nemesis8679

2 hours ago, PUCKCOVID19 said:

I bet the parents are happy they don't have to fly half way across the country for this though....

 

I bet they're not. 

2 hours ago, Icebucket said:

I feel bad for the 18u teams. It's the last year of youth hockey for most of the players. They battled hard all year to earn a trip to beautiful Delmont, PA. 

I thought the same thing.

The bottom line is that hockey is the sport with the most variables during the course of a game. In any ONE game, between teams that are anywhere even close to skill, either team can win. Bouncing pucks, stunning goalie performances, how penalties are called or not called, kids being focused or not that particular day, momentum swings at opportune times (or not).... in one single game anything can happen. It happens all the time in hockey at every level. Ever wonder why professional gamblers mostly stick with basketball & football? Less variables.

I can't wait to hear more!

1 hour ago, hockeyisgreat said:

Maybe they should just all play for fun and not keep score!  But then why even have PAHL? Just let all the kids play pickup at their home rinks!  I just think if you are going to do something do it the best possible way.  There will always be parents who complain about something. That's life!  I admire the kids who play outside of PAHL and have their stats published!

"Doing it the best possible way" would be to keep track not just points and shutouts, for reasons I already explained. It would include hits, blocks, shots, turnovers, and take aways, etc. 

Maybe then we'd see players challenging themselves to play the whole game of hockey rather than cherry picking and trying to go coast to coast every time they get the puck?

The best possible way isn't keeping track of 3 or 4 statistics. 

Here's another thing with stats... Besides favoring goals and shutout, who benefits?
And assists aren't going to be accurate at all. 
I know kids that score a good amount of goals. Some of them do this by cherry picking constantly and giving up a lot of goals because of it. 
I know kids that have gotten shutouts because the team in front of them held the opponents to <15 shots in a game. 

So good for them.

I also know kids who don't necessarily score all the time but play the game very well, consistently work hard creating opportunities for their team, don't take lazy penalties, excellent at killing penalties, excel at taking away the middle of the ice, etc. Kind of like the baseball player that never hits the homerun yet is almost always on first base and doesn't make errors in the field. 

Those kids really don't benefit at all from stats on some website, other than their friends or some parent saying, "oh well so-and-so really doesn't score a lot."

54 minutes ago, Happy Hockey Fan said:

Went to a couple playoff games the other night. Two things I found strange, no admission fee, and no announcements during the game. No goals, assists, penalties announced. 

 

 

That's odd. Where? They like those admission fees.

Armstrong

Predators

 Badgers

North Pittsburgh

Indiana

Though I'm not convinced the refs of the Badgers games are actually biased, or just afraid of being assaulted by Badgers parents. 

10 hours ago, Rewster said:

There was a glitch in the reporting of the game scores this season for most of the year. You actually could click on the individual games and have access to the digital game sheets and summaries.

Nobody complained about it. It was actually pretty nice to see something other than just the final score of each game.

Once the league caught wind of their loophole of their statistical lockdown; they sewed it up for good. 

If there was any one person that complained about the score sheets being open to the public…well, it was the PAHL (obviously). Someone who monitors these boards and has the ability to remove the players’ individual competitiveness. The player statistics were obviously being tabulated and recorded. Why not be transparent about it? Hockey is a team game where keeping score is important. The Fair Play Points make a big difference down the stretch and sometimes it’s what makes teams more or less competitive depending on how aggressive they can be. The game sheets also show these penalties, minutes, and tabulations of the FPP. Without transparency, corruption has a haven.

Imagine if you could see the actual scoresheets. It would substantiate the rinks where the visiting teams routinely and blatantly get homered. 

47 minutes ago, Pucks11 said:

This is the problem with having score sheets, the parents have to ruin it once again. Goalie parents are the WORST by far and most of them don't know what a REAL shit on goal is and want everything thrown near their kid listed as a shot. They yell at the coaches, refs and score keepers if their kids don't get their assist or shots right. I know parents that have actually called and Emailed the teams, leagues and companies running a tournament because they keep their own stats and even send video clips of their kids not getting a 2nd assist or a shot went off their kid and someone else got the goal. Parents ruin everything in youth sports.

Uh, YEP.

33 minutes ago, hockeyisgreat said:

Wouldn't it be nice if the PAHL had a social media presence and actually did more to recognize the players in their league! You would have the best of both leagues here at home!

PAHL wants to charge the money and do the least work possible. Basically they run an organized in-house league that travels to play. I can see it getting to where they're being challenged with a competitor now and will probably end up rolling over and giving up as they continue to lose players and teams. 

However, I'll add that the AHF/THF groups on Facebook have an awful lot of complaining about "my kid faced 60 shots but the scoresheet only said 58", "they totally missed my kid's secondary assists 3 time this weekend", or any different incarnations of that you can think of. So I can see where PAHL doesn't want hounded week in and week out with those kind of complaints. 

24 minutes ago, hockeyisgreat said:

I am surprised that Black Bear hasn't tried to force all the teams that play in their rinks in SWPA to join the AHF.

All in due time. 

30 minutes ago, Spear and Magic Helmet said:

It's been years since I've been around ACHA hockey, but my experience matches yours. In the 90s, you were happy to get kids who at least played on a high school team. Believe it or not, playing high school hockey was a much lower bar than it is now. By the early 2010s, those same kids were getting cut.

And around the same time (1990s), I do remember ECHL games were nothing but fights. Were they called the Wheeling Thunderbirds at first?? Now it's a legit AA option and even some of the single A leagues are sort of legit these days. I think it started when NHL teams needed a place to put their goalie prospects and it kind of ballooned from there. I'm not sure that the money is a whole lot better for the average ECHLer, but they do offer housing and some other amenities now.

ECHL average pay is somewhere in the 700/week range. Minimum is like 500-something and up to around 1000. 

Very few if any players around here would have the ability to make a team. It might be a "lower" league but when it comes down to it those guys are closer to nhl players than the best players around here are to the ECHL.

3 hours ago, Beer League Elite said:

2 hours ago, Beer League Elite said:

Oh boy. What age group is he involved with?

So I'm hearing the manager and assistant manager (coach and assistant coach?) were kicked off the team after threatening to go to the authorities over money laundering.

Anybody know the details?

7 hours ago, sadday4hockey said:

The remnants of La Cosa Nostra leave a lot to be desired.

I don't think this dude would last too long with that crowd. 

Just like the old Motown hit...

🎶Smiling faces sometimes
Pretend to be your friend
Smiling faces show no traces
Of the evil that lurks within (can you dig it?)
Smiling faces, smiling faces, sometimes
They don't tell the truth
Smiling faces, smiling faces tell lies and I got proof
Oh, oh, yeah🎶

8 hours ago, Corsi said:

A coach can ask all kinds of questions, but that doesn't mean that he will always get a response or an explanation.  The game needs to be kept moving, so taking time to have a conversation every time a coach has a question or wants an explanation for a call is impossible to have.  The majority of questions coaches have are not of the "why did you make that call" sort of thing, they are of the "the other team just did the same thing a period and a half ago and didn't get called, so why are you calling us for it now" type of question.  That is a conversation where there's no good outcome for either the coach or the official.  No one is going to get an answer that they like in that situation.

I get what you mean. But the "why did you call it now when the same thing has been let go prior?" is also a legitimate question. 

Absolutely a coach has the right to question a call and the referee has an obligation to explain it. If the ref can't explain the call, then it shouldn't have been made. 

Some referees are great. They make fair calls, they communicate to players why they got a penalty or are about to get one, and they're great for the game.

Some referees are terrible and are excused because "people are mean" and nobody wants to do it. Ever work any job? Yeah, people can be a pain in the ass. Deal with it. Have I heard people yelling about calls? You bet. Have I heard people calling the refs names/swearing at them? Not really. Over over 8 years of many, many games I could count those times on one hand. And every one of them was thrown out. Except the time or two when they threw the wrong person out.

Maybe they should be paid more. I'm willing to share in the cost of that, if it means having competent refereeing. 

6 hours ago, Icebucket said:

I would have loved to see SCIR stand up to Alpha, but in the end they can't risk hurting the kids in the event they lost the fight.

What percentage of Alpha ice does SCIR purchase?  I'd have to think it's enough to have given them a case to stand their ground.

You would think so. But I think the location plays into it. If SCIR was able to get ice elsewhere, it would be difficult to get that much anywhere else. A lot of those kids would just as soon play with a Vipers jersey or whatever because of the location and famiarity with the rink. If SCIR decided not to merge, Vengeance could just use another organization or say OK SCIR you're out. Then announce they're adding all these Vengeance teams anyway. Enough people would probably have stayed rather than drive further for less ice, in the event SCIR could find any. With black bear taking over the number of rinks available to sell to an independent org arent very many. And rinks like frozen pond really don't have any to offer. 

I know black bear has been after alpha to sell, as as of yet they haven't obviously. But I wonder if this is a setup to sell in the future... Here, buy they rink and all the teams in it. Ice is all sold and accounted for. 

Unlike say PIA, where they're struggling to field their own black bear teams, this would be a situation where a full org is built right in. 

I can't see any other reason to do this.

So, does this Dr. own the Vengeance and the rink? Or how does he have leverage to make the top ice-buyer join Vengeance or not get ice at all?

On 2/12/2024 at 7:15 PM, Beer League Elite said:

2 hours ago, Spear and Magic Helmet said:

Heard a rumor that there may have been a shakeup with the coaches too. Some disagreement between the owner and the coach. Anyone else hear anything?

Maybe the coach has a problem with scamming and frauding people? Just a guess.

I can't imagine the players want to play for that guy.