Saucey

10 hours ago, theconradwaite said:

@Danner27 as the Head Coach & head of Duquense’s club hockey program for the last 7 years I was fascinated to hear that unbeknownst to me our team is “run by local politics”, and has “lots of PAHL & PIHL parent involvement and elbow rubbing”. I am curious though, can you provide a single example, shred of evidence to back up this claim, or even a detail about our program that would explain what any of that actually means?
 

Further, you choose to disparage the way we run our program and recruit, but I challenge you to find a single player I’ve talked to since taking over, that I tried to convince to come to Duquesne for the hockey and hockey alone. 

I know you can’t, because I’m the one that has talked to every player interested in  Duquense over the last number of years, and they all get the same first question from me: “what do you want to study?” Next we talk about academics & school size/fit to see if Duquesne makes sense for them. All of that long before we talk hockey, because I don’t want to recruit players for hockey and hockey alone. And the funny thing is, that philosophy is definitely one of the reasons why we struggle to compete with the top teams at our level. But I’m just not willing to compromise our ethics for short term success.

On top of that, nearly every single player I talk to hears from me at some point “look, if you decide during your college search that Duquense isn’t a good fit for you anymore, that’s fine. College is one of the biggest decisions you will make in your life, you don’t need added pressure from myself or any other coaches where to go. If I can help you find the best fit for you, I’m more than happy to do it.” And I’ve always stood by that.

So again, please provide a single example to back up your claim about our program. One. I’d love to hear it, because if there is any validity to anything you say, I want to know about it.  But since I’m quite certain you don’t have any example or proof, I would appreciate an apology and clarification of your comments. 

 

thank you.

 

-conrad 

 

To be fair, I can't find where Danner said that in connection with Duquesne. I do remember a thread somewhere on this forum where those criticisms were leveled against Pitt.

2 hours ago, Icebucket said:

Couple of big upsets last night. Should be interesting to see how the rest of the first round plays out this week.

Only on paper. If you were following along all season, you know that any team in PIHL this year can lose on any night. USC has been hot and Pine turned their season around beginning in October.

6 hours ago, nemesis8679 said:

Anyone who doesn't like hitting, PAHL is trying to get a no-checking division going. 

I saw that. Trying to capture kids who quit the sport?

3 hours ago, stickboy said:

Found our old time hockey guy

 

Nope. But there should be some hitting. I would be ok eliminating checking entirely from the game, but it isn't, so it should happen at the right time. The fact that it happened not at all is a bit problematic to me. But go ahead, insult me.

8 minutes ago, nemesis8679 said:

Not to mention, an adult coach has no business snapchatting/texting children. Even if intentions aren't in appropriate, it's a terrible idea. 

They usually use their kids to do it. But it's clear who put them up to it.

Flipping between the three 14u games and I haven't seen a hit laid yet. ?

20 hours ago, Pucks11 said:

 

Another teams coach isn't any better than the Montour coach. He has openly called a kid on another team his future superstar (during a game on a face-off)  and even offered to get him an address in said district.

One year on one of my kid's teams, the coach for what I would totally consider a faux AAA team gave our goalie his card after we scrimmaged them. He said he was the only reason our team did well against them.? Good narrative, gotta tell yourself something, I guess.

The crazies have no shame, and Snapchat is definitely a favorite recruiting tool. Our kid tore the card up and was like, why in the hell would I want to go play for that team?

Too bad no one enforces recruitment rules around here.

1 hour ago, miked said:

@Saucey

My rant wasn't aimed at you. I understand when you have one practice a week you have to cram as much as you can into that slot. but there are still options. You could talk to your association about setting up some 20-40-20 ice slots where Team 1 practice is 20 minutes full - then Team 2 takes the ice and both teams have 40 minutes half - then Team 1 leaves and Team 2 has 20 minutes full. Then the coaches could work together on the half ice slots from time to time to break into 3/4 1/4 breakdowns. There's lots of options to get the kids the ice they need and still keep costs under control.  

I didn't take any offense. My kids get plenty of ice, but I know that isn't the case for everyone. And I agree, more could be done to use the ice creatively but I guess....once you reach a certain age and if the level of play isn't that high, you aren't going to have organizations be that concerned. Same with whoever you can find to coach those teams. 

It is more normal than not now to jump around. We didn't, but I feel like we are the weirdos now. Feels rare.

That's the thing, when you hit an age where you are only getting an ice touch or so a week (the programs we skate for assume you are playing high school) full ice is kind of important.

1/2 ice doesn't work as well when they get bigger. My kids hate them. Just don't feel like they get a good enough skate.

I don't understand the argument of....we tried to pull a fast one, PIHL didn't catch it, kid played all season, so thus, there should be no foul, either. I do understand....we thought we were good because we talked to someone in PIHL. But the lack of documentation to support that seems to be an issue. PIHL enforces roster violations. They do. And coaches looking for an edge look for them and report them. And guess what....your verbal conversation with an incorrect application of the rule is likely not going to override the rule. But the cop told me it was okay to run the red light...

What do you really want people to do? These rules are in place because clearly, people trying to get kids on rosters has been a problem in the past. Shoot, my beer league even has these rules because people really value winning in our society, even when the event or game means.... nothing. The amount of rules professional leagues have regarding rosters is mind boggling.

Every time there is a roster violation, kids are hurt. They don't set the roster, so it is always a nasty repercussion for them.  That is a terrible reason not to enforce them, because then you essentially invalidate roster rules. It's also not fair to kids to not enforce them. This is exactly why the rules exist in the first place, to prevent unfairness in setting teams.

In my experience, PIHL enforces roster violations. So you need to dot your Is and cross your Ts. If your program doesn't, made a mistake...it sucks. But it's the rule.

WE want our kids to see that there are repercussions for rule violations, don't we?

Lawsuit? People have lost their ever loving minds.

Judges don't want to be bothered with this kind of crap. Good luck, Montour.

Omg I couldn't read all of this, felt like I walked into the fourteen years old's locker room. ?

On 2/23/2023 at 11:52 AM, Spear and Magic Helmet said:

I do see the other point too, let people spent their money how they want, but it gets annoying when people say their kid's gonna play NCAA hockey when he's 19 and nowhere close to the level that those players are. I think that's what makes us a bit jaded.

If the team formed is not the level advertised, maybe don't field it that way. I don't want to say don't try, particularly considering the continuing disaster of PPE, but for crying out loud, don't call yourself AAA when your team is largely made up of kids who couldn't crack AA. Place the kids right.

Hockey is a moneyed sport with a lot of parents used to being able to buy their kids whatever they want. I have heard it. "I will spend whatever it takes because he/she wants it." But you can't buy natural athletic talent. "You want me to kill my kid's dream?" Um. Someone is going to at some point. Maybe if you had, they would have put their energy into something that is within their skill set, ever think of that?

The stats of going D1 are out there and have been discussed here and naseum. The development of youth sports should not be focused on chasing something that is so rare to do. You essentially harm most children playing.

There shouldn't be so many butt hurt options. Don't be fooled, most of these coaches know what they are getting.

I like Danner, too. I don't always agree with everything he says but hey, here's a weird thing, you can both like and dislike someone's various opinions. And, you know, it's an internet Board where people post anonymously, so you should....da da da....take it all with a giant grain of salt.

You see the attention Mid Am gives Tier II? That's why you shouldn't bother with the Mid Am camp. Fold in the faux AAA, too. 

Last year they did a little better, maybe they will put something up this week. 

34 minutes ago, RJUSHL said:

How good are the MidAm tryout camps? I'm assuming those are invite only?

Your organization selects your kid. So the Icemen, for example, send whoever wants to go it would seem. Other organizations are a bit more discerning.

Teams are set and the kids play games. Some teams are pretty bad. The 'sorting' process should be a little more focused, I think, more vetting. My family found it to be a huge waste of time and money.

Man, not even beloved Steelers can escape the negativity of hockey people on this Board. Anyone want to try and malign Mr. Rogers now?

I tried watching that first game. I didn't understand how Duquesne got those games, either. Why drive there for that and why did Adrian waste their time?

I saw some of that Duquesne Pitt game and thought some of what you said..how is Pitt ranked so high? There could be some rivalry fueling that outcome. Players out or something.

Club hockey is a nightmare to try and navigate. Adrian recruits heavily for their teams and tells you to play juniors first if you want to crack the M1 team. The hockey program is phenomenal. But the academics.....not so much. And outside of some hockey heads, who has ever heard of it? That's a problem when trying to get a job 

The academics need to come first.

RMU's plethora of club teams help fund that school. Those teams were not shut down. But there are some good programs at RMU, academic wise. And we know Pitt is a good school. 

Don't pick a school based on hockey. The practice times, the travel grind, getting injured....your kid may end up not playing. 

3 hours ago, Danner27 said:

 

Though I haven’t spoken to yuri in about 5 years, I highly doubt that’s him posting. I’d be really shocked if it was. If you’ve ever exchanged emails with yuri, you would know he writes a bit different than he talks in person. 

I also assumed that was someone else. I agree, he writes like someone whose first language is not English. And he is professional in his dealings with you, doesn't fit the personality to post this dumb stuff.

All these arguments about best location boil down to....no matter where you locate, due to our area's difficult terrain and roads, you are going have a segment who does not come. Maybe one of the reasons Esmark does not have strong teams below 14u is ....kids start driving themselves. So mom and dad don't have to drive them all the time to PIA. 

I don't really care where the Icemen play, but I do want to point out that you do not need to play 'AAA' to play in most of those leagues touted on their website as where they placed their players. Well, who knows now, since AAA is now the old AA around here. USPHL, Tier III pay to play leagues, my boy gets calls from those teams just by being a good AA and high school player. And those leagues don't lead you to Division I NCAA or the NHL. Club hockey, which there is nothing wrong with doing, but you do not need those junior teams to go do that.

2 hours ago, aaaahockey said:

Is North Pittsburgh still an in-house only mite program?  I always thought that was a great idea instead of chasing the dream at 6 years old and driving all over the place. 

Yes. They have an excellent program.

8 hours ago, LGP13 said:

While that is a good question, I'm curious what the Renegades numbers have looked like since the Aviators have arrived at Alpha. If Renegades are losing teams because kids are going to Aviators it's not really an influx. Same amount of kids, just shuffling the logos on their jerseys.

*edit spelling

The Aviators are were you go when you can't make a team or are convinced everyone placed your kid wrong. I doubt the Renegades are worried.

6 minutes ago, aaaahockey said:

I actually think Ice Castle would have a chance to be a competitor but they would need to totally scrap and revamp their program.  What they are doing now is producing very few competitive teams and they really don't seem to develop the players at all (from what i can see from the outside).  I know several people who have been on (several different) teams.there 3-5 years who constantly complain about it.   Still not sure why they continue to go back but I almost never hear anything good.  

No. It's too hard to get to for a lot of families. It's 45 minutes to an hour in rush hour traffic from the north, and hard driving. That amount of time on the highway is one thing, through city streets, 51 and library road is another.

Or......ha ha ha....quit chasing the extra A and just play the local league. Crazy, I know. At least until Bantam. Put resources back into what already exists. It would be so nice to have a AA league filled top to bottom with AA teams. PAHLs midget program currently has 2. 

It's fun to actually play school hockey and compete for a National banner in PAHL. PIHL actually has built their program up. The televised games, the social media. Don't play 80 games in a year for an independent schedule. Play school and PAHL.  

Really need to see what Blackbear is going to do. I think you are going to continue to see all these faux AAA teams because there are always people chasing. They think their kid has the talent and didn't make the team, they form another. 

But I do think that the market is poised to have a viable alternative to PPE since they don't want the local kids when it counts unless you have the cash. RMU and Sourhpointe are the best locations to do it to make it accessable for everyone around the city.