nemesis8679

I have wondered all of that same stuff, but thought maybe I was just the dumb one. I could've written your whole post exactly verbatim.

This is what I was getting at. It's not just a problem in hockey, it's all school sports. Relying on a few and not improving all is the easy way out and works fine for a program short term but not long term.

Wonder why they lost it?

Actually, never mind. It doesn't matter. No use bickering about PIHL hockey, really.

What division is that "winningest coach" in? Probably the one with the biggest disparity in program size.

Who said "equal playing time"? Not me. I just said 2 lines for 85% of a fast and physical game isn't always the best idea. And whether it works or sometimes it doesn't, it's still a lazy way to coach. Anybody could do it and get the same results. Not so much the other way around. But I guess around here the coaching pool isn't what it is in some other areas.

Aviators are AAA now? 🤦

A team can call themselves whatever they want. Where are they in the rankings?

I wouldn't call playing 2 lines 85% of the time "good coaching". I would say the team that is not necessarily rolling lines but pacing all 4 and beats the team playing 2 lines is the team with the good coach.

I think I figured out who you are. Yuri's grandpap. Right?

Money grab. If a USHL team is interested in a player, you would know before getting an email invite. But, if a player wants to go for the experience or the training and you have the money, there's no harm in it. Personally, I would use the money for local private/small group coaching.

Greensburg Salem out coached just about everybody in the playoffs and that coach is gone, too. PIHL coaching is getting like the NHL.

I heard he was booted from his prior organization for not taking a certain kid or kids onto his team. Not sure if that's what happened but I've heard the same story from several unrelated persons.

Agreed 100%. There are plenty of kids that would benefit from in-house leagues. One practice per week, one game per week. 4 'seasons' per year, 8 or so games per. You can sign up for anything from 1 season to 4, like dek hockey. Depending what you want or what else is going on. Keeps the cost down. Keeps commitment down, but allows for an additional skating lesson each week if so chosen. There are so many kids and parents that just want to try out the game, or just have something fun to do, get some exercise or activity... and maybe do more serious hockey from there- or not, and continue to just play in-house in addition to baseball or whatever, don't have to extra money, whatever. A good portion of the kids will proceed to more from there. Some won't, they be happy with in-house just like adults are happy with rec league. But you'd get more people playing and less of the kids that are watering down PAHL just because if they want to casually play they have no other alternative.

Since this is one of the difficult things every year, how about a thread where boards can look to see what coaching candidates are available? Might be a silly idea but also might be a good way to find a coach that a team otherwise may not know how to contact? Perhaps lead to multiple offers where you can pick the best one. Of course no currently employed coach is going to inquire in a public forum but sometimes a coach leaves on their own terms, new head coaches bring in their own staff, or whatever. Maybe somebody is young and looking to get started. And if a board is looking for somebody to help out, they may not know what options are available. So if there's any potential coaches out there, post what level you're looking for and some kind of contact info if you'd like.

How about ridiculous travel with a young kid when you might have other kids with other interests and don't want to spend the money or drag the whole family along/leave half the family at home all weekend while you drive 4 hours to Buffalo to play some team equivalent to what you could play within an hour of your house.

Hopefully wait until one of the other teams with 7 skaters folds and convince them to join. Or vice versa. At least one team will fill. Some kids will be hung out to try, but hey, this is the price of high level 12u AA hockey. Or just wait for a few kids that didn't make a team they wanted and dangle the AA carrot at them.

When you have too many teams claiming that they're AA, then you have a lot of orgs not "taking the best players available" in some cases and keeping or bringing in kids in favor of friends and/or school teammates... yeah those other kids that could be making some of these teams based on skill and hard work are going to explore every option they can. Or they say screw the tryout circus altogether and stay on a team that they already have friends on or that's easy and convenient. So where you could have some really, really strong teams, instead these players are spread out piecemeal over an array of different teams. So you wind up with AA or A teams with one or a handful of talented, hardworking kids with a high compete level and then on the same team you have a noticeable drop when it comes to the floor of the team.

They get trapped? Robbed of a year of their hockey lives? How are they being tricked? The kids they'll be potentially playing with are on the ice at tryouts, too. That's kind of over-the-top. It's Tier 2 AA hockey, dude. Who cares? Get a grip. And, if not for nepotism, a lot of those kids wouldn't have to take spots on those other teams. I also have to say that declaring it unequivocally a AA NB team when it never has been prior is a dirt bag move. But if an org advertises a team as AA or A depending how it falls, that's fine.

What organizations are those?

Bingo. And hockey being a major priority than most people can imagine. Also working on the ice with guys currently playing in the highest level certainly doesn't hurt.

There is no such thing as open tryouts when the coach carries over year to year. Or at best, there's very, very few.

I heard some teams, not 12u, already folded. Is this true?

Knowing the most you can about what you're paying for and committing to is a fair ask.

He's right, and the family knows how to hype the kid.