Pucks11

All that money put into that rink and it's already having problems with stairs cracking and the roof leaking on top of many other small things.

I thought that they only dealt with rinks that had 2 or more sheets of ice? Even with the renovations is there not still a ton of work to be done there.

If you look at ALL of those posters of the guys on their walls not 1 of them claim the Pens Elite. They use the team they left for, the Hornets or their high school. Look at the most recent pick he used the US national team and the Sidney Crosby program but gave 0000 praise to the PPE even though they have had his picture blasted all over their website and building. The same thing with Voit, they blasted his picture all over their website and building. They did the same with the 07 kids that made the CCM 68's last year. 5 kids made it and 3 of them didn't play a game for them yet but they posted their pictures (in their Detroit uniforms) all over their website like they helped them get there.

All Mackinnon does is sit in his office or walk around with his chest puffed up bragging about knowing/hanging out with Crosby. It's worse with Chiasson since he weaseled his way into practicing with the Pens once in awhile. They develop so well that they have former players who didn't make it in juniors coaching and now even coaches kids are coaching along with their spouses getting hired to coach. They are so prestigious that they have coaches coaching multiple teams because they can't get enough coaches ontop of them doing their classes and private lessons. But hey they are a non profit organization FOR THE KIDS.

That is definitely true. They basically tell the local parents that if you want to be on the Brick team that you have to play for the PPE. They have used it as recruiting also, there have been kids from the out of town picks that end up on the PPE the following year. The Brick has taken 1 kid from the Vengeance. They have chosen kids from the Black team to multiple tryouts but again NOT the best one's. If they let unbiased people pick this team they would actually stand a chance but until then they will be 1 of the worst (the worst) teams statically every year in that tournament from players to goalies to overall record.

I have been waiting for someone to bring the Team PA Brick team up for a long time. They need to just disband the Team and let another state take their spot. Statistically the worst team collectively EVER with a win percentage of .189. The team always consists of mostly PPE kids and NOT even the best one's each year. Team PA is a bigger money grab than PPE. How can a parent be excited to travel over 2,100 miles knowing damn well you don't stand a chance. He my kid made the Team PA Brick team and then someone looks it up and sees how bad the team is. The team has won a total of 10 games in 9yrs competing. It can't be an honor when they constantly leave better kids off of the roster. I would bet my own money that someone outside of the PPE/Flyers organizations (who pick the team) could build a better team each year than the one picked. I am surprised that the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers professional organizations allow them to use their patches for how bad they are consistently.

They lost their top 4 players. It's the Pens Elite, they will bribe some kids parents to play for them even if they have to go outside of North America.

Probably still looking to poach kids and see which kids from Canada that are still available since they had 9 kids walk away from last years team.

I am sure it does, but that team is usually the AA Foxes coach and mostly kids from that team with some fillers.

Not that hard to find. Keystone State Games Rosters 2022 FINAL W-1.xlsx

Watching for years, the AA and A kids hit a lot more than the AAA kids. The AAA kids tend to pick their checks because if they miss 1 that is a quick odd man rush the other way. If you didn't want your kid getting hit then don't put him in a checking tournament. Just play school league.

Spring/summer hockey gives kids a chance to play with their friends and have fun. Some of those AAA kids get pushed so hard from August-March and they don't get to hangout with their friends like they want or have fun. You will have this problem everywhere this time of year and it happens in a lot of sports during the off season.

Looking up and talking with some people from around other organizations it looks like PPE comes in on top starting at $7,000 for 14-16u and over $10,000 for 18's without the coaches fees and slush fund they ask for at the beginning of the season also. Esmark to start looks to be around $3,500 and Vengeance start right around $4,000. All NOT including travel costs. Most PPE teams don't fundraise unless it's a special year like the peewee Quebec year, Esmark does do a few fundraisers to help out with travel and costs and doesn't look like much fundraising out of Vengeance. PPE FORCES you to buy their gloves, pants, gym outfits and yellow helmets while DICKS "donates" the bags, jumpsuits, jerseys/socks (practice also) and a random surprise for the kids at the end of the season so they don't have to give you any of your leftover money back. Esmark has gloves available but not forced to buy them and asks you to buy a black helmet. They have you buy jumpsuits and they give you gym clothes, jerseys/socks (practice also) polo shirt and bags. Vengeance give you bags, gloves, red helmets, jumpsuits, gym clothes, jerseys/socks (practice also) and pants plus a discount on equipment all season long.

The 2 Gilmour kids were pointed out in the original post of the 7 drafted if you remove them as he did plus the Caps kid then he said 4 local were drafted but if you look at the 4 remaining only 1 is from Pittsburgh (SHAHA) while the 3 PPE kids are from out of state.

Wouldn't it be 1 local kid since 3 of the other 4 drafted are from out of state and just play for PPE.

The people of Pittsburgh wouldn't be happy with a former NHL couch. They will spend thousands on skating/skills coaches just to bitch about them because their kid sucks and it the coaches fault. They can't understand that it takes hard work and dedication not force. If your kid likes hockey then nothing will stop them from working at it or having a stick in their hand whether at home or anywhere else. If your kid doesn't pick a stick up unless you tell them to then stop wasting your money just to complain about a parent coach or skating/skills coach. To answer your question, yes there are good coaches and bad coaches but certain parents will never be happy no matter where they are but it will ALWAYS be the coaches fault. My kid has had a couple GREAT coaches that yelled and told kids what they did wrong and other parents absolutely hated. He has also had a couple of coaches that were super nice but sucked as a coach but parents liked because they would inflate their kids egos instead of telling them what they did wrong.

I'm curious as to where Pittsburgh parents got so snooty with their kids and coaches. Some of the top organizations in the COUNTRY have parent coaches. Pens Elite, Vengeance, Chicago, Detroit, Boston just to name a few of the hotbed. If your kid isn't learning then maybe it has something to do with the way you raised him. Coaches fees are WAY MORE than an extra $500 because you have to pay for part of their travel and all of their hotels for the season. Some of the worst coaches in the area are coaches that don't have a kid on the team because they really don't care as long a sthey get paid.

If you are a Pittsburgh kid then you need to go somewhere else because the only kids getting pushed around here are the one's they bring in from out of town. Most if not all of the Pittsburgh kids that "made it" left town to get looked at more and develop.

Okay my guy???. Once again no one was criticizing the kid only you keep thinking that. Any kid would play for an organization if they got to play for free. You don’t find it just the bit suspicious that his sisters husband just happens to coach (the same team this past season) there also???.

No one is taking anything away from this kid, he is a fantastic player but when he threatens to leave so you give his sister a job, let him play for free and don't make him go to N.C. that's not doing something right. This kid could EASILY be at Shattuck but why pay all that money to go there when you could stay here and not pay at all.

The buddies they brought in to play with that special 07 didn't have to attend N.C. either. They are making some exceptions for the 08 team also. This practice goes all the way up to at least the 05 team that I am sure of. If you are good and they think that you will leave they will give you whatever you want. People have been on this page for YEARS trying to tell everyone how shady that organization is and the people that blow hard the PPE try and deny deny deny.

Hard to leave when you get a pass on the N.C. schooling and you play for free. Anyone would take that deal.

3rd day is invite only. Most likely a waste of time unless someone blows their minds.

# of teams in the top 100 by birth year 18u - 4 (2 top 50) 16u - 4 (2 top 50) 15u - 4 (2 top 50) 14u- 3 (1 top 50) 13u- 5 (2 top 50) 12u- 4 (2 top 50) 11u- 5 (3 top 50) 10u- 4 (2 top 50) It's not completely far fetched to think that 3 or 4 are possible with some of the top AA kids.

Not trying to bait anyone, just having a conversation. It would be competitive IF all of the teams except Pens played PAHL but that's not going to happen. This team hasn't really been challenged over the last 2 seasons. They are a good team, they have achieved a lot in PAHL. Hopefully their independent schedule is more challenging next season.