TheZapruderTape

Not trying to bust balls here Moj, but there seems to be a substantial amount of half truths and myths flying out of the Vengeance camp that should be at least explored and expanded. You guys float this idea that you’re allowing your team to be “athletes”. Like if you play for any other organizations, somehow your kid isn’t allowed to play other sports. Do you comprehend how ridiculous that sounds? My kid is at PPE. And he enjoys a robust selection of sports aside from hockey. Kids on the team play soccer, lacrosse, baseball, golf, basketball, and yes even football both tackle and flag. They also wrestle and do martial arts. One kid competes in youth triathlons for Christ’s sake. I know kids on North Pittsburgh, SHAHA, The Preds, Butler Valley and other organizations as well. Amazingly, most of them also play multiple sports and are good athletes. The Vengeance have not cornered the market on 10 and 11 year old athletes by any means. It’s just a tired and ridiculous argument that frankly has been your teams biggest commercial and it’s just a misinformed exaggeration to try and differentiate yourselves from PPE and other programs. As far as parents having “input” into scheduling and what not......that honestly sounds like what has been called the “anabolic” parent mentality on these boards. Parents who also are too close to the coach or the director of the program. Parents who can’t get out of the way and let the coach do their job. These same type of parents who write line combos on napkins and get in the ear of the coach. It actually sounds nightmarish, at least for me. I could be crazy. I just want to sit there in the stands and watch my kid play hockey. But to each his own. So what happens if the parent group on your team is split 60-40 about going to a tourney? Is there an official vote? How would that work? And what if that 40 percent happen to be the parents with the most power and influence in the organization? I guess the trip is booked huh? And it sounds like your schedule is a shifting sea of uncertainty. You said you “added” stuff at the end of the year. I personally know three parents on the Vengeance that we’re livid that it became so much travel after they were sold the idea that it was limited travel. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. As far as the PPE going to Boston last year, didn’t you guys go to Chicago?? The answer is yes. Pretty much a wash. We knew about the Boston trip from day one. We know our entire travel schedule up front. Like it or hate it, the parents aren’t deceived or misled. We know exactly what we are signing up for. And this isn’t a commercial for PPE. There are many great options out there for youth hockey. PPE is definitely not for everyone and it has its flaws and warts. It’s expensive. It’s a big political organization. But we’re not baited and switched. The Vengeance parents I know say that there is an inside joke on that team. The joke is......”our fundraiser is our tryout”. I’ve heard that from these parents multiple times. The joke being that the team is pretty much set. Most of the kids on the team are winked and handshook in.....and that the tryout fee is kind of laughed at because no average “outsider” has any chance of making the team. Honestly, your line up is set. The parents are juiced in by reputation and there is little player movement. These tryouts are just to pad the income line. I can say that there have been minimum 3-6 player changes on the 08, 07, 06, and 05 PPE teams each year. Finally, as far as that 3-1 game is concerned, nobody gives a crap honestly. But it lives on in your camp as some watershed moment. That the teams were even. And this crap about shot totals. Blah blah blah. It was a meaningless youth game in the middle of the season. The only stat that matters isn’t how many shots were taken.....it matters how many went in. Any way you analyze it or justify it, it was a loss for the Vengeance. But truly nobody outside Harnarville cares at this point. Move onward and upward. You guys have great kids and a good team. Just please stop trying to sell your team philosophy as ground breaking and innovative. It’s been done on virtually every birth year for decades. And that’s ok. Best of luck.

Limited travel?? Anybody who wants to fact check this can go onto MyHockeyRankings and see the exact nature of this “limited travel” for the 2008 teams. In reality, the Vengence had one more travel tournament/game set than the PPE. Picture included for some laughs.