nemesis8679

Obviously, they were doing something right in Meadville.

Fair play points is the stupidest thing in PAHL. And there's quite a few stupid things to choose from.

7 hours ago, hockeyisgreat said:

Hard to believe that was Puckcovid19!  Not his typical conversation!

Sounds like voice to text

6 hours ago, Wes said:

This would be surprising, given the state of the environment and that hockey is one of the most expensive sports...  but never underestimate the pens attempts to mess up youth hockey.

Surprising why? That's a bunch of people they can charge.

1 hour ago, Wes said:

The only org my son played on, and we felt the tryouts were fair and unbiased (for the most part LOL), was with Allegheny in the PRE-BlackBear days.  They would bring in outside evaluators and grade the players based on what they saw, not by how many years they played for Allegheny.

I know there's pros and cons to having outside evaluators, but I believe the pros far outweigh the cons. 

I wonder if any orgs still do it that way, and which ones? 

5 hours ago, sadday4hockey said:

Not sure I agree with this. They both definitely have the most participants but they also both do a lot of cattle-herding as they push the limits of too many players on the ice which can limit reps and stunt improvement.

Foxes in particular have really fallen off.

And if you want to get on a good team at North Pittsburgh, you better be on a team there from the beginning. 

At both orgs, it can be easy to get lost in the shuffle.

Hey, nothing to worry about. Yeah the season is rough but this is just the next step on the ladder to NCAA D1 or Major Junior. 

Hockey is without a doubt the most convoluted, backwards sport there is as far as structuring teams and leagues that make sense. 

Keep allowing orgs to call teams whatever they want, and this is what happens. 

1 hour ago, Danner27 said:

One of my boy’s was sent this 

Hopefully it was a firecracker or a car backfiring and everyone is safe. No way I'd send my kids there. 

1 hour ago, Rebel Panther said:

I have heard rumors that a new ice rink has been permitted just off of 576 near the airport.  Is there truth to this?

Nobody wants to drive out there. 

1 hour ago, Happy Hockey Fan said:

Who was the “big” signing?

Oh, nobody. He meant that in general. There's video of the signing (probably signing money over to the owner is what they signed lol) from the UPMC Center on their Facebook page. The owner looks like he's right out of central casting as a con man, cheap used-car salesman suit and all. I'm surprised he stopped short of blowing cigar smoke in the faces of the players while they signed their papers. 

4 hours ago, Jawzz20 said:

They now have 5 goalies, but are making Facebook posts needing more skaters. So now they are losing players. 

Somebody needs to close this team and it's owner down. 

1 hour ago, i am score said:

That’s all I came on here to say and Danner is already at my throat 😂 Again, I am no parent, I am a local (current) college player who has been following the River Monsters. I feel for the young players who just wanted to stay close to home and this is the option they chose for the time being, and they’re being attacked for it on here. I’ve been in that boat before too where I had to take one option because there wasn’t really much to choose from. It just makes me upset for them. This is who they’re stuck dealing with, a criminal.

I'm curious what oversight this actual "league" has in how owners handle the teams? 

No matter who is playing where, let's not lose the focus here.... 

Jaison Kelly is a con artist. 

He's taking advantage of people once again. Now he's exploiting "semi-pro" hockey players by making them pay him to play. That doesn't sound "semi-pro" to me. 

So the players throw in 25 bucks per practice? Is this every player doing this? Wow. 

22 hours ago, Danner27 said:

Basically, it’s how a garage band works -  Hawk 20 tickets to your friends so the promoter makes $200 - lets your band open on the bill locally while the touring band coming through is unloading their gear. Pay to play. 

Exactly. With a known conman at the helm. 

1 hour ago, Racchi’s Rug said:

A buddy of mine tried out on a lark. Career beer leaguer no higher than C and that’s pushing it. 50 or so years of age. Apparently you have to sell a bunch of sponsorships in order to get considered for the roster. To me, that’s a lot for the possible distinction of having a hockeydb entry at best. Also there’s another dude that made the team that never played youth hockey and just began in adult league at Ice Castle and has likely never delivered or received a check (hockey check). Not downplaying peoples’ dreams here but some shit doesn’t compute. If that’s what you want and it makes you happy, go for it. The team and maybe league will likely fold. This is a step down from the old MAHL. Several steps down and that’s not saying a lot. Makes Sticks and Stillettos look like Gary Bettman.

It didn't take long to figure out how this con works. At least for the Pittsburgh team. 

Get a roster of players to sell a bunch of sponsorships, and let them keep some money from "commissions" they receive from that and selling tickets. As long as the sponsorships and tickets minus commission are big or numerous enough to cover ice time, the owner is good. If the rink becomes a "sponsor", maybe get a break on ice time. Brady's Run being a community rink and not being the busiest place in the region would probably do that. That probably had more to do with the move from Printscape than anything else. I'm sure the ice is cheaper there straight off the bat. Probably a bank loan or two in there as well. If it works, fine. If not, keep the sponsorship money, claim bankruptcy, and fold the team. Without having to do much work or put out money yourself. 

4 hours ago, Wes said:

Are these the same two documents?? They look the same.

Well, that's the one for forging insurance papers. Not sure why it posted twice. I fixed it. 

Here's the one for scamming people at his car dealership. 

Neither one is something a good person would do, or something he did once that could've been an honest mistake or just a one-time bad choice. 

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:b1fb1bfe-7010-4ded-a587-80a040d4a1fc

From the Union Hockey League's website:

"The Union Hockey League is hybrid league, a mix between semi-professional hockey and senior hockey, with players being compensated for travel and other expenses via a ticket sales split but allowing them to retain their amateur status. Players can also make a substantial commission by selling season tickets and partnerships. "

So, I guess they earn their own money by hawking tickets, and if ticket sales aren't great, they're on their own with expenses? 

On 11/21/2023 at 4:52 PM, Icebucket said:

 

On 11/21/2023 at 4:52 PM, Icebucket said:

And that is where the issue comes in.  The guy who owns the team has a history of being very shady.  I can only assume the team will fold mid-season and he will have "lost" all the sponsors money.

Very shady? I'd go a step further and say a history of being a criminal. I'd find some other beer league to play in. I wouldn't give this guy a dime or trust him with anything. This isn't someone who simply made a bad decision or was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's a pattern of deceptive and fraudulent behavior. The guy's a conman. Of course since it's white collar money crimes, he'll continue to get slaps on the wrist and be able to keep up the next grift as fast as he can come up with them. If you want to have a laugh, find the video of the "contract signing" on the team's Facebook page. Dude is like straight out of central casting as a crooked used-car dealer. If I was those players, I'd be very apprehensive of signing anything knowing his prior history of forgery and not honoring them. Apparently since he can't sell insurance or cars in the state of PA anymore, he does "exotic animal" show & tells at nursing homes and birthday parties now. I wouldn't let this huckster get within 50 yards of a vulnerable old person. I pre-emptively feel bad for whoever is getting fleeced in this hockey venture. 

Here's a couple of his easily-found run-ins with the law. 

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:3361510b-442f-49bd-bdae-24affc29943e

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:b1fb1bfe-7010-4ded-a587-80a040d4a1fc

19 hours ago, PUCKCOVID19 said:

judging by all their social media pictures, looks like they had a successful first night in Pittsburgh( well beaver) 

No it doesn't. Looks like there's about 30 people there. 

15 hours ago, Loach said:

I don't know Gunty at all but his twitter feed makes him come off as a self-serving idiot. Seems like a pointless crusade over something that could be fine-tuned but works pretty well.

The guy is a hedge-fund bro. Of course he's a self-serving idiot. 🤷

9 hours ago, ANKLEBENDER said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-67419951

Interesting, even though Johnson's own teammates were supportive of Petgrave. 

23 hours ago, stickboy said:

To get back on topic here’s a recent post by MHR attempting to identify strength of leagues. THF with the most teams but at the bottom of ratings

 

THF has an insane amount of teams compared to most of them. Double or more than most. Some have 4 or 5 teams. I'm sure that could have an affect somehow. Or maybe not. I'm not a statistician. Just seems like all things aren't equal when there's that much disparity in a seemingly important category. 

1 hour ago, aaaahockey said:

Are they putting a lot of kids into high level D1?   Kids who grew up in Pittsburgh and were developed by them?  Serious question. I know the odd 1 or 2 studs and even then some of them left for greener grass. 

That's the crazy thing. They have a lot of kids starting at "elite" 8u or whatever. Not many, or any, left by 16u-18u most years. By 12u-14u, they arent developed as much as other players from elsewhere, and they start getting cut loose in favor of outsiders. The ones that have made it somewhere truly impressive had more development outside of Pens, and probably would've succeeded going further with or without the Pens Elite. 

But, regardless where they pull their older players from and probably because of it, they're the most legit AAA option in the area and it's really not even close. 

8 hours ago, stickboy said:

Not quite sure where you are going with the tender discussion but the only one that really means anything is from USHL. NAHL tenders don’t mean much.   

My point was it sounds like a big deal to a lot of people, while mostly not amounting to anything. 

But it looks good on the lcd tv's in the Cranberry lobby. 

5 hours ago, PUCKCOVID19 said:

at the ned of the day though, who truly moves the most players on around pgh. its easy PPE. 

Sure, but to where? It also looks better than it is because people don't understand what "tendered" means. 

But I agree they move more kids on to somewhere else than any other teams. They should, they're pulling from a much larger geographical pool than other teams.