hockeyisgreat

There just aren't enough true AAA players to go around so they all fight for the same kids!

Or they just take them without tryouts! I hear there is a lot of that going on around here.

Are there any NCDC Futures camps in the Pittsburgh Area? I see WBS Knights had one last weekend. Did anyone from this area go? Is it just another money grab? Anyone in the know please share any info.

The 05s didn't win the AA Division because they had 6 less fair play points and lost it by 1 point. They had a much better PAHL record than 06 badgers.

Wow, I just looked at their MHR schedule for this year and it looks like they played all over the place and had a lot of close games. even in PAHL. They were ranked 7th in the country and finished 2nd. Maybe it is the perfect fit for this team.

Way to go Girls!

They didn't win the National Championship so why should they move? Still at least 1 team better than them. When they are the top dog then you could criticize them for not moving up! Besides how do you know that the whole team will come back next year?

Steel City 16U National Champions. Congratulations SCIR and Western Pa Hockey!

I gave up on Pittsburgh Hockey digest as I didn't see any articles for most of the year. Glad to see they covered the playoffs!

Game scores? Highlights? Outstanding players?

Way to represent Southwestern Pa. And all I see here is how Western PA is falling behind! I guess the story of our demise is greatly exaggerated!

16U Steel City Renegades will play for a championship tomorrow.

Yuri has been recruiting for his U16 team. I will be shocked if they don't have a few Russians and maybe a few from Ukraine. Thigs being what they are it might take a while for them to get here. I bet he has a few spots open for alternates after tryouts.

And what is the point to all this? The old org won't let them do what they want? More ice time available? In the end why should we care? Does it dilute the level of play in Western Pa or give more options to kids? Seems there are only so many AAA/AA kids anyway so who cares what the rest of the teams call themselves? There will always be top teams and bottom teams. Most kids will play in the middle what ever you want to call it.

Time to shut this one down!

Wow, between this and the PT thread it is Coach character assault day. Don't personally know any of them but they sure must have pissed some people off! Maybe we should go back to talking about how the Pens Elite take your money and don't deliver your kid to the NHL.

Tier II Girls Steel City Girls at all levels are 5-0. Looking good! Tier 1 Girls Pens 14U 1-0, 16U 0-1 19U 0-2. Not so good!

Tier II Update. 16U Renegades won first game. 14U Badgers and 18U Armstrong both lost their 1st games.

Wow, time to move away from this thread. I have no dog in this fight and have never tasted the Viper cool aide but it sounds good from what ARM24 had to say. You have made a lot of allegations with no facts. "poor decisions from the board" examples? You seem to know. Tell us how many coaches have left. Why didn't you become a coach? Enough, hard to argue when you present no facts. I'm done and won't respond to what ever you say because I don't like going around in circles.

Here you have a board member that knows specific facts about one team in the organization and seems to know about them all. How can anyone dispute the fact that NHAHA isn't trying to do what's best for the kids. At the end of the day records do not matter as much as growth of the players and ultimately the team. Seems to me that parents who complain more often than not didn't get their kid placed on the team they wanted. I think we should ask some kids from that 06 team if they would do anything different. I have no idea but sometimes adversity makes you stronger and wanting a challenge shows the dedication of the kids. Are people who complain about there ranking more concerned about wins and losses? Maybe they would have liked them to play A major gold and win the championship. Would that have validated the team?

I would assume that they are trying to attract AA players to the Viper Stars. The question becomes what do they do when the talent they get isn't good enough for AA! Does anyone know if they charge more for PAHL A teams that played under Viper Stars? It all does seem a little crazy. Clonbur why did so many kids leave? Coaching? Icetime?

If it is so bad, I would have expected some others who shared your experience to come on here to share your complaints. If you are so worried about it why don't you run for a board position? There are always unhappy people who complain but aren't willing to be part of a solution. So where are you now that it is much greener? I admire the people who are willing to spend their time with these youth organizations even if they get a small stipend that hardly pays for their time and effort.

Awesome response. You are not hiding behind a screen name throwing unwarranted jabs. I hope he responds to you privately and is able to discuss his grievances. From what I have heard the Vipers are a great organization working for all the kids! Through trying times with the new rink owners!

You seem to have a beef with the Vipers! Why don't you just come out with it rather than trying to hint at the problems! Obviously you have a problem with the board. Why don't you just say what you are thinking? What's wrong with the board? Between the Vipers and Viper Stars they seem to have more teams than most of the smaller organizations! I'd say that they have a lot of competition for kids from SCIR, now Vengenance, North Pittsburgh, Only so many kids to go around and with the increase in so called AA & AAA it takes kids out of the PAHL at an early age. They certainly are not the Aviators, or Huskies that are set up for 1 or 2 select teams!

Wasn't he let go then rehired by PT last year or the year before? They should be glad he was willing to come back! What were those parents thinking?