Saucey

AA hockey at AAA pricing was starting to make the black teams a hard sell I think. Do they tell the parents where the kid is starting? I think it is a better model, but if people are there to play elite....there is still two teams and a gamble. Interesting.

I am usually one to poke at people who seem to be over the top with their squirts, but I have to say, I thought this was a nice idea. The parent can see how the players at that level play before forking money over for a tryout fee. A little more of an informed decision.

Where do you live? When do you want to play? Check out the options at the rink nearest you first, then find out the answers to those questions from whoever runs the adult league program at those rinks. RMU, Bairel and Lemieux have B leagues. C would probably be fine for you, too. Couple Facebook groups to join. Pittsburgh Adult Hockey and Bairel Adult Hockey. Search the Facebook pages, people ask this type of question all the time and people post looking for goalies. Center Ice also seems to have people active on Facebook.

Usually the people stirring up trouble...stir up trouble. In this post, it was other members doing the stirring. Hope you got something from this silly place, and good luck to your child.

Good points. I guess that depends on if you think kids that young should be be getting into elite programs/labeled elite in the first place. (I don't.)

Also, if the desire is to improve skills, dollar for dollar, the best money spent is on private lessons with someone good over the summer. And that is tricky, because the ones who are good are some times picky about who they will work with. They want a kid with natural athletic ability who wants to be there and will work. If Mom and Dad are driving the bus, there won't be gains for the time and money spent. I work with a woman who has a high schooler who will be division one for baseball. He has had the same private coach his whole life. Other parents ask this coach to make their kid like my friend's child. The coach tells them he can't do that. He then describes what the kid has done on his own his whole life to get better, and it involves lots of reps and training on his own time. There are few kids willing to put in that kind of work on their own. I see the miserable kids in the early am before school at the rink waiting for their privates, obviously not wanting to be there. Some of them are wearing Pens Elite stuff. I think, what a waste. The elite programs don't want you to know this. They are happy to take your money while telling you they will make your child better. It's a two way street, though. Your kid has also be an athlete, and have the passion. Take a hard look at your child. Be honest with yourself before getting on the 'elite' bus. Who is driving that bus? If it is you, both you, your child and your pocket book are going to be so much happier in the long run if you do not get on.

I get tired of reading the insult threads, too. Someone had a legit question, then any people trying to respond get lost once the insults start. I have participated in the threads, too, and regret it. Let's just ignore the trolls, if no one responds, then the thread will remain pretty clean. Amidst the insults, though, there is a point made, johnnybender legs, as I said originally, most of these programs trying to be AAA don't really have true higher level options. They aspire, but if they do not have the level of talent that they are looking for try out, the higher level will not get off the ground. Tryouts will make that apparent. My Hockey Rankings can help you sort that out, as well. Does your kid dominate at the AA level? If not, AA is still a good choice.

Any head contact also became a 2 and a 10 this year, and any discretion taken away from the ref on that one. I have no problem with that rule, wish the NHL did it, just to emphasize stay away from the head. BUT as other people said, even if the contract was minimal or incidental, it's crappy to then lose your FPP. FPP is meant to minimize bad behavior. Unintentional behavior is penalized.

I think it kind of depends on your kids' birth year. Some of the programs really only have one legitish AAA team at a certain birthyear. And the kids move around each year. You need to talk to some parents with kids playing in those programs to figure out where rumor has them trying out this year. Look for coaching, if you are going to spend that $$, my two cents.

Is that the 3-1 game that happened way back in November discussed on the thread where the two dads were getting into a play by play over who was the better team? I really have to go and Livebarn that one, I missed the squirt game of the decade, apparently. You could definitely use that in Vengeance promotional materials. We only lost to the Pens Elite by two! I don't blame Pens Elite if they don't want to play local teams, with that kind of reaction. The level of obsession with that game STILL is extraordinarily obnoxious.

I don't think it matters what happened leading up to it. You don't need to know anything else about the game to know that the behavior was out of line. All the rest is an explanation for feeling angry, whether he was right or not to feel it, who cares. As a parent, I expect a coach to control their anger and behave accordingly. The kids...ya, 14 year olds struggle to control their emotions and reactions. The games I see, there is frequently bad behavior on both sides of the puck. All the more reason to demand that their coaches be good role models. It's just not defendable. Good that he owned up to it, but I would worry he'd do something similar again. If it was isolated, then maybe not.

I"ve had a parent tell me that they have the right to say whatever they want, too. 😆 First amendment rights only come into play when it is a government actor suppressing speech, people. You absolutely do not have a right to be verbally abusive from the stands. Violates most organization, rink and USA hockey policies. Basic civics lesson. The public needs one.

How do you figure? He has the skills that he is going to have right now, a try out isn't going to help him get on a better team between now and the next tryout. If you really want to spend $$, spend the tryout fee on a lesson. Dollar for dollar, if you are looking to improve a skill, private lessons with a good instructor are the best bang for your buck over anything, really. But to expect anything now to help much for this year's try out is a bit much. He is where he is at this point, anyone who tells you something different is most likely trying to get in your wallet. Lessons over the summer are the best time for those gains. Cut costs by sharing the lesson with a similarly skilled bud or two. That being said, keep him moving on the ice before tryouts so he doesn't lose his skate legs and he doesn't get rusty. However you do it, through a private, a tune up, a public skate, stick time, any of that works. A try out is not good for that purpose. What is at NP's rink between now and tryouts? Do you know families on the travel teams you can talk to? NP director of hockey ops? Most rinks and programs offer things to keep the rust off before tryouts. Probably get better info there on what you need to make a team then from here where people post anonymously.

https://www.usahockey.com/officials It's time consuming and a little expensive upfront to become an official. USA hockey allows a minimum age of 12 but every state has different child labor laws. Every year they have a bunch of kids go to the seminar and never complete the training. If they complete it, they quit in the first few years, a lot of them citing parents. We have a shortage now, and each year it gets worse. It pays pretty good, depends on the program. About $30 an hour. The comment about ice views is dead on. I read somewhere that there are actually six different views of the ice. This was driven home for me recently, I watched on Livebarn a pass I was particularly proud of because I made it through a ton of traffic and it wasn't easy to see my teammate. The Livebarn view made it look completely unexceptional, to my supreme disappointment. What you see from above is not what you see on ice.

My child did not make a travel team first time out of the gate as a squirt. There is a lot of movement as players decline spots, so even if he doesn't get an invite at first, there is still a chance. Now he plays fairly high level hockey and works his butt off. And there is no shame in making a lower team. Kids are better served playing with like skill. They develop so much better that way. It is not a bad thing to experience a little disappointment, but to try out at Pens Elite 'just to see'....that is expensive and a bit time consuming. I would use that money to take him to a Pens game. You are still handing money over to the Pens, but it may be more enjoyable.