Theroadtobeerleague

And... 2005 pens elite lose to #41 Cleveland Barons in Mid Am final

That’s simply not true. Western PA is a part of the Mid Am and includes all teams in this side of the state including teams that don’t play in PAHL such as Mid State. and while PAHL ends with the season-end tournament, the winner of “states” goes on to compete in Nationals. PAHL is just a local hockey league like any other and Tier 2 is pretty much open to any teams that apply. The 2006 Allegheny team played in this years U14 division of “states”

The Viper Stars are also independent. The mid am is divided up so that the part of the mid am that is western PA gets its own qualifier, as do WV, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. That’s why it’s called “States” Tier 2 Nationals will be in three groups: 1A, 2A, and 3A. The Mid Am winner will be placed in 3A, the toughest. With their recent wins, SCIR will be a top 20 team and have a chance to make a good showing, as they’ve already played some of the top AA teams and held their own. Important to note that Mt Lebo and the Foxes both had a win vs them this season, as did Westmoreland. These are 14 and 15 year old who one moment look like they have it all figured out and the next moment are totally clueless. Hockey is played on a slippery surface with a small round puck, so bounces matter and it’s pretty unpredictable. Just look at the Pens game today as an example. The better team doesn’t win every time.

Pens Elite 4, Pens Elite Black 1 Preds 1, Pens Elite Black 0 Pens Elite 12, Preds 0 And a quick look at the Tier 2 shows close games between the top 5teams (vipers, foxes, icemen, mt Lebo, N Pitt). Reminder that Pens Elite Gold won 1 game out of 19 vs top 15 teams. this is further evidence that western PA has enough kids at this birth year for a maximum of 2 high level AAA teams. But with tryouts coming up there will be at least 5, maybe even 6 or 7, who call themselves AAA. Parents: face the reality that not every star player in Mites ends up as a 15 year old high level player

Not 8% of kids, 8% of the TOP kids

1% is low. That’s 1 out of every 100 kids. That would equate to only 1 kid from Mid Am, and it’s more like 5-10 kids from each birth year end up with at least some kind of hockey future. If “future” is defined by a spot on in the NHL, then yes, 1%. But if that means college hockey and college at least partly paid for, and higher level juniors where they can keep the dream alive, it’s more like 8%, or about 2 kids per team. Don’t forget about the many area girls who get college paid for via hockey.

BV Dawgs are no longer a thing

A simple google search: -yes, Icemen plan on having AAA 2005 -yes, Esmark plan on having AAA 2005 Mt Lebo has it listed simply as 2005BY. Doesn’t specify as AA or AAA meaning they are probably hoping/open to make it AAA. Their 2004 lists registration for AAA and AA. - yes, Preds list 2005 AAA tryouts. so indeed Pittsburgh area must have an abundance of AAA kids in that birth year. Even though as I have already pointed out, that BY isn’t exactly showing up in the Tier 1 or Tier 2 rankings very strongly. by the way, most of these kids will be playing solely high school hockey by the time they are seniors.

It won’t be “true” AAA unless ALL of the 2005s who don’t make Pens Elite U15 or U16 decide to play there. Again, the best kids from that birth year who don’t play Pens Elite are all spread out across the current other 2005BY teams. They won’t all go to the same non-Pens Elite team, because of geography and parents who think more of their kid than they should. Take the best 6 kids from Preds 05, the top 4 from PPE Black, and the best 1 or 2 from each of the AA 2005 BY teams, and THAT is an AAA team. But that won’t happen, so instead the SHAHA team will be one of 4-5 teams with 4-6 true AAA players and the rest not so much. Facts.

Good points. I am saying that by the time they reach U15, there aren’t many kids who have a true future in hockey who play on the teams outside of the top teams. And in western PA, there could be 2-3 teams in the top 30 if there were 2-3 legit options, rather than 6-8 money grabs.

Only the top 20-25 teams at any BY are legit AAA hockey. The ranking isn’t as good of an indicator as the RATING. Preds U15, for example, are rated 5 points below the 25th ranked team. And don’t forget about Canada. And 9th and 10th graders at New England Prep schools. 5 points is a lot in ratings. You can almost think of it as the number of skaters that one team needs to replace. Take the top 5 players from those faux-AAA teams and coalesce them into one team, and that’s what makes a true AAA team. So it is indeed perhaps true that, for example, at the 2005 BY, there might be 30-45 western PA kids who are actually can play AAA, but another 40-50 whose parents THINK that they can but can’t. So if those top 30-45 ended up at 2-3 teams, it could happen. It does in other cities. The issue is that Preds, Vengeance, Esmark, and always a couple more all think they should be that.

That’s a fair point. The creation of U15 Tier 1 without U15 Tier 2 does not help. The overall issues will remain as long as greed, nepotism, and ignorance lead the way, which will be forever.

Add to the mix the “SHAHA invite-only 2005 AAA Pens Elite Black need somewhere to get that extra A” forming for 15U. so at the 2005 BY, a region that has: the lowest-ranked Pen Elite Gold team of any team in the organization. They were 1-15-3 vs USA teams ranked in the top 15 lowest ranked Pens Elite Black team of any Black team in the organization. Played only 17 games vs teams ranked ahead of them and went 6-9-2 Played 1 game vs teams in top 35. Loaded schedule with 8 games vs AA teams (2-2-4) and AAA teams ranked in very bottom no AA team ranked higher than 23 (whatever PA team makes it to Nationals will NOT advance out of pool play, but will get a lovely weekend in scenic Kalamazoo!) AAA Preds team that should have always stayed AA and would have had a chance to win Nationals two Independent teams (Icemen and Vipers) that should be playing PAHL ...is now going to try to have 4, 5, and maybe even 6 2005 AAA teams! if there was just Pens Elite U15 and no other AAA options, western PA (PAHL) would have a competitive, no-need-to-travel all over the country, AA U15 Division that would be a great fit for around 100 hockey players. This is probably true of other BYs as well. Remember, the Tier 1 designation means something only at the end of the season and it’s for the Mid Am playdowns, where 1 team will advance to Nationals, unless there is a at-large (which will never happen from Mid Am) No, and I mean absolutely no, scouts are going to watch any games between “AAA” teams ranked outside of the top 20. They don’t even attend the games or events where those teams play. That extra A is literally for the purpose of the parent being able to say to their friends, co-workers, and other hockey parents at local rinks: “my kid plays triple A hockey”, or years later, “my kid PLAYED triple A hockey”. Think of that in the grand scheme of life.

Preds 05 and PPE Black are not AAA. Try to look up their combined records this season can top 25 AAA teams. You can’t, because neither has played any. No western PA 2005 AA team is ranked in top 20. Without a doubt this is a weak birth year. There might be 2 or 3 players in this birth year that get an invite to USA Hockey 15 Camp.

2005 is the weakest birth year in the Pittsburgh area. There aren’t even enough kids who live in the Pittsburgh area to field one high level AAA team. Remember, at U15 no players get scouted outside of the top 20-25 teams, since the best of the best have already moved on to Prep schools. The players literally don’t care. The parents have invested so much at this point putting together “AAA” teams at U15 and U16 is a final last-gasp attempt to rationalize the past 7-8 years of all-in on hockey for their future beer-leaguers.

The Pens Elite looks like they are going to focus on girls development at the younger ages so that eventually their older teams can compete nationally without bringing in half of the team from out of town, or losing the best (richest?) players to Rochester, NAHA (already declining) and SSM. they also see that that tryout number for boys as they approach the U15 age was dropping, making the Black teams less and less viable for PeeWee and Bantam

He wasn’t promoted. He’s held the position for years. He already has a daughter playing D1 and a son playing juniors. He literally has no agenda.

Whatever coach told you that a 9-10 year old has college scholarship potential is ****. At that age, development happens for goalies through goalie training. Aslp, is he predicted to be at least 6’2”? While this article’s title is Avonte smaller goalies, it actually points out that goalies are getting taller and taller: https://www.nhl.com/news/shorter-goalies-find-niche-in-what-has-become-big-mans-position-in-nhl/c-297239132

Never said he shouldn’t go watch. Maybe “these kids are excellent skaters” would have been more accurate than “these kids can flat out fly” But also this: https://changingthegameproject.com/the-race-to-nowhere-in-youth-sports/

you just revealed that your kids are pre-puberty. There it is.

Kids born in 2009 can “flat out fly”? They are 9 years old. Advise to the dad: stay away from hockey parents who think this way.

The relative improvement over 4 years speaks to: 1. Player development 2. Player recruitment 3. Coaching 4. All of the above Pens Elite at 14U and below: revenue stream, and the most expensive option for travel youth hockey Pens Elite at 15U and 16U: regional all star team made up of 50% or less kids who played there previously Pens Elite at 18U: kids hanging on by a thread to a future beyond high school for hockey

2005 Gold: 2014-15 (squirt minor): 89.41 2018-19 (bantam minor): 92.06 +2.65 preds: 2014-15 (squirt minor): 83.45 2018-19 (bantam minor): 90.55 +7.03 FACTS