Saucey

That was my understanding...might have been AA and everyone else. I was very surprised. In working with the tourney director, I would give our PAHL division, and he didn't care because they just don't divvy any further. I used my hockey rankings to argue my way into playing a competitive schedule, but ya, could have been a mess. I avoid tournaments on that end of the state for that reason, unless I have a AA team.

I was surprised when we went to the Hershey tournament to learn that they don't do divisions. If you are 12u, that is your division. PAHL is ahead of the game in comparison to that.

Not sure how you think that this thread is the best place to contribute to the placement discussion. That presumes someone from that committee is reading it and will remember this feedback come next season. It sucks to be misplaced. It happens. Can people do better? Yes. And MHR is a tool to be taken with a grain of salt as others have said. It is useful, but that usefulness is limited. I don't know how many times my kids have gone to a tournament and on paper, should have blown away a team per the rankings or vice versa and that didn't pan out, or got misplaced in a tournament using that ranking. It's not that the scores are reported inaccurately, but like others said, there are other ways coaches fudge. PAHL organizations play under different banners to influence rankings, because if they are trying to play independent games, they know their games played in PAHL will drag down their MHR. It happens. Early in the season, MHR is less useful than later in the season. Not all teams are reporting because they could care less what their ranking is. As more and more games are played and reported, it becomes more useful. I find it is better to judge competition by looking at what teams have played, if available. I know if my kid's team played a common team, I can get an idea of how they will likely stack up by looking at those scores. Placement is still an art. The numbers don't tell you everything, but they are useful. I think the point is, if you have all the answers, go volunteer some time.

This is a good point. Goal differential is a better indicator...you can lose all your games, but if most of them are by a goal or two, someone would be complaining about this team killing everyone in the lower division.

I understand there are discussions for next year to have 12u play more placement games and less regular season similar to squirts to try and alleviate some of that. Agreed re: development. No one wants teams to be misplaced.

I get your point, but if the parents wanted to pay less, they would have their kids playing PAHL. If not Icemen, they would go to another independent. I've had a parent tell me from the U15 team that PAHL is 'too slow'. Chasing the dream.

Marianne Watkins likes the slide board to work on opening the stride. Can practice good technique, balance there, too. I think it's ok to work on all the things you mentioned, but flexibility and core strength will help prevent injuries. As adults, our hip flexors and hammies are very tight, which will interfere with stride. Also, don't ignore upper body strength and flexibility. I fell and tore my rotator cuffs when starting out, may not have happened if I had some more muscle tone to protect the area. Best way to learn faster is to get out there and practice.

Even better, if the rink has livebarn, watch it at home. Find myself doing that more and more. Better yet, rinks should have viewing areas in the lobby and keep parents away from the kids and refs.

That's the scary thing, isn't it? We're just beginning to figure out how to try and protect our kids. And those two would have passed everything we use to clear. To get access, they have to engender trust.

It depends on how much he is currently skating and what else he has going on. I like to do weekly privates after the season ends before tryouts and throughout the summer. If the child will put in the extra work, then they can benefit from an extra skate a week. But be careful, who is driving the cart, you or the child? At that age, to prevent overuse injuries and to prevent burnout, it isn't necessary to do more. There is nothing wrong with playing a lower level of ice hockey. Better to be an average player who develops a true lifelong love for the game than burn them out trying to reach for something the kid doesn't want, imho. You don't have to be the best to do something. Just enjoy it.

I bet that is a commonly used defense by a coach, the parent is out to get me. Trying to discredit an accuser.

The code of conduct applies to everyone. The Safesport website has answers to those questions.

Safety sport violations can follow you to court and your job as well. They are incredibly serious. As they should be.

Checked it, really well done, ty!

As a coach, you need the info to help coach. That I get. Which period are we letting up lots of shots, etc. Parents, not so much. There isn't functionality to scan and add for most of these programs, anyway, and the programs I've used are so cumbersome, adding in shot totals, etc, as team manager was such a pain. What is being asked for these volunteer and low paying jobs keeps increasing every year. I vote we not add to the burdens.

Why does a scorekeeper getting paid entitle parents to the score sheet? Some organizations pay kids in PAHL to keep score, are they entitled to those, too? What need does a parent have for that score sheet? There is a certain amount of discretion in shot counting. You can't see them all and the scorekeeper gets a different view than the parent in the stand. So....when the goalie mom clicking away on her shot counter in the stands disagrees with the number on the posted score sheet, posting the actual score sheet makes everything better how? I just don't see how this makes anyone more convinced that games aren't rigged, or how this helps in the interest of 'transparency'. Those folks who think that games are rigged are going to continue to think that, regardless, and we don't really need parents obsessively following stats. Already enough obsession. PIHL can't find enough people to do it now for that huge 20 payout per game.

Don't the refs tell the score keepers which player gets credit?

The past two years, some of the divisions had 16 and 17 teams. Looks like the PAHL created some minor divisions to address that. My kid played in one of those divisions, and it was silly. This way, more teams can compete for a banner and the divisions are hopefully more competitive for each game. They could have chosen not to do this, and your team might have been in the named division you wanted, but it would not be better for the kids. I think it is a good thing.

If it's the same group of kids my kid played against in a tournament last year, I'm not. There are some good players there.

Gratuitous suck up to Ref23....the games I've seen have been called fine, or least with teams getting similar amounts of bad calls so the reffing is not determining the outcome. I have not seen the new checking rule on playing the puck being applied much at all on three different rinks.

I have seen zero calls enforcing the new checking rules. Lots hitting with one hand on stick, stick in air, etc. It seemed to be disregarded.

I once had a goalie mom for the other team who was using a shot counter try to change her kid's shot number on the score sheet. I didn't even think of the crazy parents. Having kept score quite a few times, the refs get the numbers of the players who got the assist wrong quite a bit, and not infrequently, who actually scored. We are all better off with those stats not being published. And, when team managing, I could sometimes not read the writing or nothing would be marked down. Myhockey rankings is very good for helping set up tournaments. Some teams do what they can to manipulate their standings I think, inflate their ranking by playing a huge amount of games, not report some games, etc. I still think it works pretty well for what it was intended for.

I have no idea why the information is not available, but do we really need the stats of kids? Why do they need 'recognition' beyond teammates and family? Privacy concerns, too. That could lead to chasing individual stats over team, and goes against the idea that this is meant to be developmental. High school is different, stakes rise a bit more then. What if it added to the unofficial recruiting we all know goes on? I just don't see the need. Who cares if you were the leading goal scorer in PAHL at age ten? Let's not make it more serious than people already do. Let me know when trading cards and stats of the mites are available.

Someone told me that Alpha in Harmar is icing over the dek hockey rink.

That stinks. At least there are a number of rinks pretty close to Belmont, might be able to absorb till October. Rostraver, however....?