hockeydeke

I think the challenge will be for players that are allowed to play prep but not go to NC...aren’t they going to have to get out of their school early to get to the practices early afternoon? Will those schools allow that?

I asked you to send me the names of these other 3 that were in Excel on the team but are no longer. You didn’t. Because they don’t exist. the three years of JV Program NEVER had more than a few kids in Excel. The current number is 4 and they aren’t the top four players on the team. the NC program was re-establish BEFORE Excel came into existence. so if someone wants to argue that despite all that the NC Varsity team would not exist without Excel the are certainly entitled to do so. but even without the current 4 there would very likely still be a Varsity team...albeit not 11-1. but each can judge those numbers themselves. my issue was that a bunch of stats were thrown out to support your conclusion and they were not factual.

I don’t mind debating the NC program...but when someone needs to manufacture “facts” to do so...it would suggest their argument is rather weak to begin with. And the ACTUAL facts do not support his conclusion...so he should have informed himself to begin with.

That’s not my quote you are showing...it was a statement I was responding to...so I assume all that was not directed at me ?

Well...let’s review: Over half the NC Varsity team is in Excel Academy? FALSE (it’s 4) Two play on Esmark? FALSE (only one) One of the “two” Esmark players is in Excel? FALSE (the only Esmark player is not in EXCEL). Lets also deal with the “foreign” statements about Kazakhstan and Canada. FALSE There is one foreign student from Kazakhstan. There is no player from Canada. There was one a few years ago in JV. So...the poster came out of the gate with those assertions to argue a point. And those assertions were not factual.

Good questions. Can you have a true “prep” team if it is essentially “Excel Academy”...where the “Academy” isn’t really an academic one? Assuming that is the brand...if it is branded as PPE then frankly they can play prep schools now...so indeed what is the difference? and if the Excel is mandatory...(do we even know that for sure?) is that going to attract players or turn them away? will they let the “prep” players play high school at the and time? lots of questions to answer.

Some of Danner’s early posts contained quite a bit of uninformed misinformation...so it took awhile to sort that out ?

This same debate or complaint plays out across multiple levels of hockey across the country. Just look at Tier 3 Junior hockey...its a mess...but people still “pay and play” In fact almost any youth/amateur sport is subjected to this...Hockey is just more expensive than most because of what is required to play it. Regardless, if someone builds a product other people are willing to buy...so what. More power to them.

Those conflicts have always existed even before Pens Elite banned players from playing for their High Schools at the same time. All I am saying is there are plenty of kids playing schedule intensive AAA AND still playing for their high schools...even some high level AAA players. When you add in the proximity of the rink to the school AND the fact that both will be at the same rink...it’s not hard to imagine more than a couple of U18Prep playing for NC. We will see I guess. Who knows whether PPE will even allow it...so it may be a moot question anyways.

Simple...because 5 top level players from Esmark play for THEIR high schools....and none of those schools are even AAA. And why do you think Pens Elite stopped allowing it? Because too many wanted to do it. So the evidence suggests that even though PIHL Varsity is not the same level as Youth Tier I AAA...those players still seem to want to play for their high school....and I don’t think that PPE U18 Prep team is going to be much different than the caliber of Esmark and Pens Elite.

This individual seems to have some issue with (in no particular order): 1) North Catholic High School 2) North Catholic’s Hockey team 3) the Pittsburgh Pens Elite 4) Excel Academy go figure...

So if we look then at only the “real” AAA teams, as you say...one allows players to play HS and the other doesn’t. So by that example it is half ;-). Now...Esmark U18 has FIVE players who play HS...none of them in PIHL AAA. So assuming Esmark is “real” AAA and would likely be competitive with U18 Prep...it’s hard to say that, if allowed, they wouldn’t play because of the lower level of hockey....those 5 Esmark don’t seem to have an issue playing in PIHL A and AA. And when you take in the proximity of the rink to the school and that it is the same rink for both Prep and NC Varsity....it is not hard to imagine that some of the Prep players would want to play for their HS if allowed. There is a reason PPE stopped allowing it...too many wanted to do it. If PPE removes the restriction it is not hard to imagine that more than 1 or 2 will want to and that is a majority of a line.

So you have gone from “over half on the Varsity team are Excel” and are now down to “7”, three of which you now say are not in Excel any more. you had “2 Esmark players one of which was on Excel” and then when the actual data was provided had to acknowledge it was only one...(who btw is not on Excel). so now you are reverting to “former” Excel players. tell you what ... PM the names. ...problem is they don’t exist. As for the question about u18 prep players...not sure what you think is particularly “stupid” about the question...or was the personal attack all you were interested in? Everyone knows that PPE began forbidding their players to play HS hockey unlike the other AAA teams that do. The U18 Prep team appears to be an attempt to keep players in the PPE program. Another way to do that is to allow PIHL play. So it is certainly reasonable to ask if they might change their rule for that team.

The numbers for this year were easy to find out. Someone would have to check but the three years of JV had no more that 1 or 2 players maybe 3 at most on the JV team from Excel. Which makes sense since I am not sure a borderline PPE player would be doing JV. If you are referring to current NC players...I don’t think there are any that are former Excel program players beyond the ones that are in the program this year and were last year. But even it is one or two it wouldn’t really matter. People seem to be under the impression that Excel and the Varsity team are so intertwined or have been. There is nothing to suggest that it is...beyond the small number of players that have done both. If this is such a concern or question there are people out there in the program one could ask directly. But this particular discussion was started with the assertion that “over half” of the Varsity team was Excel...so therefore the Varsity Team would not exist without Excel. That is demonstrably false. It will be interesting to see if PPE allows the U18 Prep players to play high school...which they don’t for all the other teams.

The facts don’t support that conclusion given the small number of HS players that have been in Excel since the HS program was brought back. It seems the only way that argument can get made is by making up numbers that don’t bear any relationship to reality.