dazedandconfused

100% agree, but if you (sort of) own the ice then what sense does it make to dismantle your main tenant and give up that guaranteed revenue?

It's obvious that those are "highly educated" hockey parents. The only thing that is too slow is the processing part of their brain.

Icemen as a whole are a complete joke. The powers that be have taken a once thriving Butler Valley organization and dismantled it to the point of which it may never recover. And to what end? To have a group of teams be forced to pay 3-4x what they could be paying as BV teams: U18 Tier 2 #14 - very good, but why not just be a BV team and save the families a couple thousand in travel costs? U16 Tier 1 #122/150 Nationally and #10/10 in the MidAm District. They recently found it advantageous (financially) to add a skater from the BV 04 team to this team. At a ranking of 89.87, they would be a perfect fit in a strong PAHL U16 league. U15 Tier 1 #113/123 Nationally and #12/12 in the MidAm District. They would be a solid fit in PAHL A Major Black. 05 Tier 2 #4 in Western PA and at 89.55 sitting exactly in the middle of 6 other Western PA teams led by the Viper Stars at 90.69 and book-ended by North Pittsburgh 88.52. Again, just another good Butler Valley team that wouldn't need to travel to play all of their games. If them and the VS were in the PAHL AA-Major division, that would be a great 7 team division with Allegheny and Predators being pushed down to A Major Black.

I would say there are two things that SHOULD prevent it. 1. Common sense - good luck 2. The law - should curb this for most people but the lack of #1 is astonishing nowadays

66 is NOT the problem. He saved hockey in this city twice, at least. He can do whatever he wants to do.

100% Correct. It all changed when the city's worst hockey parent had to have it his way.

Ah, I had been using the link from the Vipers site. Thanks for shedding some light on this error.

There must be something happening there that they don't want to be known considering they still have last season's rosters on their website for the 18, 16 and 15 teams.

You are 100% correct and the biggest obstacle sits at the top of the local food chain. Squash any competition at any cost. Designate players as "Elite" at 7-8 years old. Is this for the good of the sport? Or to fill the coffers?

That's a great to example to set for the player and it's not "legal" to schedule a new game to erase a suspension. MidAm could/should step in but they struggle mightily to accomplish the normal tasks that they are supposed to handle.

http://www.calmac.com/icerink I think they're going in the direction of something like this. It may not be this specific company, but it is some sort of temporary fix to get through this season.

It's a suspension from MidAm/USA Hockey. That would carry over to any other team and preclude him from Coaching.

Witnessed a game the other day where the puck was shot off of the cross-bar and into the netting above the glass. I wonder how many ref-bashers are certain where the face-off should take place? The parents on one team had no idea as they continued to scream at the ref that the puck hit the cross bar and he politely agreed with them and informed them that yes, it did and therefore the face-off stays deep in the zone. Many accepted that answer but a few did not and became more enraged and made sure to tell him to go home and learn the rules. (c) When a stoppage of play occurs as the result of any action by the attacking team in the attacking zone, the ensuing face-off will take place at the nearest neutral zone face-off spot, unless the stoppage was a result of a shot going directly out of play off of the goal post or crossbar.

12U? 5 and a game? Sounds like a kid well on his way getting plenty more of those. With GM, he also is suspended for the next scheduled game.

Two words, Dave Fryer. Despite sitting there with a laptop, I guess he found it too much to ask for.

Many rinks received new lighting, even PIA which used to be the darkest rink rink in North America, courtesy of Constellation Energy.

So is there anyone who gets in the way of an NA/PR final? Team Mort possibly? Canon Mac? Also, PR has won 4 of the last 5, how many of those finals have been against NA? The PIHL website only lists Champions.

That's what you receive when you turn your referee scheduling over to the for-profit entity known as PIHO. If it's who I assume it is, she's way out of her element in anything beyond 12U.

There are many things to complain about regarding the PAHL and it's antiquated thinking but placements is certainly not on that list.

So, I guess we know what the real "money grab" is and always has been. Only this one is paid in Rubles.

I've recently heard whispers about an investigation involving West Allegheny and there is also a USA hockey audit being performed on the Mid-Am referee in chief. Does anyone have any insight as to what these two inquiries are about?

That's a hell of a payday for the Coach. I say more power to him. If he can convince those people to pay him $16,000 good for him. That's why they call it Capitalism. You CAPITALIZE on an opportunity. In this case, that opportunity is provided by delusional parents.

Received an email today from a local outfit trying to solicit orders for their "knock-off" high level stick. They are looking for "pre-orders" that will take 8 weeks for delivery. In this world of instant gratification how is this type of business model sustainable? And does the disappearance of the Bardownski clowns prove that it simply isn't sustainable?

Is it? At the 05 level, it may even be A Major. Maybe.