Jack Handey

eh. good luck legislating hate out of haters.

rude and suppressive behavior at Belmont? what.a.surprise. ?

yeah and a few of those names are on the 18u AAA roster too. I'm referring to there last few box scores where there were only 12 skaters. It makes sense that they could be waiting for tier II cuts but I thought that happened already.

So in their last 6 games, the jr vengeance team has shown up with only 12 skaters and a rotation of 3 goalies. This seems contrary to the pro-profit model that everyone attributes to tier III junior hockey. What is the story here? Tier III teams usually have a boat load - dozens upon dozens - of players on their roster. Is the dream no longer for sale at Alpha Ice Complex?

Oh it happened. While almost every other rink followed the rules, these guys lived by their own.

Bikeable? I'm having a good time imagining everyone throwing your gear on your bike and pedaling on over. Whoever wrote this must be from the south where there is no snow.

Fishy behavior at Alpha? You mean the rink that was open all through COVID? Surprise, surprise.

They have the worst record of all vengeance teams. They are rated below 4 local AA teams. They are currently out of the running for mid-am. So to spark the team, they gobble up the goalie from another losing team. Is this a good strategy to turn things around?

I heard the Vengeance just acquired another PAHL goalie, this time from North Pitt. In mid-October. Can anyone confirm? Also, why can't the Vengeance seem to retain goalies?

I like it but I'd be the first parent to go sit on the other side and get real vocal!

Is this before or after livebarn? At the risk of outing the family - would love to have seen!

Independent? There isn't any local competition for them?

This is a good idea. especially if your favorite guy is running tryouts

Seeing how there is no local competition for them.

Maybe when they are 22, their parents will invent travel beer league.

I guess they expect us to piecemeal it together. the Pens 14u have blocked off March 4-6 on their calendar for districts, so I'm guessing that's the Tier I weekend. How about girls? Can't find anything on Pens, Selects, or Armstrong pages. If only there was a governing body to preside over this kind of thing... ?

Well, found tier II on the PAHL page. https://www.pahockey.com/game-schedules The answer is March 3-6. Now is this the same date for girls playoffs and and tier I ?

Anyone have the dates for Mid-Am Hockey district and state playoffs? I've looked all over the Mid-Am site but, well, you know...

You can have a 50-50 battle at the blue line, or you can have a 50-50 battle behind the opponents' goal line. If you want to see more offense and more scoring and just as much creativity, let them have the battle behind the goal line. The new offsides rule forces a puck carrier at the blue line to turn back and re-group into traffic. On occasion I have seen as many as 8 or 9 skaters between the blue and the red line because of the turn back. Yes some creativity will be required to keep possession. But the rule forces more play and more time spent in the neutral zone with high traffic. Is this really what we want to see and where we want to play the game?

There is a petition going around asking USA Hockey to undo the latest rule changes for youth hockey, specifically automatic offsides, icing on the penalty kill, and body checking rule change. Everyone's opinion will be different. In my case, I can live with the icing and body contact changes, but the automatic offsides does not compute. Anyone care to defend or debate the merits of the change? Here's the petition. Petition · Fixing USA Hockey's rules. · Change.org

There's a few other market forces that are driving the AAA craze aside from the AAA proprietors. These are: Tier III junior hockey - USPHL, NA3HL, etc, where there are now hundreds of teams looking to find players to be competitive. These teams are really businesses who are selling the dream of playing college hockey. Junior hockey family advisors - NCSA and the like; they are salespeople who will pitch to you a path and a plan to get your kid into college hockey. They are telling kids and their families that the only way to be looked at by scouts is to play AAA hockey at the youth level.

Hmmm... Predator fees for birth year teams are mysteriously higher than mixed birth year teams. And on top of season fees you get a bonus fee for coaching. At least you and your kid will feel special. Kind of makes you wonder who the real predator is here.

Even before the T1 15-only change, we had Pittsburgh parents running around trying to make their AA teams fit into the Detroit model or Buffalo model, both of which are based on the metro Toronto model.

Au revoir; we bid thee farewell; godspeed; good-luck. It's happened before and will surely happen again so long as there are smoke blowing coaches to drive the demand. There are hundreds of teams in PAHL and changing alignment because 2-3 minor BY teams left is tantamount to the tail trying to wag the dog. A final parting thought, we'll see your independent kids back in various Pittsburgh beer league in just a few years.

I agree, but I ain't the one doin' the equating, ace. They are.