HereWithPopcorn

This is 100% incorrect. It is 9+1 for players, 5 v 5 and checking allowed. The goal is to maintain as much "true" hockey as possible while fitting within the state guideline of 25.

Per hockey still this has no bearing because it is the state with the 25 person indoor limit. So nothing changes unless the PIAA decision applies pressure to up the limit to 50 statewide indoors. This article only helps remove the county imposed additional mandates with the state still being at 250 there.

Carrick is part of the City League for regular PIAA sports, but have always been independent from it because of their co-op status for hockey since they started in the mid-90's. Currently they are made up of Carrick, Brashear and Allderdice from the city and then Steel Valley, West Mifflin, Carlynton and Brentwood for their co-op districts.

The key with these examples is that summer hockey like Quest has reduced rosters, and referees to fit under the 25 indoor limit. That doesn't work for regular season hockey, basketball, etc. And as for baseball and lacrosse, the state mandate now is 250 for outside gatherings so they can be pulled off at this point.

I would add Rink Ownership to the list as well. There is a huge difference sometimes between community rinks like Beaver, Crawford, and the YMCA in Bethel or Ralph's empire.

It is watered down across the board and therefore garbage hockey all around. With the AAA expansion, those kids get plucked from the would be AA and A+, and then because of parent egos and needing the extra A, they backfill AA with A players that shouldn't be there all the way down to B. To top it off, you get the sandbagging banner hunters from smaller organizations (looking at Wheeling and others) that play lower with a few higher ranked kids and wipe the floor with these diluted larger organizations.

While I agree that it is a coaching problem, more importantly most times it is a Board problem. In our district, as with most others I suppose, the Board members have the less skilled children playing, and because of that Varsity turns into the "next group up" because it is their turn and not entirely because it is deserved. A few younger skilled players make the cut, but there is definitely a less talented group that gets put into the mix when there are absolutely better options. The result is that the team does not perform to its potential, and it also puts a sour taste in the other talented players that get bumped and stay JV until the "my turn" kids graduate out. Unfortunately, the cycle continues and the program turns into more developmental than it should need to be at high school.

Not to be outdone, the 14U Preds just took it on the chin 12-0 thanks to Pens Elite as well.

Don’t worry, they’ll rebound next year at U18 with Gary in charge, lol

https://www.midamhockey.com/page/show/5022908-district-playoffs Click on the appropriate level and then the age for each group

This type of name and logo seems to be working fine for Hatfield on the other side of the state.

Because a lot of said players are all too familiar with the coaching style and player utilization of the 05 coach at the Preds. Don't want to walk back into that situation after some have already been burned before.

In your comments here, you pointed out the exact reason why it will exist. PAHL is somewhat to blame for this since they created the faux AA Major and AA Minor divisions at 14U. All it did was allow for these birth year teams to form for what was a very short window until Midgets. Now that they are done with Bantam, they aren't good enough to be 16U AA and don't want to be in a mixed 16A division, so this is their alternative. Yes USA Hockey does not recognize 15U as a separate level outside of Tier 1, but creating the road to nowhere in PAHL helped to raise this issue as the first birth year going through this process reaches Midget level.

Both the PPE Black and Preds teams take players along for the ride just for the money. Watch any of their games and at a minimum 25% of the kids don't belong at that level. So while they may be Tier 1, it furthers the point of it being a stretch when they compete with AA teams and don't blow them out of the water. And the 05 birth year is the weakest as a whole when in comparison to those years around them. Note sure where this "ton of depth" comment can be backed up.

The actual answer is simply that there is a declaration form each year sent to every organization to announce their Tier1 and Tier 2 national bound teams. As long as you fill out the paperwork in a timely manner and fit the small guidelines as mentioned, you are on the list.

Straight from the MidAm Website: 6. Eligibility for National Tournament Play: In order for any team to be eligible for National Tournament play, the Local Association must have been in existence and approved by Mid Am for a minimum of three (3) prior consecutive years. For Tier I District tournament, the top six (6) ranked District teams pursuant to MHR will be entered into the District Tournament, the winner of which commits to participate in National Tournament Play. MLHA fits into this as while they have not been Tier 1, the Local Association has been in existence for far more than 3 years, 7. Minimum Number of Youth National Bound Teams: Any Local Association rostering Youth Tier I teams must have at least two (2) National Bound Youth teams from the 14U, 15 Only, 16U or 18U categories in either the Tier I or Tier II categories. MLHA fits into this as well since their 15U is playing Tier 1 and the 14U team is Tier 2 AA. So yes, both of these teams ironically have kids from said coach but they are meeting the parameters without needed assistance or pull.

Basically all this change is doing is two things. 1. It is shifting the Black team joke from boys to girls. (we said all along that the Black team kids should be in PAHL AA, well how far down should these girls be in PAHL that make the female black team? 2. It is absolutely taking Girls out of PAHL which will hurt the growth PAHL has been trying to accomplish in Girls divisions. At 10U and 12U, girls could previously play on the Pens Elite, and then also dual roster for a PAHL Girls and co-ed team. Now that the Pens are making it full time, these girls will have to decide which way to go from a girls team perspective.

Believe me, it isn't just political influence but paying the bills. Both Pens Elite Girls and the Selects have had a history of rostering girls at 10U and 12U that played A- or B level in PAHL. Must really mess with a kid's head when they are elite in one realm and bottom of the barrel on their other team.

https://www.pittsburghpenguinselite.com/news_article/show/1087589 Posting of offered teams and coaches

The best part of the release was "the PHA Icemen, competing as high performance independent travel teams" Let's look at My Hockey: U18 (Tier 2) - Record of 17-16-3 and ranked 21st (slightly ahead of Preds) U16 (Tier 1) - Record 11-21-2 and ranked 121 of 146 U15 (Tier 1) - Record of 5-30-4 and ranked 111 of 120 U14 (Tier 2) - Record of 23-22-3 and ranked 38th (Behind Renegades and Viper Stars in the area) So it basically should read that the Yetis will compete as high performance PAHL teams and not participate in Tier 1 AAA hockey

I second that notion to just go through the tryout process in a PAHL organization and let it play out. This was a while back, but our Mite Red team had kids that landed on PPE, PAHL AA and A+. In our personal experience, it was nice to have my son be on a team as the minor birth year with a team of mostly major birth years. It took the pressure off and he just had fun. Plus, the coach was key because they put him in situations to succeed early and then gave him and the other graduating Mites on the team more responsibility as the year went on to watch them grow.

The Pete was in no way built to be able to flip to ice. It was opened in 2002 for basketball and graduation, and the basketball floor remains in tact and covered for concerts and other events. It isn't a mobile floor like you have when Duquesne plays at PPG, etc.

The key issue I believe is the fact that the 16U team is now weakening other teams and making them worse than they already are. The reason for the 15's and 18's being that bad easily starts with the bench and the common theme between both teams. Then Daddy Warbucks comes along and has influence to get them to pull kids from 15UAAA and 16UAA as mentioned to strengthen their team. I can't confirm for sure, but I am mostly certain that these kids that moved weren't unhappy in their current spot and were asking for the change.

Absolute truth. 16U (the only decent AAA team they have) took the best defenseman from 15U and also were platooning in a few other kids as well I believe. And yes, they also held 'tryouts' to backfill the lost defenseman and only got one sucker to fall for it. Kid was playing A+ in PAHL.