HereWithPopcorn

Speaking of local teams, I am baffled at how Steel City 16U Tier 2 advanced to the Quarterfinals when they are 0-3, while a team with one win didn’t advance, nor did another winless team with a better goal differential?

13 hours ago, fafa fohi said:

On the topic of AAA, word is SIX AAA teams for the 06 BY will exist this upcoming season - PPE, Preds, Vengeance, Esmark, Icemen and SHAHA.  This is completely absurd, yet parents will line up around the block to get their little Johnny on a AAA team.

Talk about diluting the talent base, then again if they want to spend the money have at it.

This is the same at 05 BY with PPE, Esmark, Preds, Vengeance, Icemen and Mt. Lebanon.  And the parents will justify it by saying stupid statements like they qualified for the MidAm tournament.  SHAHA 06 boasted this past year that they were the #3 seed at 14U and then proceeded to get swept.

5 hours ago, GrumpyOldPucker said:

Talk about thread drift......

Since you brought up ADM, Do any of you remember when the USAH ADM guru/director/whatever his title was came to town to demonstrate the ADM stations type practice when they were originally shoving it up our collective ass? I discussed the ADM program with him for a bit said that I did/do agree that ADM has it's benefits and added that I was running practices that way when i could since the 80's. Two big issues that I saw with the ADM program at that point were there was no formal plan in place to transition players from cross ice to full ice when their skill ability warranted it, and everything emphasized the stations and cross ice to "maximize puck touches" and "minimize inactivity".  I specifically asked how they expected players to learn how to play the 200 foot game if they never practiced 200 feet and sometimes they have got to observe their teammates skating 200 feet to maybe learn how to do it, where everyone was supposed to go and why.  He suggested several x-ice drills that I already used and a couple others that I though were sliding fusterclucks, but didn't answer my question.... basically hinted that the elite players would eventually figure it out and rest could just go play house league.

I pushed and got more specific in that as more teams ran ADM all skills stations practices (with limited to no full ice) I was seeing a lot of players that have no clue what to do (or how much hustle is needed) between the blue lines. I tried to teach the Russian weave (am I dating myself?) and the players would invariably just skate straight up the ice instead of following their passes. exploiting the seams, and skating to open ice. Mentioned that the players used to half ice practices had no full ice end to end speed, no explosiveness out of the D zone because ever breakout drill stopped at the red line, and again no clue what to do with the puck from the top of the D zone circle to the top of the O zone circle except skate straight ahead with it. If they didn't have the puck they usually would usually coast through the neutral zone or pace the puck carrier waiting for a lateral tape to tape pass instead of carrying the speed through the zone and passing forward to the open areas. Never did get much of an answer, but we did have a lively discussion.

I have not watched ADM or Squirts in a couple years. The trend that I remember once x-ice ADM became gospel was that we now had kids that could stick handle in a phone standing still in a crowd or maybe along the boards but the same kids that would take the puck coast to coast when it was full ice still went end to end.... You still had players with playmaker mindsets that recognized who they should get the puck to and defensive mindsets who would be natural stay at home Defensemen . So what was the net gain here? Has it changed any in the last few years?

 

One other factor lost in ADM is goaltending.  At 8U, they stress the importance of sharing the position and not having a dedicated goalie so all kids can learn and grow.  However, there is no transition plan for the reality that when they move up to 10U that you don't just rotate goalies.  So while there are still strong goalies at all of the birth years since 2003 when ADM really started, the pool is much more shallow than it should be.

There isn't even a game for Tier 2 16U and Steel City just gets to go!

14 minutes ago, Loach said:

PPE with a very narrow shootout victory (6th shooter) over Preds at 15O.

That whole division is very weak in the grand scheme of things since players locally are diluted over 4 teams.  Could actually be a contender if PPE didn't bring back the same core every year with the same results and truly took the best of the best, but that will never happen.

3 hours ago, dazedandconfused said:

Of course it is. They lost out on last year's retirement fund collection, they're not going to let 2 straight years slip away. Both the shuffleboard courts and horseshoe pits need refurbished.

It definitely is the continual money grab.  They claim to compete for spots at the National camps, but then a quick view of the Pens site shows that two 05s got specific invites to the U17 team.  They already know who they are going to tab anyway and just becomes a dog and pony show.

1 hour ago, Big Earn said:

You again?  What’s your beef with this team??  Since you know everything about the 08 Vengeance, do you also know teams out of MI, IL, etc have been playing non-sanctioned games?  Maybe that’s why you don’t see the full slate of games listed on this teams page, ever think of that ??  Take a look at the rankings, you of course already have, and you’ll see that all teams are missing games.  This is a top 5 team, nothing to debate.  What’s your kids team ranked? Maybe we should dissect their schedule......

Let's get this topic back to reality.  You are arguing over the ranking of a PeeWee team where there is no existence of a National Championship at that level.  So arguing whether a team is #1, #5 or #50 is pointless because at the end of the day, it means squat.

Argue about it in two years when this birth year is Bantam Major and can actually compete for something that is tangible and not arbitrary.

10 minutes ago, bb2j3z said:

Wasnt sure if that was still in effect....   that probably settles it.. keeping it local.

Keep in mind too that everything is just on the honors system.  AAA teams around here have already been out of state on back-to-back weekends and doing what they please.  Not hiding it either when you can clearly see the schedule on their websites.

1 hour ago, hockeyisgreat said:

Wow just looked at MidAm website. Nationals scheduled for April 29 to May 3rd!  That's a big break if Districts are even the first weekend of March.

Districts will be moved but they haven't made it official yet.

21 hours ago, dazedandconfused said:

18U/16U/14 AA divisions are still scheduled for playoffs on February 27-28 because......... as is their MO, the brain-trust of outdated geriatrics at MidAm have yet to and apparently aren't going to change the dates of the playdown events for Nationals despite the fact that Nationals themselves have been pushed back until the end of April.

So, any local team that is headed to Nationals will have a "break" from March 8th - April 28th.

MidAm couldn't move Districts because Nationals being moved is not 100% confirmed yet.  They need to make sure all of the host for Nationals are good with the change and they held off that final confirmation until this week.

1 hour ago, carroll81 said:

This is going to make coordination with Flyers Cup, Penguins Cup and PA State quite a but tougher now.  Flyers Cup had been pushed to go after the original USA nationals.  They were going to go 4/5 - 4/20, so States could be the 24th.  That may now conflicts with district tournaments.

Districts are being looked at now to move out as well, maybe as far as April 10/11

Just last night, Nationals just got punted to April 29th - May 3rd

Here's the prediction:  Things are shut down, people still congregate for the holidays, numbers still stay on the rise.  Rinse and Repeat!

47 minutes ago, Eddie Shore said:

Yea, f!$&k all of us who lost our jobs at those bars, lost our homes now etc...

That’s how YOU SOUND

What a dumbass, ingnorant way for YOU to think!

It's not that anyone wishes that older people die, but I'm pretty sure if you asked the seniors of that age and older, that lived through WWII, gas shortages and maybe even the Depression, I'm pretty certain that the vast majority would want people to live their lives as well and not have all of these closures.

Plus, when things were barely open back in April/May, places like Home Depot and other stores were full of elderly people who were out and about.  If they were that scared or felt that the world needed bubble wrapped, they would have stayed home.

15 minutes ago, Quinlan2020a said:

Once again.... Just asking people to stay home to help the health care system. I suspect that very few on this forum will follow that advice.

Most people are following the advice.  But honestly at this point, can anyone take the Governor seriously when he literally said that "the virus is discriminatory" when answering the question about restaurants, etc.

52 minutes ago, aaaahockey said:

No clue?  First - I'm not sure if that applies to teams coming into PA or just if we leave and come back within 24 hours.  Also I have no idea what rules WV or OH might have?  

It only applies to PA teams going out, not teams coming into PA

With the travel restrictions in PA right now where technically a team shouldn't travel in without a negative test or 14 days of quarantine, how is Pens Elite hosting Seacoast this coming weekend?  I believe on other teams I have seen Team Maryland and Little Caps coming in as well.

In PAHL, Phantoms, Nailers and Blades aren't being permitted to come in and play per the state orders, so how are the Pens skirting this?

34 minutes ago, aaaahockey said:

While that might be true in practice, the email PAHL sent out said referees would be in charge of enforcement.  Guess we will see this weekend. 

PAHL email stated that associations are in charge of enforcing it for their own teams and that referees will have to wear them since they follow PA mandates.

1 hour ago, sadday4hockey said:

Just like real-life politics, USA Hockey and Mid-Am along with I'm sure many other District governing bodies are full of long-term members. These members lose sight of why they originally got involved and before you know it they become part of the status quo. New members come in with the desire to effect change but they then realize that they themselves can not take on the majority so instead of beating them, they join them. It's a sad cycle that can only be changed if/when these lifetime members have limits put on their tenure so that new ideas and processes can be enacted and the stale ways of the same old-same old are put out to pasture with these people.

Sounds like Congress

Still up on LiveBarn.  Gold Rink on Friday 10/2 at about 11:54pm

7 hours ago, Danner27 said:

Call me negative nancy, I was reading an article out of Philly, wolf is going to appeal this to every level and never give it up. 

Of course he will appeal at every chance possible.  The key is if there is a stay put in place until that appeal is heard.  That is the only potential obstacle with the latest announcement.

14 hours ago, Danner27 said:

The latest is pretty bad, to me the worse thing he has done was talk players out of concussion tests. That is playing with kids lives! 
 

he was suspended for a few weeks by mid am 2-3 years ago, does anyone remember why ? It might have been the concussion stuff, I can’t be sure nor, remember.

 

 

Concussion protocol, verbal abuse and locker room issues

He's currently banned from entering YMCA property for his actions so he couldn't coach this season anyway.

While the action may have been petty (from what I have heard), as pointed out by others in this chain, the laundry list of offenses has been stacking up over the years.  Was suspended for SafeSport violations a few years back as well.

8 minutes ago, hockeyisgreat said:

Recreational facilities means any building or premise where people assemble for entertainment or social, relaxing including sporting purposes, amusement park, sport centre, billiard-room, skating ring and a public or private sports club facility, but does not include any building or site for a gambling premises, place of entertainment, functions or adult entertainment;

 

Pretty Clear to me!

The unfortunate thing is that there is an entire section devoted to Sports that people seem to try and ignore going the Recreational Facility route.

https://www.governor.pa.gov/covid-19/sports-guidance/

Recreational and Amateur Sports

Recreational and amateur sports organizations and teams (not affiliated with a public or private PK-12 school), including, but not limited to basketball, hockey, field hockey, football, soccer, swimming, baseball, softball, lacrosse, gymnastics, and kickball, are permitted to conduct in-person activities, including games and practices,  if they strictly adhere to the requirements of this guidance, including the limits on total occupancy outlined below (25 or fewer people indoors, 250 or fewer outdoors).

28 minutes ago, Scooby Doo said:

What are teams outside of PGH in PA doing?  What's going on in the Philly area?  Has anyone from the PAHL even reached out to see what they're doing in different areas or is the PAHL going at this on it's own?

Seems like the first course of action BEFORE changing to 1/1/21 or going to the silly 9 on 9 is trying to get all the hockey orgs onboard to request a change/exemption to 50-60 people inside a 17,000-20,000 square foot building just like the PIAA worked on.  I'd rather delay a month and get this worked out than either Plan A or B.

How do viruses spread at 40 degrees temperature anyways???

Let's keep in mind that the PIAA and Harrisburg didn't work on anything.  The outdoor limit always was and still is 250 people, nothing changed there.  The PIAA agreed to the mandate and just ignored the recommendation from Wolf.  Only changes that took place was the pod system in Allegheny County because they had stricter rules to 50 in an outdoor gathering.

And the DVHL is in the same boat as PAHL with the same 25 person restriction needing to be followed with guidance from the Atlantic.