newhockeydad

Has anyone heard any updates on RMU’s on campus rink?

That is pretty interesting. I took a look at A2 and A3 in 10U and from an MHR Stand point, the divisions are fairly even Division Number of Teams Highest rated team on MHR as of 10/16 Lowest Rated team on MHR as of 10/16 Spread from High to Low Average Ranking A2 8 80.1 72.1 8.00 76.3 A3 8 80.1 71.6 8.50 76.2 There are a lot of teams that have played a fair amount of games so far but there are still a couple that only have a few games reported. I am really curious to see how this rating compares once the teams have all played placement games. There are a couple teams in A1 that could probably fit in this and a few teams from A4 that could play well in this mix. I wonder if PAHL would condense the A Divisions down and maybe have a really strong division with 12 teams or so in it.

So this game was a non-PAHL game that we played in early September. No tournament or anything like that. The same team had another game listed that was from a tournament I believe, so maybe the manager did add it to help there case for moving up more than 1 division?

I just happened to check the Extra Placement spreadsheet with PAHL and a non-PAHL game that we played is listed on there. It was against another PAHL team, so maybe they are looking at certain games that were not in the placement window.

Do you know if the PAHL placement committee looks at games outside of PAHL and MHR? Our team played 6 non-PAHL games prior to placement games against PAHL Teams. By the end of placements, we should have a pretty good idea of what our team is. Especially considering we played all PAHL teams.

I agree 100%. I thought the game was really competitive. Hopefully we see you guys in our division for the regular season.

So my son’s team which I am the manager for, is the team that they tied. I was surprised that they were put in A4. There are also some other strange placements as well throughout the other divisions in 10U. I did ask in the PAHL manager town hall about movement after placement games and they said that they get 10U correct over any other age group. They wouldn’t tell me if teams could move multiple divisions but it wouldn’t surprise me if a couple of teams moved two divisions.

Assuming you are talking 10U?

So I have a question about the D2 Division that maybe someone can answer. Are these schools in this division strictly co-op and are there numbers based on enrollment like what you would see in the WPIAL with football?

I think that as well too. My son didn't get involved in hockey until 2022. So I could see how the COVID years could have affected these birth years without having access to skating lessons or LTP Programs. I can actually give some good feedback on the UPMC program from this past season. My son started goalie last May during the spring league at Baierl. He played a few times and we got him outfitted with goalie gear. We ended up signing up for the UPMC MDL Program in the summer just to get him ice time as a goalie. We were really fortunate to have him do MDL and then fill in for goalies during the UPMC House League. He gained a lot of valuable experience to get comfortable with the position in a fairly low stress environment. Then in the fall, UPMC decided to do a tournament style team for there Advanced Level Mites for the MDL League. He made there "Red Level" team (I say that loosely because they were more of a pink team. To good for white but not good enough to play with top red teams. They stayed together from September until March. They offered 4 teams with varying different skill levels. However, at this level, they had a dedicated goalie. My son was the dedicated goalie for the season. Which with most of the tournaments we played at the red or white levels of U8 ADM, 90% of the teams we played, had a dedicated goalie or two. They did offer some goalie instruction during practices which was good. I can see how the stress of the position can really weigh on any goaltender, let alone one who is so young. My wife and I have been fortunate to have great people being involved with out son from a hockey perspective. His coaches always offered positive reinforcement and reminded him that it has to get past your teammates before it gets past you. He has really matured as a person with how to handle personal and team defeat.

I am really interested to see what everyone's thoughts are on the goalie shortage? My son tried out for North Pittsburgh 10U and they had over 80 skates try out and only 6 goalies. I know some other organizations are still looking for goalies . I often wondered what would be a good way to get more kids interested in trying goalie? I know North Pittsburgh/Baierl Ice Complex had gear available for kids to try goalie during there Mite/ADM Programs. That is what got my son interested in trying it. It also seems like a lot of parents are completely against the idea of there child trying goalie. I don't know if it is the cost, the lack of information on how to go about being a goalie, or parents not wanting there kids to try goalie?

I know North Pittsburgh 10U Tryout's are March 31st thru April 3rd. I believe some other organizations such as Armstrong, Vengeance Tier 2, Beaver County Badgers, and Pittsburgh Aviators have all posted schedules as well on social media.

Thank You. I am going to talk to the organization prior to try out's and discuss his intentions with them. We are going to do spring hockey again for this season. I actually signed him up as a skater but let them know he could play goalie as well. He hasn't played very much full ice hockey as a skater, so I want to get him some time doing so this spring. He is also going to play on a tournament team late spring/early summer but that will be as a goalie, so he will continue to get his time there. I am fine with him making whatever team he is chosen for. It also may come down to him having to choose between either skater or goalie.

Thanks Everyone. Our organization had a meeting with parents last season prior to tryouts, so hopefully they have it again this season and I can speak with them. I am glad to hear that it is still encouraged at that age group. He does play for our school district's co-op team, which ironically has a couple goalies, so i do know we would get some time there for him to skate out as well if he does end up being the only goalie. As far as if he makes a AA Team, I wouldn't want to put him in a position where he is over his head as a skater. That would be a decision we would have to make at that time.

My son is a 2016 Birth Year who will be moving up to squirts next season. He is in his second full year of hockey and is currently playing at the red level in mites. This season he made a transition to goalie about 80% of the time between his two teams. One team he is the only goalie and the other team has a 2017 part time goalie as well as a couple other kids who will try it periodically. He enjoys playing both positions but he does not want to commit to being a full time goalie or full time skater. My question is at the PAHL Travel level, is it unheard of having a goalie skate out if there is two goalies? I am new to hockey in general and we got our feet wet this season with traveling to tournaments as well as some other local travel , so we would like to continue that route by traveling. My question is can he try out for both positions and play both? Or is that kind of taboo to ask when they go to a travel program outside of mites? My personal opinion is he is a better goalie than he is a skater. He is still an average to maybe slightly above average player when he is outside of the net. However, I don't want to force him to have to make a decision that he might regret at 8 and change his love for the game.