nemesis8679

Two changes I'd like to see (that will never happen) :

1) Institute the same rules many areas have, and separate PAHL teams by district. If you live in X township or boro, you play for X organization. 

I know situations come up that might necessitate a change. But put a limit on it / make it by approved waiver only, and require a good reason. 

2) Break up AAA into leagues, much like they break up the pro leagues in much of European hockey. Higher and lower. If you're in the bottom so many of a league above, you get moved to the league below. If you're in the top so many of a league below, you get moved to the league above. This would be adjusted every season. 

10 minutes ago, Saucey said:

A low 2007 BY and an exodus to AAA and there are 11 16u AA teams. 😄 Wow, the level of play got significantly better overnight around here.

How else would coaches be able get their friends' kids and/or the same kids they coach in school hockey on their AA team unless they increased the amount of players?

1 hour ago, By Stander said:

There are Mid Am and PAHL director/board positions open for nominations every year: the notices opening nominations are out there for anyone to see and volunteer for.   I've worked with many volunteer-based organizations over the years and have found that the ones that complain the loudest and longest rarely are willing to put in the time and effort needed to make a difference.

And I have found the longer someone is ingrained into a position, the less likely they are to be open to new ideas from others. 

51 minutes ago, dazedandconfused said:

There is a new commissioner that has implemented changes. There was also an election this year and only one position had anyone new running. There's no doubt some new personnel would be helpful but where are they going to come from?

You can't force someone to run for a position.

Yeah and if someone new runs, they still face getting voted in. Unless one of the dinosaurs leave, it's not going to happen. So nobody even tries. 

18 minutes ago, Icebucket said:

This doesn't surprise me at all. A couple friends who have kids who play HS there said Alpha did the same thing last year.  If they didn't buy their team supplies and equipment from house o hockey, Alpha wouldn't sell them ice.

Well, I mean, that's how the world works. 

But saying that, I'm pretty sure the uniforms for most of the teams go through KB? So are you saying they're singling out some teams and not others? And how would you enforce where they get supplies at? 

2 hours ago, stickboy said:

I’m surprised BB didn’t try to further corner the market with controlling the refs too, like this. 

On another note, if the ref scheduler for this group is the same as the ice scheduler at Alpha, look out!

BB probably just didn't think of/ or implement it yet. 

And wouldn't the ref scheduler probably be the ice scheduler? Only makes sense. Seems like everything gets scheduled smoothly. And I sure wouldn't want that job. 

5 hours ago, hockeyisgreat said:

Does the PIHL sponsor the St Margaret Tournament?

It seems so, they post about it on their website? But you'd think they'd want to be more inclusive. 

For a lot of the teams, losing seniors is a big deal. If three seniors were getting 80% of your goals and now they're gone, that's hard to make up for. Likewise with losing a senior goalie that maybe won your team a few games that you shouldn't have won. 

And from what I've seen, I wouldn't put a lot of stock in whether some teams have "x" amount of AAA kids. I've seen teams where those players weren't even the best kids on the team. And if you didn't know the kid and it wasn't pointed out by somebody, you'd never know they were on a AAA team. There's exceptions, of course. 

1 hour ago, fafa fohi said:

How do these / if at all conflict with club hockey?  Are games during the week?  I noticed St. Margs did not conflict this year and games were on weekdays.

This does not address the current system where teams are on waiting lists but the same teams get boat raced every year.

If they had any kind of rankings or a reasonable way of doing the groupings for the tournament, that would help. The way it is now you have games that are equivalent to having the Wheeling Nailers play against the Carolina Hurricanes. And 3-4 games like that. 

28 minutes ago, Saucey said:

I didn't know that. What schools do you know of that are on this wait list?

All of the schools that are not playing in it. 

Is there a schedule for Monday's games? Or who is still left to play? 

4 hours ago, Ogie Ogilthorpe said:

Crazy to see how far this Canon McMillan team appears to have fallen.  Armstrong performance seems way below expectations as well.

Sometimes it's hard to say. It seems like there'd be a better way to pick divisions than however they do it now.  If you have a team with a lot of graduating seniors, or a team with 2-3 seniors that score 80% of the goals and then they're gone the next year, that's going to hurt. I don't know if either of those scenarios are in play with that team, but I'd assume that's the case. There's probably some teams that'll have a long season because of that. 

4 hours ago, Happy Hockey Fan said:

Shaler is a big surprise to me. If these games are any indication Shaler may run through single A.

I don't think it's a huge surprise, though "may run through" might be too strong of a phrase. Last year they made I think to the 2nd round of playoffs with what I understand was a roster of mostly 9th and 10th graders and a first-year coach. They added some good players and a good coach, and the younger players are now a year older than last year. I watched the game against Baldwin on livebarn because I was surprised at the score. It looks like they have a pretty solid lineup. 

2 hours ago, aaaahockey said:

Canon Mac lost, central Catholic beat lebo, shaler beat Baldwin 5-0.  That's all I saw. I think I heard Seneca went undefeated. 

Thank you

Any results from tonight? 

Pens are also pulling from a much wider area. 

3 hours ago, aaaahockey said:

Baldwin edged out Central Catholic tonight.  Kind of shocked me. 

Other games? 

4 hours ago, stickboy said:

Your first statement is too broad.  While I doubt that there are “many” AA players that advance as you say, maybe there are some. But don’t be misleading!  There is closer to zero than many of them that are making a top tier hockey prep school, a Tier 1 junior team, and D1 college team.  The players you are talking about may go on to the pop-up hockey academies, Tier 3 juniors, “and/or” ACHA M3 college hockey. That’s about the only level of college hockey you can play without playing AAA and juniors. Nothing wrong with that, but there is a big difference and shouldn’t be lumped together.

You sound like the Facebook parent telling your ignorant friends that your kid made a major university’s college hockey team, when in reality it is ACHA D3 pay to play. I see those posts going around. 

And there is not a lot of AAA level players in western PA playing AA. Not legitimate AAA level

 

 

I would add that ACHA, while it might not be something to brag about, isn't something to be ashamed of either. 

1 hour ago, fafa fohi said:

Seems someone has not spent much time on Elite Prospects nor have a clear understanding of AA hockey.   Could it be that your kid was the recipient of a bought extra A for flex purposes and bragging rights?

AA is not “minor” hockey,” especially U16 on up with the top tier teams as many kids go from AA to playing prep, juniors and / or college hockey.  Not all parents want to subject themselves to the cost, time, travel, headaches and expense that AAA offers.  If you had a clue you would know there are many AAA level players in western PA playing AA hockey for those same reasons.

As for those useless hobbies of yours, I can’t help you there.  Maybe you should make better choices in the future.

I bet there's more A players than AAA players playing AA, around here. 

And are we talking going to pay-to-play juniors, or real juniors? How many? 

20 hours ago, fafa fohi said:

Other Tier 2 AA leagues throughout the country log stats within their own network, but many also do the same on Elite Prospects which has become the go-to for stat freaks. 

Stat freaks for minor hockey teams? 

And I thought I had some useless hobbies. 

Alpha rink is fine. It's nicer than any other rink in the area, besides Shadyside, RMU, or Cranberry. 

How's the officiating for the tournament been? 

14 hours ago, Stinger17 said:

Some random thoughts from a consumer’s standpoint:

The AHF(Big Bear) should be a wake up call for PAHL as a “service provider” and it’s member organizations.

The AHF provides stats. PAHL does not. They are generally hidden from public view and I’m not sure why. The AHF promotes their league, teams and players on social media and thru tournaments. PAHL does not. These things matter in todays hockey world. From getting a players name out there, to attracting better teams for competition and establishing league recognition on a national level. For the record I do understand that I’m talking about Tier 2. As an example most everyone knows about the CSDHL and the quality of the teams in that league year after year. Your team is going get a good game. Maybe PAHL starts to organize some showcase tournaments with other leagues??? Maybe PAHL does all star teams? Or “select” teams to compete in spring tournaments?…I think you can find most of that on the AHF page.

So much is said about growing the sport in this area. Well, PAHL and its member organizations have been running things around here for decades like a glorified traveling house league and that needs to change sooner than later. IMO the league hasn’t seen the writing on the wall but many member organizations have. The result is all of the independent teams that people on here complain about. Props to those organizations for trying to fill the expectations of what travel hockey should be.

I ask this question:

“Why are newer NHL city’s in non-traditional hockey markets developing and moving on more kids than Western PA which has had some form of pro hockey for almost 100 years?”

To my earlier point, we should be done “growing” the sport and established. High school hockey has been played here for over 50 years at some organizations. Based on a 4 year “generation” at that level we’ve had 12+ generations in that timespan. The foundation is there but the maturity is not.

Bottom line is PAHL has competition and competition is good for the consumer. PAHL can raise the bar and improve the product that they control or become a memory.

You make great points. My guess as to why PAHL is like it is, is because the dinosaurs that run it have been doing it forever and have continued to personally make enough money from it that they don't really care. Or they are a bunch of know-it-alls. Possibly all of that. 

27 minutes ago, Ihearthockey said:

No way 12 teams end up in 16u AA.  My guess is the following based on what I've heard of team makeup from other folks.

Allegheny, Lebo, NP, Steel City, Rebellion all get one team in.

Huskies, Indiana, Armstrong, Shaha, Preds...at least 2 of these teams will be on the outside looking in.

Maybe I'm way off base, it's just my opinion.  

I bet it stays. There would be a lot of sourpusses otherwise. If any of them do get moved down I wonder if they'll just drop their PAHL schedule and just play independent (would that even be allowed after they already signed up or paid?). 

If it does stay how it is, I think a few teams will be in for a long season and will reap the results of what they've sown. Would make more sense, I think, to at least have a minor and a major grouping. 

4 hours ago, PUCKCOVID19 said:

50 might be a far stretch. probably enough for 2-3 teams 

I think it's interesting how there's about twice as many "AA" players at 16u than there is Group 1? And more teams in AA than any other group. Doesn't it seem like that should be opposite? 😂

On 8/14/2023 at 4:32 PM, hockeyisgreat said:

Very interesting that there are no AA-A-B designations!  12 teams in 16U Group 1.  Are there really over 200 AA players at 16U in the PAHL?

No, probably 50 with 150 A Major players filling out the rest.