BeaverFalls

Which leaving to go to another program isn’t always feasible due to cost or travel. So idk what the best solution is. I think true parody won’t really ever be achieved across the board, and that’s sort of the business pahl tried to get into with these placements and dozens of division levels.

I guess the other part is to not take it personally they aren’t playing PAHL. Who knows what their thought process is. Maybe it’s well thought out and based on time, people, budget etc they have a clear end state goal they’re seeking with by going independent. on the flip hand it’s completely conceivable it’s a rash decision that isn’t based on the best development and fiscal responsibility. Bottom line is, PAHL has been around for a long, long time. And even if a few BY teams or even whole organizations leave, it’s not going anywhere.

I think we can all agree there isn’t a really great solution that meets the needs of all the organizations and all the levels. But it is encouraging that people are thinking of some ideas that might help. Maybe part of the problem is PAHL is too cookie cutter and not tailored specific enough to each age group? Maybe it’s vice versa. Idk.

I just think it opens to door to mixed BY teams that aren’t really the quality of team you’re trying to help develop to sneak in as AA minor when they could just as easily be A Major. Id rather go with the BY model which would be each programs top team in that BY. The more I think about it, maybe if a mixed BY team really wanted to and we’re able to they could qualify for the upper BY division.

Like I said though if necessary there could be further divisions there. I’m not necessarily against A major and A minor etc.

Also a real question is, what is your PAHL rep telling the league during meetings? Half of them don’t even call in according to the minutes so if they aren’t pushing for effective change, it won’t happen.

One thing I might be able to get behind is having BY divisions in addition to A&B. I think having AA major and minor makes it too open ended. That being said, that will almost certainly make it impossible for a small program to field a AA team. I’m not overly hip on the AA landscape so maybe this is a non-issue. But a possible compromise that might make sense is: BY older year BY younger year Open A Open B If there needs to be more dividing from there then so be it.

Not sure what an organization that only has one team is supposed to to? Move their entire team up to a level too high for them?

That’s not AA hockey then.

What’s the resistance to playing A major?

I don’t think renaming a turd makes it any less of a turd. I mean at what point does it stop? Theoretically we could just rename every level AA and have a AA-AA Major all the way down to a AA-B Minor and it’s still the same problem. And I truly do appreciate that you want to improve the product.

That might help some. But as long as parents get to thump their chests that their prodigy is x,y,z level higher than their buddies, it’s going to be a problem.

Oversight is a good thing but if we are looking for mid-am or usah to provide it…I think they’ve proven their methodology is rather laissez faire at best…

I had a deja vu moment but this time it was AA instead of AAA.

Haven’t heard. It may be a slow news cycle time for them and I believe they are all volunteer so maybe short handed right now. I did see an article posted not too long ago about Duquesne fielding a D3 ACHA team so I don’t think it’s shuttered totally. It would be a shame if it was.

it’s a matter of semantics I think. It’s easier to market you’re a AA team than not. It’s the nature of the beast the way things are set up. General statement: There should be only one AA division imho. If you’re all a first year team at that age division and you can’t compete physically or skill then you aren’t a AA at that division, yet. There’s no shame in being A Major etc with the expectation of being AA the following year.

Is it really that big of a deal? Doesn’t affect me either way. Just wondering what the impact is of them having a team or not having one.

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Back to the tourney at hand, Bethel rebounded with a 7-1 win…so, let’s dissect here…

Usually Pittsburgh hockey digest at least does an article or two?

Didn’t they get a new coach?

Simple solution: change the fpp criteria. Any 5 min major, two 10 min misconducts or any game or match penalty by any player, coach or created by a spectator loses the point. To me that is reasonable.

I concur with the argument about general talent dilution but also the fact that everybody who wants to pay gets to play travel and there’s 8-12 different divisions tailored to each team dilutes things as well. I personally don’t really care about the quality of youth hockey in the area that much. I really have no reason to. But to that affect, when there was simply a AA, A and B divisions, and each organization fielded 1 team in each, it was a different feel.

Idk if it’s fair to say there is only one true program. Maybe in certain aspects. That being said, there are some that clearly aren’t on the same caliber as the top 1-2 programs in the area. But If people are content paying and playing there, good on them.

Honestly who knows at this point both in the near term with Covid and long term with the growth of no-check hockey divisions up north, filtering down.