Danner27

22 hours ago, ice is cold said:

We all know people don't own rinks because they are profit centers, they do it because they love the sport. I'd prefer the ice be the best it can be above and beyond anything else. Canada is full of literal barns and the kids are just happy to play and the parents are happy to be able to watch their kids play this wonderful sport. 

Off subject, and not directed to you or any individual...if everyone just took a step back from their keyboards and anger for one reason or another, and looked at their players, who most can care less about half (all) of what is bitched about on this board, everyone would smile, as who can't smile watching their kid do what they love?  And if you can't, it's time for some reflection. 

Tell that to King Ralph, he makes a killing. 

Excuse my knowledge of youth hockey these days - “meathead” -  same guy that ran the little gym years ago & tried to coach “junior hockey” ? 

9 hours ago, RJUSHL said:

Why do you say that nothing has changed over the years?

Your story happened a longggggg time ago. Not sure it's still relevant. You mention 3 PPE coaches as the only evaluators. That part has clearly changed. There were 7+ evaluators for 08s and 09s a few weekends ago. And so far no one has pointed out a single PPE coach that was there. There could've been one or two, I'm not sure. I know some of the PPE coaches in that bantam/midget age group, and none of them were there. I'm going to ask them how many PPE coaches (if any) were at tryouts a few weekends ago.

I think most of the people in this thread calling it a "sham" have been personally hurt by the process. It's not perfect, but from my experience over the past few years it's certainly a better process than many of the local Tier I and Tier II tryouts.

The negativity is just amazing. Everyone is a victim. Everyone has been screwed over by the system. I'm sure a lot of that has been passed down to the kids. What an exhausting outlook.

Lol I’m not playing the victim, both of my kids made it through Sylvannia when they were that age. 
 

I am simply giving an example on the history of this camp but it’s never really been secret who runs mid am. 

On 5/5/2023 at 11:34 AM, RJUSHL said:

Ok I think I'm right on the 7+ evaluators. I only know this because I've counted. Maybe it's not true across the board but it has been for me after multiple trips.

I'm sure "gold buckets" get the nod at a higher rate than most organizations, but that's because they are generally the best players. Just like I'm sure the Barons move through the process at a higher rate than Team Ohio kids. They just have better players.

For anyone crying foul on the whole process, throw out some specific ways it could be improved. What are your ideas?

Looking at the 08 and 09 list, I do see some AA kids from Pittsburgh that were selected over Esmark AAA and Preds AAA kids. There aren't many, but they are there. Isn't that the type of thing we want to see? Having evaluators actually look at performance and potential vs the number of letters? And looking at the PPE kids on the 08 and 09 list, they absolutely deserve it.

I'm sure the process isn't absolutely perfect, but I still think it's better than any Tier I or Tier II local tryout process. I really don't get all the hate, unless it's become personal for some reason.

UPDATE: My only suggestion is to get a few evaluators from Michigan. It's close by, and there's less of a chance those evaluators will be familiar with a kid or have coached a kid in the past.

 

I’ll tell you a story from some moons ago - there was a culver defenseman who was the star at the 15U camp (kids that just finished their 14U season). Every PPE kid was moved on, along with 90% of the PPE black kids (if memory is correct only two didn’t make it) this was the Morehouse birth year. This kid from culver was clearly the best player on the ice for this birth year. He ended up in the ushl when he turned 17, while MOST of these PPE players eventually got cut by PPE the following season or just finished out at ppe, didn’t make it anywhere.  There was a few that left PPE on their own and have had some great success. 
 

culver raised hell about this situation. 3 PPE heads were the ONLY evaluators for this birth year camp at Sylvania. If you’ve been around a little im sure you know who these 3 people were (one was a dad) 
 

Back then, At this age there was no national team camp tryout to make (is there now ?)  Kids were just moved onto a second “celebration camp” with the best players making it to “all star weekend” then it was over. 
 

I can’t be sure of the exact 100% detailed outcome (I truely can’t remember) but for the most part I THINK every PPE kid was cut within the first 2 days (most on day 1) I THINK none made it to allstar weekend (there has to be a record of this somewhere ?) word at the the time - usa hockey was pissed off about the culver kid & pissed off at mid am. They sent a message by cutting all these ppe kids on day 1. 
 

I really do wish I could remember all the details. Regadless, sounds like nothing has changed over the years. 

On 5/5/2023 at 6:55 AM, RJUSHL said:

There are usually 7+ evaluators over the course of the weekend. And the evaluators don't know the kids. It's a good process.

Lmao, unless something has changed. Yes, it been years since I followed the select camps. 

Cliff is a good skills guy, can’t speak on his team / game coaching. He was doing something some years back with the rink rats - he ran practices but only went to home games. In general he’s a good guy, wrong place at the wrong time -  ppe needed a scape goat imo. 

4 hours ago, fafa fohi said:

One of the better schools in the PA state system for academics and also an opportunity for your kid to play hockey is West Chester University.  The campus is beautiful, not too large and has a nice downtown area for the restaurants and bars.  It gets overlooked by those living in western PA but gets a heavy draw from kids in the tri-state area along with Philly.  It is pretty affordable too at around $25K all-in for tuition / room / board per year before academic scholarships.

I’ve heard good things in the past about West Chester. Very disappointed my Alma has turned to shit, IUP was such a great part of my young adult life. It’s very sad what has happened to the school & town. 

I was about to reccomened my alma to a friend’s kid out east. Talented player not bothering with the junior stuff. I ended up going down a rabbit hole when I ask my kids buddy tonight how things are at iup for him. He dead face looked at me and said I can’t wait to graduate in 2 weeks. that place is dangerous, my eduction declined rapidly over the years.
 

He stated - acedmic support is awful, the food gets people sick. Aramark has some contract, it’s bad. the school keeps cutting back on faculty, if you leave campus you are likely to get in a fight at the bars even if you are not drinking. fights daily on campus. rape on and off campus. He’s walked past a few used needles this year on campus, bags of weed laying around everywhere. racial tension is very high on campus. Some of the buildings are literally falling down. 

I was a bit thrown back. I assumed he was exaggerating. my day was 40 years ago, I understand things change - that was a nice area along with a good education back in the day. Before he left our place he told me to Google “iup student deaths” & “iup student deaths 2022” - So I did. Very sad. I then googled fights, crime etc - it doesn’t stop!  Homecoming this year had major arrests (fights, rape & drugs). this wpxi video from st patty’s day is nuts - that’s not dumb kids having a few getting into a fight at a frat house. This video is showing a border line riot happening, wpxi states the main video going around social media is much worse. 

https://www.wpxi.com/video/archive/arrests-mar-pre-st-patricks-day-party-iup/H45K4OCB3AH67QTHVRUUIYTUBM/

I know in this day and age you can find trouble at any college if you want to but not like this stuff.  I am not hearing or seeing anything to this consistent level at the other western pa colleges. 

I‘m a iup alumni - sure there was a good amount of partying back in my day - might see a fight in front of a bar or on the streets once a year. nothing like what I am finding out that’s been happening over the last 5 years. what changed ? I just looked up IUP’s current acedmic ranking - it’s as bad as this kid just told me. 

I darn near talked a close friend into taking a look at iup due to hockey, not even thinking about the school itself. 

58 minutes ago, Clee Torres said:

PPE team is picked at midget level ?. Yuri if he knows is told befor tryouts. The tryout is a formality. A couple 5 star recruit spots are held for parents that are on the fence with paying for excell. By midget you just kidding yourself if you do not believe every team AA included are not just trying to get other spots filled after cuts. By midgets the hockey teams are pretty clear on who & what they need. Let’s not act like some team is doing things some cutting edge way. This is how it’s done & makes total sense by midget year. 

Don’t believe I said there was anything “cutting edge” - just stated in years past yuri had a working relationship with PPE. He knew who the cuts would be etc. 

4 hours ago, Pa Hockey said:

New President who is in support and the other Administrators are gone. NEW Kids are starting the movement and gaining momentum and support with school.

Good to hear, best of luck to the students trying to organize! 

59 minutes ago, Pa Hockey said:

Love live SRU and may they make a comeback in 2025

Is it really possible ? Sure seemed like school didn’t want the club anymore long before they terminated it. Good luck to the folks trying to revive it! 

Imo - bad penalty for Cooley to take. It wasn’t offsetting wouldn’t have been the right call. Cooley was frustrated, he was getting beat around in the corners easy, most of the game. 
 

Cooley has great speed, talent - there were others kids his same age in that game (even on his team) that looked better. 

10 minutes ago, Pa Hockey said:

43 Points as a freshman and NHL Rights owned by Coyotes and played in World Juniors 20 U  ....Impressive ? 

Very, he went to ncca div 1 at the young age of 19. 

36 minutes ago, whatever said:

Looked at his Elite Prospect -  he also played in the NCDC for 19 games. 

Yes, then made his way to ushl as a 17 year old, eventually became the captain of Tri city. 

12 minutes ago, fafa fohi said:

This is great stuff and what a way to win a natty.  And Pecknold's wife is ??.  Two W's for him.

 

Agreed 

23 minutes ago, sadday4hockey said:

That was as a Sophomore and he was also playing High level AAA hockey.

Then he played for Tri city in the ushl. He left philly after 10th grade.   

9 hours ago, hockeyisgreat said:

How did Yuri attend closed tryouts?  Did the Pens let him?

Yep. There always has been a working relationship of sorts between them. Yuri always had the heads up who was getting cut at U15 when PPE would go down to one team from two. Obviously, things have changed a lot since those ppe black teams. Yuri was an evaulator one tryout that I recall. I also remember one year he was out front starting the recruiting process for esmark before the tryout was over. 

1 hour ago, Saucey said:

It's midget

Odd. In years past, yuri would always attend the PPE tryouts. Maybe black bear has something to do with the change. 

4 hours ago, aaaahockey said:

What year we talking about?

This. At midget esmark has always gone after ppe. If it’s midget, it’s out of the norm. 

I did say, yes there are their 3 players on the top acha teams if you read my post. 
 

if the poster above is accurate, 6 out of 30 Adrian players are from tier 3. 7 out of 30 liberty players are from tier 3. That’s not a lot. 

 

5 hours ago, Eddie Shore said:

Wow, great point.  Never thought of it that way.  Yes, Pitt and others have some Junior players but most freshmen are 18 year old AA/AAA players.

Think that comment should be re-phrased  by the poster. The local teams are getting kids from tier 3 juniors. The big acha programs are getting the middle level & bottom kids from tier 2 juniors across the states & Canada. Big difference. there is a decent skill difference between usa tier 3 and Canadain tier 3 favoring the Canadian leauges. 
 

Minot won M1 nationals, the team is mainly Canadians. Take a look where the 3rd leading scorer came from, one of the few Americans. 
https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/520111/jay-buchholz

there are M2 & M3 schools around the country that also have players like the above kid. 
 

yes, before some hockey crazy parent jumps down my throat - yes, even the top programs do have some tier 3 players. 

3 hours ago, hockeyisgreat said:

Danner, what do we know about Chatham?  Is it a good program?  I know they are D-3 and don't offer athletic scholarships, but is the level of competition good?  How would they stack up against Pitt, Duquesne or IUP?  Just curious! Also will RMU be back next year?  Haven't heard anything about them.  I see that Chatham plays their home games at Hunt Armory. Haven't been there yet.  Will it continue to be a thing for the winter months only?

I’ve only seen them play twice in the past 2 years. Last year ? They beat iup’s club team in OT 1-0 or 2-1. @Pa Hockey would know better about that game he was there. 
 

Personally I’m not a fan of ncaa d3. It’s mostly on par with the acha. “Ncaa” is used as a status recruiting tool to pay some very high tuition. 50% of these schools you wouldn’t send your kid to for an education to begin with. I’m sure there are a few that are pretty dang good, but I also have seen a few that couldn’t hang with our local acha programs. There is a kid on the pitt acha team that transferred from a ncca d3 school - he doesn’t play on the top half of the team if that tells you much. 
 

I personally know a kid who passed on multiple ncaa d3 schools to play for miami’s acha team. Cost of the school ended up much less. In his words “the hockey is much better & I don’t have to submit to all the ncaa rules” in general he really like Miami of Ohio’s degree program to top it off. 
 

yes rmu is back - lots of Canadian prospects from what I’ve seen. 

7 hours ago, Pa Hockey said:

Danner

IUP game was 3-0- after 2 and ISU scored 5 on backup goalie

            Pitt outshot Liberty as well

            Top ACHA Schools are at higher level and local schools are not top 10-15 caliber yet 

 

 

Could of, should of, would of. 
 

but I do agree with you, it was the point I made earlier in this thread. Our western pa acha clubs can not compete with those real top ranked teams. It’s not a slight, it’s a reality. Just look at the skating ability alone, it’s not close. 

ps - whomever was running the clock for that pitt game was lost, they were counting anything that looked like a shot including 3 that sailed over the net. 
 

Iup got blown out 9-1 in their first game, sent home. Same with Pitt with their top 12 ranking - 7-2 final. Liberty was up 7-1 in the second, liberty put their second goalie in, rested their top players.