Denis Lemiuex

A lot of NHL veterans are retiring to Florida and are coaching. But imagine those idiots in FL. I can only find one AAA program - the Florida Alliance. Don't they know that they should be following the Pgh model and have at least 20 AAA programs. Instead they are competing at the AA level across the state. What a bunch of hayseeds.

Although not needed to be pointed out. A class act.

By the way Congrats to Neshannock. Program has come a long way and great for the region - both HS and PAHL. Could/Should they have been in A? Probably but a rising program like them can use a couple of years of success to help build the program and get the hockey community behind the program. Any PAHL player from Neshannock that was there last night has to be dreaming about that being them someday.

I believe PPG was donated by the Pens as part of giving back to the community. But then it was a lot cheaper donation to move it to their practice facility. Pens' supporting WPA HS hockey is like how PPE is supposed to develop local kids. They talk a lot but deliver as little as possible.

No. All the coached decide. For instance. All the AAA coaches get together in July and they determine who will be the top teams vs the bottom teams. Then bottom teams then will be considered against the top returning AA teams and so on. I would not trust some of the coaches/organizations for sandbagging. Take it out of their hands. And I am sorry. No one in the league office probably has a clue either.

Simple. Let the coaches decide the classification for each team. They know their opponents best - who left, who returned and how talented each team should be.

And that is why HS hockey is the toughest to coach and involves a lot more talent and effort that coaching amateurs.

This is so funny. So you are saying the best player on the team misses a practice and off ice team activities because of PAHL conflicts you would bench him in favor of a less talented player who made all these things that week. And I should have added in my first post that yes if there is a discipline problem or total lack of effort the kid should lose ice time. But hey. If you or your coach doesn't have the talent to develop the least talented player enough to allow him to contribute on a regular basis then maybe some self awareness is needed.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Varsity yes. JV is development. No one cares what your JV record is. No one cares that your kid scored 30 goals in JV. That's the problem with HS hockey. The good programs develop all their players to the best of their availability and work in tandem with the V coach. Sadly most JV coaches just care about W/Ls. I told one JV coach who had 16 skaters and used only 10 for 90 percent of the game he must be embarrassed that he is such a lousy coach that he could not develop his players so they could play more than one shift a period. He wasn't happy but what's his comeback. I ran up and down my bench and won. And the program I was at wasn't one of the area blue bloods while his had 2 JV teams and 2 MS teams.

Over 90 percent of the coaches, refs and officials. But the 10 percent are absolutely awful and thus the reason behind most of these threads.

Dad was a pretty good player with the last of the great North Catholic teams of the 80s. I believe he ended up at Shaler for a year or two,.

Great skater and very shifty with the puck. Also potentially a good goal scorer. Not having a OHL season hurt him. The biggest knock was his unwillingness to go to the tough spots. But as a small 16 year old it's understandable. A little more confidence and willingness to go in to the nasty spots and he would have been a 2nd or 3rd rounder. Without a season he didn't get a chance to show if he improved in that area.

OK. But what is the rink to population ratio, How about the number of AAA teams per the population. Having six in our area should be pumping draftable kids every year instead one every two or three years. But how can I say anything. Their websites all said they focus on player development so .....

Congrats to Ty and his family. Interesting to see multiple kids drafted from AZ, and So Cal. But we had one from WPA. Congrats to all the programs the "stress" player development. Keep up the good work.

I think the key here is parking. Think $5 for 150 spots. Parking turn over every 2 hours. 12 hours on a weekend. Six on a week day. Guessing the Pittsburgh Police will ticket people street parking to make it acceptable for the area residents forcing users to pay. That's about $20K a week. Even if my numbers are off by 2Xs. It is still $10K.

The reason why our locals don't have mentality is because they value games over practice. NCAA DI hockey programs play 30 games a year but 12 year olds need to play 60 games. Even NHL players have over 2 practices per game if you include game day skates.

After agreeing with everything you said and seeing that last sentence. I am thinking of changing my screen name to GrumpyOldPucker2 but when I write something stupid people will blame you and you might lose your credibility.

AAA coaching albeit better than Dad coaches have the same flaw, The coaches are in it to win it. I went to a 8th grade football game a friend's son was playing. The team had 20 players. His kid played 3 snaps (1 series). I so wanted to yell from the stands that no one cares about your 8th grade coaching record. Play the dam kids. You think the Pens Elite would be happy with a sub .500 U12 team or their parents even though their kids vastly improved and got more out the season buy going up and down the bench? Another pet peeve. Every clinic I go to all the coaches want are drills. Doesn't matter if they help teaching the system they are running or not. before one of my practices in a few years ago I saw two forwards switch lanes in the O zone (C swings to the W and W to the middle of the ice). Then 20 minutes later he was running break outs and the three Fwds stayed in the ir lanes for the breakout. Drill probably looked good in the book but didn't simulate anything he was doing in games. Most of my drills I made up by breaking down what I wanted to practice. But to be fair. It took about 6 or 7 years to learn that. But nothing from USA Hockey ever said to do that,.

It's not the ADM model. Actually I was against it at first but it have come all the way around. I saw way too many full ice games played by 10U guys, Complete waste of time and energy. One kid would skate around the others and hopefully his/her teammates knew enough to get on sides. Kids are having fun and they have pucks on sticks. And nothing other than introducing them to the game and letting them have fun before the U12 level is going to improve their chances of a post HS career. The biggest issue to me is kids at the youngest age are being taught by people who don't "know" the game. The USA modules are at best less than adequate. The principles of time and space and puck support is rarely mentioned and doesn't show how to teach those things. Go to U14 and even U16 AA games and see how many times a team actually has any sustained offensive zone play. Even man breaks are just one on one play. Cycling happens but the no idea what to do. And on and on. They get these bad habits and are never corrected because they are winning games. In hockey areas the first coaches of kids as well as their parents played at high levels and know the game as compared to our guys who are dads pulled out of the stands, watched 20 modules not understanding what they mean or are missing, and attend a coaching clinic or two. (Side note. Went for my level 4 and sat next to an assistant coach from the Chicago Steel U-16 team). One subject was practice planning, He whispered to me that he has 6 ex players playing D1 and and will have 2 or 3 more in a couple of years. He knows how to plan a practice or better have known to coach at his level). That's what USA Clinics waste time on. Second is the game to practice ratio. Pros have a 3-1 game to practice ratio if you factor in game day skates. U14s - U12s are playing 40 - 50 games. Are you telling me they are on the ice 120 times for practices. Or don't U14s and below need as much practice as the pros? And the off ice stuff doesn't cut and is a joke. One HS team I know had 2 sessions a week over summer but didn't provide a plan for the other 4 days (one rest day). So what they were doing was a waste of time but it made the parents happy. Which gets me to point 3. Parents really have no clue what they should be paying for. Too many BS artists or people who think they know. Organizations preach player development. Maybe if they really believe it they would guarantee a spot for two years unless the player/family has a discipline problem. If they are so good at development no need to bring in other players or have tryouts. Practice ratios. Real off ice training. Etc. That's just a start.

I know Gritz played a couple of seasons. He was with the Otters last season. Must be OK via USA Hockey but not the NCAA. Thanks for the responses. Like I said, Never seen that before.

It;s not the numbers but the development. Our kids are sorely lacking in a lot of areas. They can skate and shoot with the best of them. It's the other things - hockey sense. Talk with the scouts from the USHL and NAHL and they will tell you the same thing. That's a reason you see so many kids tendered and then playing back in Pgh within weeks after the junior season starts. Look good but a step slow because they lack intangibles.

Question. Alex Gritz played in the OHL How is he eligible in the NAHL. USHL and NAHL kids are considered amateurs and eligible for D1. Kids from Canadian major juniors are considered professionals and ineligible. So how can he play in the league. Nothing against the young man. More a curiousity because I've never seen this before. Thanks.

Well Hextall is in town....

Sucks if you are in the marching band

Mike Schall is a significant upgrade both as a coach and as a person.