hockeyisgreat

MidAm website for results and info still not working!  So annoying!  Do they even care?

12 hours ago, HSFBLJ said:

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

Don't worry haven't been able to access it again since early this morning.  Just get circles!  Ugh

I see the MidAm tournament info can be accessed from their home page!  About time!

57 minutes ago, Spear and Magic Helmet said:

PIAA does not go strictly on enrollment either.

You are right! I completely forgot about the competitive balance rule in football!  Way to many rules in the PIAA. Does that only apply to Football.

26 minutes ago, Theroadtobeerleague said:

If this kind of athlete addition were attempted within the WPIAL or PIAA, not only WOULD it be an issue, but there would be a highly publicized hearing.  They literally have it on record for everyone to see, with published documents showing which students have transferred and who has been approved or denied, and it’s also covered widely by local media.  Google “WPIAL eligibility hearing” and that will be abundantly clear. 
 

The PIHL is so behind in this regard.  Why is the PIHL like this? Hopefully, whoever gets that Commissioner job will overhaul the system, including the placement into the different classes. The PIHL classifications were created at a time with much lower participation in hockey. Now, schools like QV (14 total skaters in grades 9-12) and Greensburg Salem (16 skaters in grades 9-12) compete with 4A and 5A (WPIAL) schools.  These bigger schools get rewarded for not developing a youth program. If they played in a classification with schools their size, they wouldn’t win half their games.  That’s why Montour, with more than 30 high school players, should be in AA, along with most of the schools listed below. The PIHL system is antiquated. High school enrollment of Playoff teams remaining in what the PIHL considers “A”:

McDowell: 2,194

Norwin: ~1,600

Fox Chapel: 1,317

North Hills: ~1,300

Shaler: ~1,200

Kiski: ~1,200

Greensburg Salem: 820

QV: 623

McDowell has 300 more kids in 9-12 than QV has in K-12.  

 

 

 

The PIAA goes strictly on enrollment. Regardless of competitive balance.  PIHL attempts to use a competitive balance for A and AA.  Never totally fair because numbers of players can change so much year to year.

Pickle, great input thanks!   I'm going to have to read it a few times to understand it all. But very interesting for sure.

Pretty hard to believe there were no suspensions handed out for the on ice fights!  

1 hour ago, muckerandgrinder said:

Depends on who you talk to I guess. Always had 2-3 per week when my son played there. As a matter of fact we left hornets for that specific reason. Got sick of having 7 a.m. practices on the mini rink at at Mt. Lebanon.

I did ask around with people I know with kids there and generally people seem happy with their ice time. 2-3 practices per week August through end of Sept. and minimum 2 per week during the season. Buddy with a kid on the bottom squirt team said the only weeks they had less practice were weeks that tournaments were at the rink. Also said AAA teams get more consistent ice but they pay for it.

SHAHA people do seem generally happy with their practice slots as well. Having less going on at Spencer seems to benefit the existing teams. Hope the Y doesn’t close that rink as they have been saying for years.

I don’t get the infatuation with full ice practices either. If you have a good coach they can utilize the 1/2 sheets and tie it together when they have full ice.

And don’t forget the “game mania” going on with PAHL. People want to complain about not getting full Ice slots but every time they do they feel compelled to invite a team for a scrimmage, thus losing a practice on a full sheet.

I can tell you for a fact that the 14U, 16U & 18U AA teams got one practice per week.  3 out of 4 weeks per month were 1/2 ice. I could understand that for A high school friendly but not AA. Especially when they told the kids they would get at least 2 practices a week.  Only program I know of that gets one AA practice a week.  I have heard more than 1 Preds AA parent complain.  Ask before tryouts!  Don't let them lie to you.

AAA Peters Twp

AA   Bishop McCort

A      Fox Chapel

D2    Canevin

1 hour ago, oneanddone said:

12 or more - but sometimes there can be ambiguity there with PIHL  - go figure

Do they force you at 12 or any other number?

Don't know if interest fizzled as much as it becomes a dead issue. No one is going to care much now that playoffs are well under way.  PIHL might have to try and clarify the rule better if possible.  Ultimately the kids who just wanted to play hockey are the collateral damage in all this. I think the Covid cancellation of the finals was worse.

21 hours ago, miked said:

I know a coach for a D2 JV team (they actually play JV3). his motto is if a kid is willing to put in the work, i'm willing to teach them to skate. so "players" can be a little misleading in some cases. but if you look at the D2 teams in JV3, they barely have enough kids for every game and more than half are playing Varsity as well. Carrick has 2 goalies for both teams. I think Deer Lakes only has one for both JV and Varsity.

but the lack of players, is lack of players in one school.  Avonworth had been D2 until this year, they were forced pure because they had just enough kids in Avonworth school. Not sure what happened to the kids up 65 that used to be part of that co-op. I heard Deer Lakes, but can't confirm.

Do you know how many kids it takes to have a pure team?  Just curious!

17 hours ago, NOSHObender said:

Predictions and scores...

#1Armstrong 6  #8Hempfield 2

#2SF 5  #7FR 3

#3BM 6  #6Latrobe 5

#5TJ 5  #4PT 2

Looking forward to an exciting playoff in AA!!!  Good luck to all teams.

Thanks, we will revisit after the 1st round!

18 hours ago, sarampage said:

Tier II Schedules were just posted...of coure in an excel spreadsheet, the way it was probably provided in 1998...

https://www.midamhockey.com/page/show/5022908-district-playoffs

 

At least it is something!  I think Danner and Fafa should run for Midam positions.  They would get things done!

How do we nominate them?  Another one I would want in charge would be the King.  I miss his insight!

1 hour ago, RJUSHL said:

I agree with Preds not having issues with ice time, but the other three certainly do. Sounds like next season there won’t be an issue at Rebellion with the second sheet. 

Preds definitely have issues with Ice time for AA teams.  Beware and ask questions about ice time.  I know of more than one AA Preds team that was lucky to get a half ice slot per week and maybe a full ice slot once a month.  If you check their website no where do they tell you what practice time you will get.   

Was thinking about trying out there but unless you are Faux AAA you won't get ice time.  Buyer beware!!!!

Thought I heard somewhere that Knoch co-ops with Neshannock or Wilmiington?  I of course may be way wrong on that.  I don't totally understand how a D-2 team can also have JV. Thought the whole idea was because they have a lack of players!  Now I look at it and see Ringgold, Carrick, EF, Deer Lakes, Neshannock all have JV teams also.  Looks like just Canevin and Burrell have no JV teams.

22 minutes ago, Hockeydad9130 said:

I was there to watch the game afterwards and caught most of the "action".  Wasn't near the bleachers so not sure what started the crowd fight per say.  I know PT was getting pissed b/c as mentioned Knoch only has a JV team with 6 Srs and like 8 Jrs.  Not to mention a kid with Ohio AAA Blue Jackets pants (who was a big part of the on ice fight) and he was showboating quite a bit during the game.  Happened close to 9:00 PM.

OK so can someone explain why Knoch would only have a JV team with that many Jrs & Srs? Blue Jackets pants thinks he's a whole lot better than he is. There is a reason he's no longer a Blue Jacket!

OK I'll bite!   Give us some info as to what rink and time so we can check it out on livebarn!  Too lazy to look it up myself!

41 minutes ago, NOSHObender said:

Who do you like in the 1st round?

I got #1 over #8. 

#2 over #7. 

#3 over #6

#5 over #4.  

How about scores?  We will see how good a predictor you are!

1 minute ago, Baleout21 said:

Oh. ..but is it nonsense?

It's over! Time to move on!

31 minutes ago, Lifelongbender said:

This is absolutely not what the judge said. What the judge actually said was that he found Montour's arguments compelling, and that the ambiguity in the rules is also troubling to him. However, he noted that in order to issue an injunction there would have to evidence that irreparable harm would come to Montour, and that Pennsylvania case law has found that a loss of opportunity to play in a potential playoff season does not constitute irreparable harm. Because Montour was unable to show that irreparable harm would result from the situation due to the case law, the judge could not issue the requested injunction.

Note though the first part - the judge did say that he found Montour's arguments for why they believed the player was eligible to play credible. Paragraph 1 says (in part) "the innocent and highly successful Montour Hockey Team". That doesn't sound like the comment of a man who thinks Montour would fail in court on the facts. He also notes that he wasn't commenting on the other prerequisites for issuing an injunction because case law is clear on the question of irreparable harm in this situation and further analysis is not required (this is common in these cases - because you have to show irreparable harm to get an injunction, judges often use that as the first test and stop their review if irreparable harm cannot be demonstrated). I'm thinking the judge here believes that Montour would win this issue in court, but he cannot order an injunction.

My take is that PIHL needs to overhaul their rules regarding transfer students completely, and also needs to take a lesson on due diligence here. PIHL should be able to rely on organizations to fill their paperwork out completely and correctly, but the issues with ambiguity in the letter of the rules are undeniable, even if it is reasonably clear what the intent of the rules is. As I said before, it's not hard to imagine this happening with everyone acting in good faith, and misunderstanding the rules. It's clear, at least now, what PIHL intended when they wrote that rule, but the rule itself is fuzzy as written.

Thanks for the summary!  Well done. Saves a lot of time trying to go back and read the Judges opinion.  Bottom line is that Montour could still win but it is a dead issue once the playoffs start and finish.  Hopefully all Western Pa High School Hockey programs learned from this.  tough way for Montour to end the season!

1 minute ago, PeterThePuck said:

PIHL 1A playoffs start this week don’t see lawsuit having any legs

Why would they waste their time filing it then?  The only way it makes sense is if they can get a temporary injunction today to hold up the playoffs or get included. I'm sure the Attorneys who filed it planned on that!  Otherwise it is a waste of time that I don't see a prominent law firm wanting to get involved with!  Am I missing something?  I've seen other PIAA sports have this happen and a judge rule before the championships. More individual sports!

D-2 Final preview tonight?  Canevin V Ringgold?   Deer Lakes might have a big say in that though!  Is it a 3 team battle?   Does anyone else have an outside shot?

This will have to be brought before a Judge today to try to change anything! Those in the know please share with us if anything happens today with a temporary injunction!  Sure would hate to see the whole A playoffs be put on hold because of this but I could see it happening.  I'm also quite surprised it hasn't hit the local news!  If it gets to court I bet it will!

3 hours ago, PeterThePuck said:

Anybody can sue anyone comes down to what you want to spend.

Rules are Rules

Playoffs will be over before any of this sees a Judge

So you are the one who started this thread and now you come up with this paperwork.  I'm trying to figure out your angle and where you are getting your info.  1st I thought you were an Avonworth parent or fan.  Now I'm scratching my head trying to figure where you would get that info. PIHL? Montour parent?  Very confusing!