hockeyisgreat

10 hours ago, Overqualified said:

So the high school coach who has won the most games in all of pittsburgh the last 4 years is lazy? And your qualifications are?

So who is this Coach we speak about?  You can just tell us the school!  I would think more than one shorten their bench as needed!

10 hours ago, Happy Hockey Fan said:

Yeah, that’s it. I’m his grandpa. Why would that be even remotely funny?

I don’t know Yuri. Never met him. Only have seen him from across the ice from the stands. I just state facts. Never praised him personally. Did I hurt your feelings or something? 

There seems to be a whole lot of jealousy out there when it comes to Esmark and particularly Yuri.  But then again it seems that most people who come here have an ax to grind with someone.  All organizations get bashed at some point!  But then again that's human nature.

43 minutes ago, sadday4hockey said:

Big Boy Hockey??

They play in the NAPHL and the THF.

Those are both Elementary "Tier 1 Leagues"

The old Empire West League was better competition and the furthest travel was syracuse.

 

Is the old Empire West League still around?  What is the current Best Tier 1 League? I don't care about what's old and what WAS better competition!  I just think it is good that there is an option after Pens Elite in Pittsburgh that can compete and sometimes beat the Pens Elite.   There is only one Shattuck St Marys who can claim to be the best!

12 hours ago, Hockey22 said:

Agree. Pretty much goes to the entire USA hockey email data base. It's a revenue stream.  But if ya wanna spend the money for the camp and travel, nothing is a bad experience (except for paying for Yuri lessons in promises of making a team and being cut 🤣)

Did you have that experience with Yuri?  Did your kid not make the team or get cut after the teams were set?  16U &18U are big boy hockey.  Esmark is in it to win it.  Want the 18 best players they can find!

Don't know the Pens Coaches but I would have to say that Yuri & Kosick at Esmark have to be doing something right as their 16 & 18U teams are consistently competitive and beat the Pens sometimes.  The coach of the 06 independent SHAHA AAA team might have been the best of the bunch.  Not sure of his name but b put together really good teams up to last year.

I think the 18U Esmark team has 8 or 9 kids tendered to Junior teams!

30 minutes ago, Jkersman01 said:

There were 3 PPE kids...

And are they PPE this year?

1 hour ago, Huskies_Director said:

Huskies are not pushing AA.  We got commitments from players that want to compete at AA. Talent attracts talent so we are hopeful to find a couple more AA caliber players, and if not, our whole program will have the ice time needed for player development.   Each of our teams will play at the level that the group decides is best for their development and I have made that clear to the families. 

I was the Assistant Director for a club in Dallas the last two years and let me tell you, the hockey landscape is completely different between the two cities! It's crazy! I am still trying to catch up on the whole tryout schedule/ team ranking system. 

Is your team playing PAHL?

Rumor has it Organizations are making promises to try and entice players!  Anybody hear of this or having commitment fees waived?

1 hour ago, dazedandconfused said:

This isn't to disparage any specific team/organization but it seems to me that there are a lot of AA promises being made whilst at the same time there is also a lot of begging go on. By the same folks.

Just an observation.

I'm thinking you should have started a new thread for this one! I'll start one!

Care to tell us who those 2 are without us having to look them up?  Are they both Pens Elite 18U last year?

Thanks in advance!

1 hour ago, No Politics said:

Maybe I'm not understanding this team, but why is this posted under the "Western Pennsylvania YOUTH Hockey" thread?

I think it was put here originally to make people aware of the potential problems associated with the team. Most of what was speculated has come true!  And another thing for us all to gossip about!

Just a little perspective!  Western Pa had 29 18U teams, All levels. last year 16U/15U  Had 52 teams and Bantam 14U had 72 Teams.  That's PAHL and Independent.  Kind of what I thought.  The most interesting is the 11 AAA teams between 15U and 16U A compared to 5 AAA teams at 18U.

Is that Tier 1 or Tier 2?

2 hours ago, bb2j3z said:

South Pittsburgh Rebellion is currently looking for some 14u Bantam goalies (2010 or 2011 Birth years) for our mixed birth year teams.   Our 14u General tryouts start today and finish tomorrow.   If you can make it today, you can come in on the Day 2.   Just email us at orginfo@southpittsburghhockey.org.   Thanks!

Will SPR have an 18UAA team for 24-25?  Have you had those tryouts yet?

Anybody see anything on Supplementals?  Seems like a very quiet year for tryouts.  Will be interesting to see how it all shakes out!

8 hours ago, Goalsanddreams74 said:

Well I can now say he for sure has not paid the players the $500 they were supposed to get if they sold a sponsor. 

Any idea how many sponsors were sold?  He probably has no accountant or  accounting for how the money was spent!  Such a bummer!

7 hours ago, Goalsanddreams74 said:

There was a time when the team was actually good and could compete.  

had 3 ex Fed players 

3 ex D1 Club players 

5 ex D3 club players 

and couple ex USPHL players. 
 

but again that’s when everyone would show up. Last game we had that was the regular season home opener against Niagara and the home game against Toledo. 

Didn't the players know what the travel schedule would be like before they agreed to play for the team?  How could it have been different?  Were they mad that teams weren't bringing their best to Pittsburgh?  I heard good things about the home games to begin the season! 

Still have two days till tryouts start!  Why give them money any earlier than you have to?  Besides I heard they pretty much have who they want through open skates!

10 hours ago, Goalsanddreams74 said:

Ice time was paid. Yes we are all aware it was late a time or two but honestly what organization hasn’t been late. But it was paid for. 
 

Not dying on the sword pal, just explaining to everyone the story. 
 

I already had told everyone in this thread that nobody trusted our owner. We all saw the news. We all have phones. People talk. 
 

I’m just stating the story of the season. It was more so the league then the Owner.  

I admire you guys for giving it a go.  Too many people here were just waiting for it to fail!  This forum seems to be for everyone to complain about something so don't take anything personally!

This topic got way off track!  I think it's time to shut it down!

6 hours ago, Goalsanddreams74 said:

That being said this was a player commitment issue, not an owner issue. 

Thanks for giving us the update.  Sounds like you had the right idea to finish it up with 4 games left!

1 hour ago, spilledbeans said:

Sounds like an owner response. We also know alot of the players. That was not the consensus.

So what was the consensus?  Why not just finish the season with 4 games left to play? Didn't the players know what they were getting into about 2 weeks into the season?  Finish what you started and move on!  Don't leave the rest of the league hanging! 

Bummer for the players who just wanted to play the game they love!  Hopefully someone can salvage the idea for next year.  Probably couldn't get enough players to travel at their expense!

6 hours ago, Rewster said:

TPH has academy’s

Who is TPH?  

Thanks

Armstrong 18U is 3A. They start at 5:00PM Pittsburgh Ice Arena.  Tough first game but they should be in contention for a championship.  They have a very solid team!  Allegheny 18uAA is the host team so they had an automatic bid. they can play with the teams in 2A.  Down 4-3 to start the 3rd period