whome87

2 hours ago, HSFBLJ said:

Clearly not a AAA team.  They would be middle of the road playing AA. Could they beat the 14UAAA team at that rink?

From what I saw they would have a hard time playing with a 12U AA team. 

31 minutes ago, fafa fohi said:

There is nothing wrong with paying $8-10K to NOT see your kid practice.

This sad story is getting worse by the day.

Bingo 

I guess the extra A dad’s above in this thread brought this topic to the predators. Since I posted  seeing the team. No parents have been permitted to attend or watch on ice practice the past few days of camp!!! 

Sorry, little Johnny is not really a aaa player, or aa player or a major player!!!!

nothing like getting fleeced just to say “my kid plays aaa hockey” 

23 minutes ago, fafa fohi said:

We have heard this song before, many many times.  Johnny gets cut from PPE, and the parents snub their nose at PAHL because one A is missing and AA is beneath them (not the player, the parent).  Said delusional parent then hears about so and so organization is forming a AAA team............filled with many kids that were cut from PPE but yes, that extra A is good so the parents can brag to their friends that Johnny plays AAA hockey.   

I am not dissing the players in any way on this - this is all on the parents.

Lets stop the nonsense and call these other programs what they are - glorified AA programs.  Outside of PPE ( gold in lower age divisions ) and a couple of higher age Esmark teams, there are no other AAA teams in western PA.   

Problem is none of these 04’s on the predators were cut from ppe! 

They are kids who couldn't make esmark, icemen, Pahl AA & Pahl a major. 

I get your drift ppe black is just AA hockey. 

4 hours ago, dazedandconfused said:

That's a hell of a payday for the Coach. I say more power to him. If he can convince those people to pay him $16,000 good for him. That's why they call it Capitalism. You CAPITALIZE on an opportunity. In this case, that opportunity is provided by delusional parents.

Don’t forget he owns the gym to! That’s another $300x18. 

6 hours ago, Seejay784 said:

I know 4 kids on that roster that are legit AAA players, not sure about the rest.

Talked to someone today who really knows 04’s well. Was told this team is the running joke in Pittsburgh hockey right now. Most of these kids didn’t make Pahl AA or A major black teams so their daddy’s found a “AAA” team for them.  Some of these kids were in Pahl a minor last season. Mostly everyone that tried out made the team. 

So we found the extra “A” dad’s! 

There is no “AAA” talent on that team let alone “AA” for that age group. I watched them practice for an hour today. 

Yes real “AAA” hockey is not cheap, key word “real”. 

Was at the ol’ ice castle today, I may have found the biggest money grab team in pgh history!!!!! Along with the biggest group of extra “A” (with this team maybe two extra “A’s”) wanna be parents!!

the U15 (2004) “AAA” pgh predators! What a train wreck! This team would be hard pressed to play with a pw AA team. Players that can’t skate, can’t shot, can’t pass & I’m talking about every kid on the ice! The speed was also extremely slow. 

While talking with a parent on the team, I ask about their fee’s. Mind blown! Outside of the normal predator fee’s, team fund, etc each family has to pay a $800 coaching fee to Gary and $300 gym membership! They could not get on the ice this week for “camp” unless that money was first payed, a parent forgot his checkbook the first day and had to hurry to have his wife rush CASH down. 

The king is correct on USA Hockey. 

It’s more pc bs. Let the kids have fun. I’ve seen a game when a team was down 3 in the third the losing teams d made a huge clean hit the kids got fired up banging the boards and tied the game in 5 minutes. That hit and bench celebration changed the momentum of the game!!!

Personally the pha program in terms of hockey & hockey development is awful. I do give those guys credit for fixing that rink up, western pa does not need anymore closing rinks. Pihl has not recovered from airport getting closed. We could use another sheet or two In western pa, the problem is, it’s not very profitable. The island would be gone if rmu didn’t buy it. 

Waste of money and time. The only scouts you will see at any of the Boston spring / summer tournaments are prep school guys, if you have the money and your child is half decent they will all take you. 

As noted above I am not a big yuri fan. With that said this situation is just sour grapes by the millionaire daddy that runs the predators 03 team. Who has a son in the team. Two of “his” players went to esmark. There are two other very good players that have not decided where they plan to play next season. millionaire daddy is starting rumors about yuri in the hope these kids will play on his team and not talk with esmark. 

That is simply the truth of the matter. 

19 minutes ago, PuckHead7 said:

8 goalies and 52ish skaters.  Talent is Okay!

Better than expected talent from a few kids outside of that it’s the average aa/aaa looking players. 48 skaters.

the 03’s have a lot at tryouts. Just guessing maybe 65 and the talent looks pretty good. 

The brief time I caught the 04’s it looked like about 25 max. Poor skaters and lower end talent. Probably couldn’t compete against AA for their age. 

7 minutes ago, pghhockey1 said:

yes, not surprising that you have to pay to travel. most parents don’t get a hotel at the camps - the kids stay and it is included in the camp fee which is nominal. what is stated above is opposite of my experience. we had contact with college and  Junior coaches who watched the camps. 

Camp 1 the kids don’t stay for free. With fees, travel and hotel camp 1 will run you about $600. 

48 minutes ago, Saucey said:

Who are you exposing your kid to during the camp?

Nobody. There is zero scouting there. The evaluation and on ice stuff is done by coaches from ppe & Sylvania. 

1 hour ago, pghhockey1 said:

agree with Rock. These camps are not even expensive compared to most and if your kid makes the festival or national camp the cost is very reasonable as usa hockey picks up some of the cost. hockey is a costly sport. that does not mean that every camp or tryout is a money grab. Also just because a kid doesn’t have an nhl contract after one of these camps does not mean they are just a money grab. the negativity is astounding. just don’t pay or allow your kid to play hockey. it’s so simple. 

USA hockey picks up zero cost. The year my son made it to Amherst the entire process with travel probably cost us about $1500

1 hour ago, rock said:

what is the end result of these? They are just camps and exposer correct? this is not for fielding a team, just to be accepted in the "camp" correct? still a good experience in my opinion if good enough to make it or make it as far as the child can. 

 

Why is everything is a money grab?  Everything cant be free either.. no one is forcing this on anyone so if your willing to pay good for you if not your decision, not sure why everyone needs to be so negative all the time about everything.. its funny to me the amount of negativity around youth sports.. i just don't understand it.. if you don't like it don't participate.. pretty simple in my opinion.. but whatever.. you pay for what you think is worth while. camps cost money, if you wanna argue its not worth the money fine, maybe it is or it isn't, but until you do it you don't know. 

 

 

It’s sold as a pathway to the national teams. There are no scouts there. Coaches from pens & Sylvania do the evaluations. 

It’s a straight money maker for usah. My son made it all the way to the end of 15s Not many moons ago. I went to three camps. He got a nice pat on the back along with “team grey s15” on his elite prospects profile. 

The National development teams are picked in March before the “selects” camp happen. 

Do you people realize anyone can go ? You don’t need a invite. It’s just a money maker for USA HOCKEY. The invites are not even real invites, the coach or club sends a nominations of their best players or whomever they want. Everyone gets accepted. You can also sign up by yourself. 

2 hours ago, The King said:

@EsmarkStars please answer this. Math lessons are in order if you can’t answer this question 

@EsmarkStars who are the fake numbers posted on the website ? 13 does not equal 18 plus one alternate. Is that Russian math ? 

8 minutes ago, pghhockey1 said:

It is my understanding that PPE is out of the EHL this year. And they by no means are claiming to make the best of a small demographic - they are admittedly and obviously trying to collect the best players from all over the country in an effort to be the top team in the country. That being said, they did pick a couple of local kids this year at 16 who have no political conncections whatsoever, along with a couple of kids who will move here from 3000 miles away. 

PPE are not out (yet) the divisions got reworked so they don’t have to play weaker teams like Cleveland 4xs a season. 

No political connection ? Half of their best 03 players packed up and left. They had enough of the leadership there. Guess where they new local kid that “made it” is going to school next year. 

7 hours ago, Ynot02 said:

It is better that an organization decide that their tryout only yielded 13 skaters at the level they need to compete at AAA then to just fill a roster with whoever shows up. The latter just creates the “faux AAA” teams that have been a big complaint on this board for years. 

Unfortunately that is exactly what yuri is doing! Trying to fill teams! Last year at this birth year he drove all the way to Sylvania, Ohio during the mid am camp trying to recruit 03s. Just like this year, not enough kids signed up. He ended up taking players last year that never played AA hockey. 

Part of the problem, by the time kids get to midget 90% of the parents are educated and understand what their child’s end game really is, even the top percentage of highly skilled kids are a long shot to even get a smell of Ncaa d1 college hockey. 

Midget parents understand for the most part, save that 10-15k a year for 3 years and put it towards college. 

4 hours ago, The King said:

It’s in not significant but when you’re framing these 2 clubs as making the best of a small demographic then you need to expound on your biased claim. The leagues these 2 clubs participate have PREVIOUSLY helped their players achieve a higher level. But as the sport grows, other leagues are showing that the T1EHL is not the only go to. In fact, it’s not even the top tier 1 league anymore. Esmark has done well in that NAHL fundraiser they participate in but come on, they have prospered off of selling uneducated people on the hope of getting one of the few tenders they are promised every year. Eventually, people have realized that their players don’t improve and they are just lining the pockets of the career “coaches” out there. The player pool in Pittsburgh is growing so what you will see is that, each program will have to finally price their worth based on coaching and development merit, not by sales chops anymore. 

Prep school’s & the HPHL are the top leagues. Just look at the rankings at every birth year. The T1EHL is falling apart, it’s not what it was just 4 years ago. it’s no secret Pittsburgh & Buffalo are trying to get out. 

PPE do a excellent job of developing players but it’s turned into a rich man’s program due to the forceful Tactics of their school. Let’s not talk about the black teams at the younger levels, those teams are glorified Pahl AA teams. We all know those teams are truly used for pens & friends and to sell more ice. 

Im not sure who the barons are beating. Their team’s at every birth year are at the bottom half of the rankings. You must be referring to the district tournament two seasons ago when the 15s upset ppe here in Pittsburgh. 

If your player’s team has ever played the baron’s you would know their home rink makes the frozen pond look like it’s state of the art. The baron’s don’t develop players and their fees are higher than any in pittsburgh.  

Travel fees for any AAA program usually run between 5-10k so add your team fees on top of that with equipment it’s not out of the question that a aaa season could push into 20k. In my experience most aaa seasons run about 14-15k. 

I could give a little more insight on the esmark tryout. First of all, the person posting for esmark is a board member, she has a vested interest in seeing the team succeed, her player is one of the core. I hope this does not break any rules, I did not use any names. 

The turnout was so bad, on day two the 04’s esmark had no interest in got moved up to skate with the 03’s to make it look more full. 

Yuri told me yesterday, as he tried to recruit my son the team is sitting at 9 forwards & 4 defenseman. He did cut 2 players and replaced them with 03’s from the predators. his hope is to fill the team with higher skilled players or imports. 

I’m also confused why he is inviting players to skate at different rinks with him that are not PIA. Is their ice down ? Or is this more of his shady behavior ? 

I like yuri somewhat & do think he’s a decent coach but the game has passed him by. I personally would never let my son play for him or that rotten core ( if you can call it that ) that’s left at this particular birth year.