lurch8

All BS aside, there are good families and kids that play within the organization...we were one of them, but it only took a short time for us to run as fast as we could. Certain people can ruin it, unfortunately there are people involved with VS that should not be coaching, let alone organizing. Some individuals within make a lot of money preying on families and kids for nothing more than their monetary needs. It's truly a shame. I think the process of VS to Esmark is a good idea, but poorly planned and run, you get the right people, the right coaches, and you would have something to hang your hat on. But until certain ones are gone completely, it will be the same old story.

I would agree, I would expect AA to be competitive this year. How many Independent AA teams are there? When you say independent do you mean they only play independent games? No PAHL? Who is considered AA Independent around us? I know the PAHL AA teams will play some games independently but still play the PAHL schedule.

To step away from the political side of things...anyone out there hearing of any games being played within our ranks? How are teams looking, who should be good this year, AAA, AA, A Major, anything.

Just curious if anyone watched the PIAA Hearing today with the State GOP. It was Live on FB. Things that I took from the hearing. 1. State department of health was encouraged and invited to be part of the hearing.....they declined. 2. Testing was done during the summer on 10,389 student athletes, 1 athlete, that is not a typo, 1 athlete in the testing group out of 10,389 tested positive....that's .0096 percent according to the PIAA. 3. PIAA is in agreement with family being able to attend fall athletics with guidelines. Feel free to watch, its on the Let Them Play FB page.

I agree....ONE, not 12, ONE

Instead of hoping around, you could start NW and work your way east.

I coach a Winter Sport in the PIAA, not hockey, and there have been many discussions, The one possibility that is gaining the most footing is that they are going to flip flop Spring and Fall sports. ie. Baseball and Softball this fall as they don't have the physical following of Football. Now being a winter coach, I am also hearing that they will wait till fall to make a decision on hosting winter sports. They may not even happen which would be a travesty for many seniors that would absolutely loose out on scholarship money. It changes the entire dynamic. With hockey, the governor stated and shut down PennDot till the end of June for the entire state. And that could easily be extended. If we as a whole think that Wolf is going to give the go ahead to open sports and indoor recreation facilities before opening government functions, its not going to happen. Local governments are not planning on even bringing employees back until June and opening up to the public sometime at end of June or beginning of July. This is a mess, my son is beside himself as hockey is what he loves and being at that crucial point of second year bantam, as his goal is to play juniors. And in regards to PIHL, that is the biggest mystery, I have no way of predicting which way the will go with this. Just a bad situation for all. I truly feel for every kid playing, not just here but everywhere. I do feel that AAU will try to nudge open the door, but it will be up to rinks to say go ahead and come in, knowing they would face liability if something were to happen. Personally I would like to see kids have the opportunity to get back on the ice even in very small groups. Skating is not running and the longer they are kept off the ice will have an impact on there hockey this season. Having a instructor and 3-4 kids with their own water bottle is no different than hosting a birthday party with 24 people once we move to yellow. Kids will need ice time to get back up to speed, if it all works out, I don't see tryouts till August or maybe even September.

Curious to see with the loss of money coming in, if the Black teams will be instituted back into the picture to help regain some financing that is being lost.

And that was my million dollar question to the one that works the most with this COVID mess. You cant force someone to vaccinate, he explained that it wouldn't necessarily be a vaccination that would limit large groups but at least a treatment that had a background of working. I think we will still see a hockey season, just think the tryouts will be later in the summer to early fall and season that will look more like November to March. Hockey is unlike any other sport, these kids will need some ice time after being off for 3-4 months.

Having numerous friends in the medical field, and hearing what they are saying, it leads me to believe that this is not going to end until mid June to beginning of July. What they are saying by "end", means that you will see a protocol that looks something like this. June allow for individuals to start socializing within family (i.e. grandparents, parents that you didn't quarantine with). That would last a couple weeks, then onto the next phase where small business would be able to start opening with a limit to individuals being allowed in and allowing for small groups of 20-25 at a social gathering. This would simply increase lets say every couple weeks to a month but according to them you wont see groups of 100 or more being allowed to congregate until a vaccine is implemented into the public. So in regards to hockey and tryouts, it leads to some very interesting outcomes. I can foresee tryouts not taking place until end of August into September. How they will handle keeping the number small enough in a rink to host tryouts to be allowed, I have no idea. Now I'm not, nor are they part of the team of decision makers in this country but what they say seems like a very good possibility. On top of that are they going to open up the rinks for tryouts without giving these kids the opportunities to skate, not get some stick time, and just throw them in? My projection is that tryout season is going to be absolutely crazy over a very short time frame of about 3 weeks.

Oh yea....watch Live Barn, One dad will probably not be seeing his kid play the rest of the year.

If your going to invest in anything it needs to be skating. I agree with twoboys, 1 or 2 lessons isnt going to mean much. It has to be on a regular basis to really get anything out of them, and your kid has to have a good relationship with the instructor. My sons coach is tough on him but also picks him up when he struggles. He's been going to her for over 2 years. His decision, not mine. Thats a lot of golf and Stella if it was my decision. If you go to any AA or AAA tryout, skating and understanding the game is key. Also make sure you get a skating coach with hockey experience, whether it be from playing or working with hockey players, there are some sketchy ones out there so be careful. But the key is understanding the skating coaches want a relationship, they dont want the kid that is going to only come 1 or 2 times a month for 6 months and then nothing for the next 6 months. Sure they will take your money but your child will gain very little. Just make sure they want to do it.

Who are the AA organizations playing independant schedules this year?