twoboys

Exactly.

One thing is clear, Alex Thomas was correct choice for player of year. The other 5 are debatable. I think less weight needs to be given to assists. If you are at all familiar with high school hockey then I don't need to explain why.

Because the vast majority of kids and parents don't want this. It isn't about being on the best team. It is all about having continuity, the kid having fun and being on a reasonable team.

The early rounds had two ticket takers. One from each team. They were supposed to charge the PIHL playoff ticket price. And they had to stay for 10 minutes after the game started.

Wrong. Pens and Esmark are playing each other at 15, 16 and 18 this year. The games are in December.

At most organizations, the top teams are picked by the coach. They can say it is by a committee, but it really is up to the coach. And the coach always considers more things than just what the player did on the ice during the tryout. So, having a great tryout isn't enough because the coach definitely knows if the parents are crazy or if player isn't coachable. Most of the times the picks can be made quickly.

Yes there are quite a few coaches evaluating the kids. And if you coach an 08 team, for example, you aren't going to be allowed to evaluate 08 kids. As for 16 and up, they had to reign in the invites. Kids were there (at 08 and 09) that had no business being there. The automatic invite is if you went to the national camp.

With SHAHA, you need to take a step back and figure out why each team existed to begin with. Once you understand that it is easy to figure out why the teams fell apart. The 08 Vengeance is pretty much the same thing. Although, that team didn't fall apart it just isn't as good.

Pittsburgh has enough depth to have 3 AAA teams. Especially, if the Pens are stacked with out of town kids. Look at 16U last year with 3 top 40 teams. I bet 16U will again have 3 good teams this year.

Things have changed. Since the black team have been scaled back there isn't potential influx of kids at the 15O level like there was a few years ago. Also, since the new regime took over a few years ago there just aren't as many local kids on the Midget teams.

Since you are in the know, which team reported McCourt? The article said it wasn’t McCourt or Latrobe.

This isn’t easy to answer for any team. It all depends on how much they ask for on top of the fees. And teams within an organization can be different.

North has Alpha, the Frozen Pond Lemieux, Baeirl and Shadyside. That is 9 sheets. Also, there is also PIA and the Belmont if you consider them North.

Depends on who you believe. Some say it is easy to get the second sheet up and running. Other say it is tough due to the Zamboni.

They don’t need another AAA in the South. They already have SHAHA and the Preds. And Southpointe is an easy drive to Cramberry.

If you play PAHL, you get 10 home games and 10 away games. The away games are local. So, that is essentially what you gain by playing PAHL. The AAA teams each get there 10 home games but lose their 10 away local games.

This is the type of information that some parents would like to have. Why don't you name some advisors. A local one for many is better than an out of state one.

The Viper Stars has helped and hurt the organization. Just like the birth year teams at other organizations. And at the same time, non-birth year teams has hurt and helped North Pittsburgh. Basically some parents and kids want more ice and games (at a higher cost) and a birth year team, while others want a cheaper team, less of a time commitment, but still with the same quality of kids. Some times you can have it both ways, most of the times you can't . I do think if you want to play AA hockey you should be expected to pay more than a single A team. The problem is that if you have most of the kids that want to play AA hockey (pay more money) but you don't have the talent to field a full team.

Looking only at my one son's birth year, the kid who was best player entering squirts is still now the best player in midgets. Frankly, most of the kids who made the PPE gold team out of squirts are still very good players. Some are still at PPE, some at Esmark and some at Vengeance. It is really hard for an unathletic 9 year old to make the PPE Gold team. For the most part, it is the kids who were on the black team that have become PAHL players. I don't think you realize just how many of the younger AAA kids are actually doing the work. Maybe some AA kids don't do anything extra but most of the AAA kids are definitely doing something extra. Walk into any rink and you will be amazed how many AAA kids are doing lessons. Sometimes, a couple of times a week. If the younger kids drop to AA from AAA it usually isn't because they don't have a work ethic.

The Pens, Esmark and Vengeance do it differently. Esmark gives you a price and that is it. Vengeance gives you a lower price (at least at 08 and lower) but keeps asking for more money throughout the year. Pens gives you a price and then adds a team fee. Plus, excel and North Catholic? For midgets, my somewhat educated guess is all in for the Pens is probably close to 30. Esmark maybe 18? Vengeance is the wild card and would vary by the team. Remember this is "travel hockey" which is nothing like travel soccer or baseball. Hockey is expensive. It is the constant travel that adds up. Gas, hotels, tolls, food, etc. Even the better AA teams are expensive. The fees are less but if you are on a decent team, I am guessing you are out of town at least 4-5 tournaments plus a handful of day trips to play independent games. What really drives the price up is the length of the season. And cost goes up as the kids get older. Longer games, ice cuts and more refs.

Yeah but it is free. Isn't that the knock that many of you have with the Vengeance and other Tier 3 Junior teams? That they are a waste of money?

I don't think this is the answer. If they really want to keep the rankings from the parents, they should have different tiers. Have blocks of 20 and don't have a ratings for specific team in the 20. Maybe just an average rating for the group.

Pretty sure most of the time the size listed for a kid is an exaggeration. The other interesting thing is that another kid on SHAHA put up almost identical stats.

If the Icemen pull off two teams at 07, which is the rumor, I would think that the PAHL model proposed by some on here is broken.

I would think for the split season to work a lot of the high school teams would need to increase their ice time. Maybe go to 4-5 practices a week. Like all other high school sports.