watching your son play, enjoy his buddies and have fun. The years will go faster than you think.  Whatever he wants to do will sort itself out in time!

Completely agree. Even if your child’s goal is to play junior or D1 the best thing you can do at that age is help them fall in love with the game. 

1 hour ago, sadday4hockey said:

So then let's make sure we make mention of their latest money dilemma is where they've told all players grades 9-12 that it's all or nothing.

North Catholic, Excel and pens team. No exceptions.

I've only heard this 2nd hand so if anyone has firsthand, please include.

But think about that. What's that number over 4 years?

150K?

200?

Quarter mill?

 

Rumor mill. There are kids on those teams that don’t go to North Catholic 

4 hours ago, Hattrick Swayze said:

It is insane that they asked each family to pay between $1,200 and $1,500 after the season ended for their teams. Can not believe that people are willing to fundraise and pay more money after the season ends but some people will continue to drink the kool aid and believe that their kid will be one of NAHL tenders that rarely ever actually make a NAHL team. If your kid can't make the top Pens Elite team stop chasing the AAA dream and let them play for the closest PAHL organization. If they are still "too good" for their local organization at that point then look at going AAA. The Pittsburgh area has at most two teams full of AAA players at any age group. Quit chasing the dream and let your kids enjoy the sport. Most of these kids will not play any higher level than D1 or D3 ACHA and that is fine. 

Haha, you’ve done it now by mentioning Pens Elite—prepare for the tidal wave of outrage, conspiracy theories, and unsolicited opinions about youth hockey politics! Pens Elite derangement syndrome is real, and tryout season brings out the absolute best rhetoric on how isolated incidents prove that there are better programs than Pens in Western PA. Somewhere, a Facebook parents’ group is already on fire, and scouts are being accused of favoritism. Buckle up!

I’m starting a chain so we can post tryout postings for the teams in the area. We have done this in the past and it has been really helpful. 

1 hour ago, sadday4hockey said:

It's hilarious because one of the ringleaders of the malcontents (I mean that's what we have here right) was one of the architects/henchmen who decided that Pittsburgh only needed one Tier 1 program and put the Hornets and Amateur/Jr Penguins into their graves. Now we need another one?

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Pens have two teams through Pee Wee and after that it goes down to one team. So having another AAA program for Bantam and above might make sense. 

10 hours ago, LGP13 said:

So what's the inside information you have, and why are you here trying to garner interest?

It's a half built website, with links that don't work and no information to provide that was created a month ago. I have a hard time believing you just happened to stumble across it. 

Instead of getting us to speculate, why not just tell us what the motive is?

I didn’t stumble across it. Another user sent the link out. 

I heard Pittsburgh Hornets youth hockey is coming back for Bantam and above. Has anyone heard any details on this?

9 hours ago, RefHannah said:

The trashing of organizations that occurs on this board is directly proportional to the number of people that have been spurned by that organization.  The organizations like PPE or Esmark that cut or didn't call back many of your kids face the most ire.  On the other end of the spectrum are Beaver Badgers and Arctic Foxes that take everyone and so everybody is happy. Nobody is coming on here and complaining they got picked for team 4 when they deserved to be on team 3. Thankfully. Lol

Hahaha. I have seen the Beaver Badgers and Arctic Foxes getting a TON of respect on here. 

3 hours ago, dazedandconfused said:

Don't leave out SHAHA and the latest AAA du jour, Aviator nation.

Ha. Actually the Shaha 06 AAA team is the only AAA team I have ever seen get any sort of respect on this forum.