Paul Baxter

The original deadline has come and passed... ZERO applications for Moderator. Will keep this topic open until at least one moderator position is filled.

According to the Huskies web site, they have one 16u team and one 18u team. I don't know how they can afford to run an org with only 2 teams. From the Vipers web site (which doesn't look like it's been updated lately...), they only have one 16u team branded as "Vipers" and the following branded as "Viper Stars": 11u, 12u, 13u, 14u, and 18u, although I am fairly sure they don't have an 18u team. It seems very confusing to have both a "Vipers" team and a "Viper Stars" team, in addition to "esmark stars" under the hood of one org. All in all what is out at PIA would probably be confusing to a new hockey parent... especially since neither of the orgs seem to have mites, squirts or pee-wees. Not sure how that bodes for the long term.

Congratulations to the following area players who were part of the KSG teams that won medals. I think this might have been one of the better showings by the West in quite some time. The South is as usual, loaded with Flyers Jr. AAA players, and I don't know if one male PPE played for the West or Central. West Region 12u - (2-1 record) - Silver Medal West Region 14u - (2-1) - Silver Medal West Region 16u - (2-1) - Silver Medal West Region 18u - (2-1) - Silver Medal Central Region Female - (3-0) - Gold Medal Central Region 12u (1-2) - Bronze Central Region 18u (1-2) - Bronze

Hello all- @one97one00 has decided to retire as an admin (please thank him for his service). As a result, I would like to open up 2 new forum moderator positions to help with the day-to-day operations on the board. We will be starting our busy season and will need the help to keep the forum going. Ideally, both will have a good, wide knowledge of youth hockey. Preferably, one will have experience with the younger ages (~mite to ~peewee) and the other peewee and up. What does it take to do this? 1) passion for the western PA hockey community 2) ability to log on at least once a day to check on the forums and moderate as needed. 3) good decision making skills and a patient heart 4) relative UN-biased as it relates to specific teams. You can have your own opinions, of course, but the main job is to keep the forum operating smoothly, review questionable posts (and fix or remove the problematic content). When I say "un-biased" I mean you shouldn't be on here saying how great your org is compared to others, etc. That's not your job. You job is to police content and answer questions and grow the content on the site by making good posts. If you think you're up to the task, please direct message me the following: 1) why you want to be a forum admin? 2) why you'd make a good choice 3) a brief overview of your hockey background **Minimum criteria for moderators: You must be at least 21. All moderator appointments will be at my sole discretion. Moderator appointments will now go for 1 year terms, starting 8/1/19 (this year will be slightly late). If you're doing a good job I will probably ask you to stay. If you're not, your term may be less than one year ? What you will get in return for being a moderator? 1) a special title on your forum tag to denote you're a moderator 2) pride in knowing you're helping the hockey community by volunteering your time 3) thank you's from me! ?

I will fully agree with the above, and not to mention it's in a lousy part of town and not easy to get to. There are a ton of rinks around. I really hope it will be moved out West.

I think by playing at a rink with more than one sheet, it would be an easier sell (for the players and parents) to do 4 games. I think a championship game and 3rd/4th place game would be beneficial. My big issue with the hockey games as they are now, is that they are so gapped out, it's way too much down time. One game a day, F-S-S leaves too much open time when compared to a normal tourney. On the other hand if you do: Friday: mid day and evening game (2 total) Saturday: 1 game preferably in then morning and then have the whole afternoon off (note, or do vice versa, 1 Friday and 2 Saturday). Sunday: champ game or 3rd/4th game. I know strictly looking at it from a game standpoint, it's a harder sell for 3 games versus 4 games (which is pretty much your average tourney). Secondly, the way it is now, if your team plays lousy in one game, you're toast. If you have a champ game, that give a team that may have lost 1 game a shot at a rematch.

In my opinion, it's the QUALITY that's more important than the quantity. A team with 20 "good" players, could be beat by a team with a few superstars and the rest "average". I will take quality over quantity...

I 100% agree with this part of your post. That way it's 4 games for everyone...

Not sure why you have a problem with the KSG, but I think it is a fun hockey event for players looking for some competitive (yes, it's competitive) summer hockey. If just a few top western PA players would join each West or Central team, they would be able to give the East a fight. As it sits now the East has been very tough in the male hockey bracket, partially because the games are basically held in their area (which will be changing). I wish a few more top players would join and play in these games. The West's 19 female team is going for a 3-peat this August - and that's because they have a good solid core of girls and they come back each year. Good luck to the area players playing in the KSG!

I will second this and thank you @one97one00 Thanks @Rodd Seifarth you stated your reply very clearly. = @Fca31 and everyone else, Co-Op situations are not guaranteed (as far as I know) to keep going in perpetuity. Things change, and sometimes that is ok as well.

WOW! That is not good news for kids in that area... lots of teams (club and high school) use that ice. What a shame.

Note: I have removed a few off topic posts from this thread. Best of luck to NC as they work on building their program. -PB

@The King Please do not post this sort of thing on the board as it serves no purpose other than to possibly fire up other members. I did not find any issue with the posts of the users you called out. These sorts of posts have been made regularly over the past 10+ years and it looks like to me they are stating things from their perspective. I may be missing it but I don't see where they are showing NC "in a bad light". People can have their own takes here and that's what it looks like to me. We went down the same road with you and Esmark and being critical of posts/posters, which (unfortunately) resulted in me having to clean up that whole thread. For example, @fafa fohi posted "I heard that NC will be fielding a Varsity team in the fall. Congrats to the school and to the program. I don't know if they have enough players for both a JV and a Varsity but it is good to see local school hockey growing in western PA, especially with a program that is going on its 4th year and was dormant for so long. " and you @The King replied "Guess we know where this guy’s money is going!" That was a completely below the belt reply and unless you know @fafa fohi how would you know (or even care) how he spends his money? @fafa fohi post looks completely legit to me and I am grateful more kids will be playing hockey through their school. I don't see anything bad at all about his post. As soon as you made that reply post it resulted in a flurry of back and forth action. Had you not made that reply things wouldn't have dropped to where they are now. For a while you ( @The King) were making posts with good thought and insight, however some of your posts in this thread seem to only be intent on whacking the hornet's nest and stirring up action. DO NOT post requests for us to moderate content publicly on the board. You can PM us. Do not put my name in a post and ask us to do things. You are NOT a moderator. PB

I fail to see how such a presumably innocent topic can escalate like this... State your take/opinion and move on and leave the personal angst on your side of the screen. It's ok to disagree with someone's take on an issue without going into any form of personal attack.

Thanks for sharing. By the looks and description, this is strictly going to be a skating rink, not a hockey rink. (see all the pics and descriptions). If the building is ~300 feet long, and a regulation rink is ~200 feet, it will never fit in the building as depicted in the drawings - the rink is shown as square and less than half the length. It's just a public skating rink.).

@The King I agree with your first sentence. Some of your posts do indeed appear to be insightful. However, I haven't made a single post in this topic in regards to the Esmark Stars, which is what this topic is about. This board has been around for at least 10 years and has pretty much operated the same way over the years. I have never said that I am perfect and have never made mistakes. None of us are perfect. If you operate within the topic at hand and engage in a insightful/logical manner - where the topic at hand is discussed, rather than the integrity of the poster themselves (which is where things stray sometimes), we pretty much will leave you go. Questioning how we moderate is a line that shouldn't be crossed by the users of this forum... We try our best and that's all we can do. the less time we have to spend fixing/editing/reprimanding (ANYONE) the better for us moderators and will keep the various threads more on target. Thank you-

Hello @EsmarkStars Thank you for your detailed reply to the post(s) above. This is an open forum for people to discuss youth hockey. We have no means of verifying the validity of posts made to this forum, which is the way most forums around the planet operate. I am glad you took the time to post a reply and to clarify things from your side and encourage you to continue posting here and correcting what you see as incorrect. Regarding "Stop allowing...". If the moderators know a post to be factually incorrect, we will take appropriate action. But we as moderators have a limited realm of knowledge (aka "we don't know everything")… so if we start pulling various posts (pro/con/whatever) it would basically cause most of the content to be removed, thus defeating the purpose of an open forum. Forums/discussion boards are meant to be discussion places and positive and negative (or pro and con) comments tend to balance themselves out over time. Beyond that, we have no idea about the truthfulness or accuracy of any particular post.

Hello @The King Welcome to the board. FYI, how this board is moderated or operated is not up for public discussion. You have now been officially warned. Further posts of this type may result in account limitations, suspension or ban.

@Hoomie This was an unnecessary post. The only people banned were doing personal attacks and had been repeatedly warned. People post their own thoughts and experiences here. We can’t validate the truth of every post. A community like this will tend to self balance itself by people posting on various sides of a topic. If we know something (by our own experience) to be not truthful, then we will act accordingly. But we don't have the time, means or knowledge to police and investigate the validity of every single comment on this forum.

I did see drawings of what you mention... I just find it hard to believe they can put enough parking for 2-3 rotations of cars/parents/kids into that space at once. that means they need 100+ spaces to properly accommodate things... Can't see 100 spaces fitting underneath a hockey rink and the above poster is correct neighbors will fight this...

We for sure need more ice in Western PA but not necessarily in places where parking is going to be an issue, and that will be the case with the armory. That could possibly be one of the worst places to park should the rink open and a team start up.

I stand corrected. Thank you.

maybe 3 years ago.. when the YMCA bought the building... Not sure what the long term status of the remaining open sheet is or what sort of agreement SHAHA has with the YMCA. But it seems like for sure the number of teams has gone down since they went to 1 sheet.

Thanks for sharing the pictures! Congrats to the team!

Let's get something straight @PawlBaxter, we DO NOT HAVE TO ANSWER TO ANYONE. This isn't your forum. You are in our "SPACE". So if we don't like the way you post or the content of your posts, we will remove your posts or remove you. Such is the way any forum on planet earth operates. Just like Facebook, Twitter or any other online provider what you post is subject to review and removal. You have a total of 5 posts, none of which are very constructive or helpful. Since you're "new" to this forum maybe you ought to spend time reading posts and acting civil instead of the way you acted in some of your 5 posts. The posters you are having an issue with have been around a LONG time going way back to the old forum site before it was moved to modern software. They understand how the board operates and how to act appropriately. Keep complaining and you'll be gone. How we run this board is not up for discussion. Next person who registers with a name similar to one of the board admins - will be banned. Another post with references like "..Have failed athletes like themselves at home and raised weaklings that couldn’t keep up.." will get you banned. THREAD CLOSED