HSFBLJ

My advice, let you player take the lead.  Sign him up to play at North Pittsburgh not the Frozen Pond.  North Pittsburgh just has a better program top to bottom, I'm not bashing the pond.  If your son is the best player on the ice consistently and he wants to move on to bigger and better than take him to the PPE and see what happens.  

Loving the sport is one thing, having the talent to play at a high level is another.  If your thinking the little 66ers is tough to make go the PPE tryouts for 14-16U.  Go to an Esmark tryout as well.  Good teams have large numbers at tryout time.  I don't know your financial situation but at high level AAA 14U and up plan to spend $5-10K at minimum, AA $3-5k.  Multiply that out from age 7.  You also have high school hockey to think about probably another $1500-$2k.  

Set some expectations for your family and for your son now.  Some of these folks may come off as a bit brash but they have been there and done that.  At the end of the day if cost isn't an option, chase the dream my friend.  

I carried my sons hockey bag to his first game and his last.  I'll never forget those times.  In the end its only money, you don't take it with you.

No one, is trying to poach an 18 U AAA player from the Preds.  NO ONE!

All roads lead to the ACHA

14 hours ago, Clee Torres said:

4 from NA has to be in this list. Hands down one of the best skaters in PIHL. Top defenseman by far in the league. 74 CP is definately right behind him. 4 is the total package. 

I only left him off because of his injury.  I wasn't sure if he had fully recovered.  Looking back I'm not sure that was a valid reason, just my thinking at the time.  

SF-89

PT-28

CP-74

NW-85

G-CC or SV tough call

My guess

I see a lot of players at the D2 level from jr's and or high end AAA teams.  The competitive teams do a good job of recruiting these young men.  It is harder and harder for a kid our of high school to make a college team.

It would really be something if PIHL would promote a "game of the week" and have those games played at RMU or Lemieux.  Maybe make those a Friday night game instead of a Thursday night game.  I'm probably wishing here, these kids deserve to be playing in front of a crowd if possible.  

Once they roll out the Mite AAA and AAA learn to skate programs they will be able to print money.

Shhh, they may be listening, we don't want them thinking they are doing a good job. 

SF will win the AA division.  IMO

Saucey, are you surprised?  The standard is the standard...

My god there has to be some shred of evidence out there that someone can produce.  If they filed the paperwork but it wasn't done properly, the kids gets to play.  Someone produce an email to the commissioner or from the commissioner that says something about the kid and he gets to play.  If there is no evidence, then sadly he does not get to play and you may have to disqualify games he did play in.  This is really a simple issue.  Show someone the evidence and move on.  

I would fall into the 1/2 of the parents that wanted to see my son continue to play hockey.  Partially because I feel his best years could be in front of him, he graduated younger (17) than most kids in his grade.  The biggest reason to see him continue was the discipline that comes with being part of team.  Transitioning to college can be tough, being a part of something helps to ease that transition.  Being a part of a team gives you and immediate social group, people you have at least one thing in common with.  Also, mandatory study time, prefered scheduling, tutor assistance and someone who is checking in with your youngster besides mom and dad.  

If your looking at ACHA or M1,M2, or M3 as an avenue for your child to continue to play at a high level you may want to rethink that process.  I could be wrong but I don't think many college players transition to another level to advance their hockey career.  I'm sure it is competitive and everyone still wants to win but reading these posts are a bit concerning.  

I miss being at the rink and watching my son play.  We still love hockey and go to several games a year, however, now we enjoy a round of golf and talking about what the future holds outside of hockey.  For those of you that are concerned, there is life after hockey.  Good luck with whatever you decide and whatever path your child decides to take.  Spend your money however you wish, you can always make more.

I wasn't joking, everyone complains about PPE.  Do local skill instructors get ice time in Cranberry?  I think not.  BB may not be nice, they may be charging people more money, you may not like them.  PPE stinks, Esmark is in a bad location, I get it you think Pittsburgh Hockey stinks.  I have been a proponent of relocating your kid if you think he/she is the next "great one".  The truth is Pittsburgh has limited options.  People here just like to complain about all of them.  If (and if is a big word here) BB could somehow manage to scrape together all the kids at Esmark, whatever the frozen pond is these days, PIA, Preds and every other organization out there maybe just maybe they could have a program that could compete with PPE.

Listen boys, everyone knows hockey is expensive it always has been and always will be.  I remember when we used to pay .99/gallon of gas as well. 

This argument is clearly out of bounds.  

Black Bear could be the solution to the PPE problem-

Ifs and buts, candy and nuts. The market in Pittsburgh doesn't support a competitor to PPE.  06 SHAHA is a great team but do you consider SHAHA a great organization?  Go back and read the mid am thread.  Move to Chicago or Minnesota, Pittsburgh seems to be a strange place in the hockey world.  

I wanted to give all of you advanced information about next spring’s Team Michigan. As you may know, Team Michigan represents Michigan high school hockey against the top high school hockey states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, & North Dakota) at the CCM NIT Tournament in Minnesota. This event is the most scouted tournament there is for our players; last year every NHL, USHL and NAHL team was represented, as well as most Division 1 University’s.

We now have two “Team Michigan” squads attending the CCM NIT Tournament: a Senior team and a U-18 (Junior) team. For us as high school coaches, it is crucial that we send our top players to make up these two squads. When scouts see Michigan players on the ice at this tournament, it sends a message as to the talent level here in Michigan. Therefore, sending our best players helps every single one of us, and every single one of our programs and players.

Do any PA teams compete in this event?  Is there a Team Pennsylvania?

Maybe the Black Bear model helps improve the Mid-Am scores?

Better move to Minnesota or play in the Canadian Jr league I guess.

46 minutes ago, hockeyisgreat said:

Bottom line!  If you are in Youth Hockey to get your kid a scholarship you are plain and simple wasting your time and money. Probably a better chance to hit the lottery!  It's hard in all sports but almost impossible in Hockey for all the reasons stated above!  I've got eyes wide open now and hope mine are just playing for the love of the sport.  Although I would probably still let mine try to play Juniors if he really wants to try.  I've wasted far more money on far less endeavors.

Well said!

16 hours ago, GrumpyOldPucker said:

When did it change from playing hockey because you love the game or your kid loves the game or you shared your love of the game with your kid to the dumpster fire we have now? In the mid 1990's we had ~130 or so HS varsity programs between West Penn, South Hills and Lake Shore HS leagues , one tier 1 org and PAHL teams were fairly competitive within their divisions.

and to be totally fair:

When did it go from officiating to give back to the game to skating for the money?

There are lot's of officials out there giving back to the game.  The question is do you want those guys working your game?  People don't sit in the stands and appreciate that the official is giving back his time.  Gas was also $1.15 in 1990, I assume skates and uniforms were less then to.  Drive an hour to get to a game the $45 they pay you suddenly looks like a loss and not really time well spent.  I would also guess that in 1990 you were paid with an envelope of cash, now your "additional income" is recorded online and you receive a nice fresh 1099 at the end of the year.  People are not necessarily in it for the money but the money sure is nice when you eliminate the tax man and are arguably fairly compensated.

A tip of the hat to the official that ejected this guy.  Most officials are to afraid of the repercussions to actually toss someone from a game.  You have a game report that needs done and most likely a report that has to be sent to the state as well.  People get a lot of room because officials don't want to do the additional work.  I'm not sure what happens when a fan is ejected.

Most varsity games have security in the stands I think the duty would fall on them to handle fans, not the on ice officials.   The officials are responsible for the actions of the players and coaches and people on the ice surface.  There needs to be someone else at all other games to handle the crazy people in the stands.

You will never see an evaluation of the officials.  Does the coach get an evaluation form to fill out after the game?  Bottom line you want better officials treat them better.  Increase the pay get more younger people working the games.  

Seneca is reaping the benefit of excellent goal tending.

Freshman play, Freshman dad?  Opening yourself for a bit of pain with these sharks...