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GrumpyOldPucker

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Everything posted by GrumpyOldPucker

  1. Half ice is only good for close area and skills drills, and working on O\D zone specific position\plays\schemes You cannot teach a 200 foot game in 100 feet..... No way to learn a breakout with an explosive acceleration out of the D zone and full speed transition through the neutral all the way to the net second nature.
  2. They could have presented evidence and PIHL said "Nope.... not good enough".... That's why I asked if the PIHL prez can make a unilateral executive decision contrary to (or circumventing) established rules? Might come down to how the PIHL rules are written. Could we see a re-write for clarification over the summer?
  3. SO lets spitball here: What if Montour has some written documentation from the former president in which (he) says the goalie is good to go.... Is his word law even if the proper PIHL procedures are not followed and paperwork filed? Can the president unilaterally over rule established rules and procedures? Montour files paperwork based on the "Ok: the got from the former prez (believing that there is no issue and no need to mark the transfer student check box). PAHL rubber stamps paperwork at the start of the season as they have no (check mark) to alert them to look deeper. Mistake is found (reported to them?) just in time for playoff roster audits....... Judge Wapner and Judge Judy what sayeth ye?
  4. Three - U19 Steel City Select girls But they never give the girls any credit or publicity if they aren't PPE.
  5. I have said many times that, for an unbiased tryout, they should provide shells & socks and require black or white helmets with no team logos for these "tryouts". When I coached and evaluated tryouts players asked me what they could do to "get noticed". I told players going to tryouts to get some bright colored socks that would stand out then do your best because the eye is drawn to what stands out. If they were doing good things the evaluator would more frequently\easily notice the kid in the "bright socks" - but it works both ways and definitely works against you if you shit the bed. I have also seen quite a few times where "lemon heads" were picked over players that IMHO clearly out performed them.
  6. I believe that most of PAHL is contracted with PIHO. They would need to not renew and then hire a scheduler that is familiar with the pool of officials and be respected (by the officials) enough for them to be willing to skate for them. I guarantee that the officials will not skate for less money with the amount of cash flying around hockey these days. And I guarantee that the "better officials" will have their pick what games and what orgs they skate - more so than now- so if you think you have crappy officials now, just wait. BTW - just in case you were wondering about why you keep seeing the same zebras, or maybe you think you only get the zebras that need more seasoning, there may be a reason..... There are orgs and just specific teams that many officials refuse to skate for (maybe it's the players, maybe the coaches, maybe the parents, maybe the pay rate.... everyone has their own reasons)..... part of the availability we used to fill out included the ability to blacklist rinks and teams. Your team or org might be one that they hold their nose and get the check up front. No matter how you cut it, it's a losing situation..... At least WPHOA was non-profit and actually did develop some good officials.... not saying that there were not a few under developed officials and a few lost causes that were only interested in the money..... Maybe the big bad bear will try to monopolize the scheduling of officials too..... I could see a real officials Union forming..... If that happens I'll bring the hot dogs and popcorn!
  7. When did it change from playing hockey because you love the game or your kid loves the game or you shared your love of the game with your kid to the dumpster fire we have now? In the mid 1990's we had ~130 or so HS varsity programs between West Penn, South Hills and Lake Shore HS leagues , one tier 1 org and PAHL teams were fairly competitive within their divisions. and to be totally fair: When did it go from officiating to give back to the game to skating for the money?
  8. Happy Hockey Fan, Unless you are a member of USAH district or national staff, or in a position of administration in a league, you have no right to expect to see such a list of evals any more than you have a right to see the nightly evaluations of NHL officials. AND NO, you do not pay the officials' game fees.... you pay money for your kid to play at xyz org and xyz org in turn pays money to play in abc league... It Is abc league that is responsible for providing officials for their league games and in turn pay for the officials so if anyone gets to see such a list it should be the folks responsible for running the league - not some pissed off self important parent. Just like eval lists, discipline of officials is not normally something made public. I know of two officials that received 1 year USAH suspensions and many other occasions where officials were removed from the schedule for a month or more. The leagues were notified of the actions but it wasn't posted on the interwebs to satisfy the need for a pound of flesh.... Does the HR department where you work send out a memo to all employees detailing infractions and disciplinary actions taken against employees?
  9. More and More I am happy that I am no longer involved in WPA hockey in any way and that it is unlikely that I will have any grandkids swirling around in the potential cesspool of the new system.
  10. USA Hockey will not PAY for evaluators. National staff tells the district staff that this is to be "funded at the grass roots level" which means the eval coordinator has to go find funding on their own. ANd there is the matter od who will evaluate.... We already acknowledge that we don't have enough officials to actually skate games so where do evaluators come from.... the active officials are gonna skate for the bigger bucks and the retired officials are so disillusioned with USA Hockey, and the attitudes of the parents, players, coaches, and YES the OFFICIALS THEMSELVES that we don't want any part of it anymore..... And generally speaking, the evaluators are supposed to maintain a low profile so they might be there and you never know it.
  11. Slight correction on PIHO .... Yes ,Zach is\was the director - or whatever title - I don't know exactly how it is set up (corp,LLC, etc) but Zach and IIRC at least one other local official founded PIHO and he basically "owns" it. Do your own research on this, don't take my word for it..... It was basically a hostile takeover of WPHOA. Same officials for more money with a minor increase to the officials pay rate.....
  12. Yup and before that, they played out of the Golden Hole as Eastern......
  13. Just to clarify the "badger confusion" a little, the Allegheny Badgers were created when the old Eastern org slip into two factions - AHA Badgers and IIRC Am Pens? Oh, and speaking of AHA Badgers, when Center Ice Area was bought by Black Bear I was told that one of the first things they did was pull 30 years of AHA's PAHL banners down and toss them in the dumpster......
  14. Has someone PM an addition to the ladies list: Mira Rolin, Concordia Ann Arbor (scored first 2 goals in program history) Lexi Hooper, Northwood
  15. The more I think about players that I've crossed paths with the more I find to add: Verne Shaver - Michigan mid 1970's Cole Bradley - Lebanon Valley Frank Crimboli - SUNY Fredonia Art McQuillen - Ohio State
  16. OK, Girls list.....Good mix of D1 and D3..... Apologies to anyone I left out as I know that I probably missed a bunch. With a couple exceptions, this list is from about 2012 to present and I included Cleveland/Eastern Ohio as part of our area. Katie Michaels Binnie - St Lawrence Brianne Mclaughlin - rmu/usa olympic team Ashley Vesci - rmu/professional with buffalo beauts Brianna Medved - SUNY Canton Eva Dorr - Harvard Chayla & Laila Edwards - Wisconsin Casey Frank - Trine Faith Anthony - Franklin Pierce Ellie Marcovsky - Princeton Hannah price - RPI Isabelle Hervert - Liberty Katie Wilbert - U-Mass Boston Sophia Belina - RIT Scout Spong - St Olaf Haley Steffy - Plattsburgh Annie Katonka - Plattsburgh Hannah Lindey - Oswego Brianna Walkom - Stonehill Julianna Kohman - Sacred Heart Bethany Kohman - Aurora Kaitlyn Schooley - rmu Lilly stumm - Plattsburgh Hannah humes - U of New England Maddie lane - Chatham Mara Carlisle - Chatham Dylan green - Wesleyan Laney potter - 2022 usah u18 commitment to wisconsin Cailey Kozich - U Mass Boston Kenzie Macdonald - Amherst Makenzie Jackson - Alvernia Sarah Uhall - Wilkes Robyn Caswell - Stevenson Tessa Deemer - Kings Olivia Cindrich - Lebanon Valley Meghan Swick - Stevenson Cassidy Heidcamp - Alvernia Serena Slusarczyck - rmu Makenzie king - Holy Cross Gina Granata - Adrian Hannah Brady - SUNY Canton
  17. Oh, on the righty\lefty thing..... the idea is to have the dominant\more dexterous hand on top for finer control. Having the dominant hand low will initially provide better control and a harder shot when the player is young and has a death grip in the stick, but becomes a detriment as it often leads to a terminal case of "stone hands".
  18. Well the locker rooms were downstairs something like 15 or 20 steps and it was like going down into a dungeon.... the referee "dressing area" was literally a 5'x6' closet built off the inside wall at one end of the rink. Lighting, boards, and ice sucked bad. Probably the only rink in the area that was worse was the old Golden Mile rink in monroeville.
  19. Air quality....... start off by purchasing a NEW battery powered ice resurfacer. IIRC, the Zamboni's have been am issue for as long as I can remember.
  20. People have moved their girls to Michigan to play Tier 1 because of her (kathy's) role\influence at PPE. Over the years I have heard a lot more people bad mouth kathy than praise her. It seemed like many of the PPE girls that were invited on pippy's summer tour wound up at selects academy. I feel it (Kathy, PPE Girls, Selects Academy, etc) deserves it own thread if those that were there and lived through it both positive and negative side would be willing to share their stories.
  21. @BeaverFalls - DO NOT LIST ANY ACHA, we are talking NCAA D1, D3 and any level of pro - Tom Mooney played 4 years at Notre Dame - Dave Tench played 1 game for Toledo ECHL - Jack Williams - Greensburg Salem, left the area in (i think) 10th grade to billet & play somewhere north of PA just don't remember where. Played 5 yrs OHL (Kitchener, North Bay) then 11 years bouncing from ECHL, CHL, WCHL, WPHL, IHL, UHL Josh Piro - Johnstown - Played NCAA Elmira, ECHL, UHL, SPHL, Germany GerObl I gotta think about the women's side a bit, I can probably list a dozen or so.... Several NCAA D1 and lots of NCAA D3 for sure, at least one female pro NWHL? and for sure one olympian.
  22. I do not think this is against forum rules as all player would be adults and it should be public knowledge. ************I don't want to bash any of the orgs, just a simple list of players.*************** Let's start list of local players that have gone on to play NCAA D1, D3, or any level of Professional hockey. List Male or Female just to be fair. If you know their path out of Western PA list that also. I suspect that if some of us old timers can jog out memories the results might be a bit interesting.
  23. Ya know what the real shame of it all is? There have been a lot of good, knowledgeable, dedicated people that have worked their asses off over the last 40 or so years to try to facilitate better opportunities for local talent. But, here we are nearly right back where we were in the 70's and 80's where you pretty much needed to find a way for your kid to play in Michigan, Massachusetts, or Canada (maybe Minnesota if they are really good and your family is from there) if you wanted a half of a sniff at JR's or NCAA D1.. just to try to get a fair shake at proving they are good enough. and even then the deck is stacked against you because you are just not part of the club. Now here's the real ironic thing.....Everything we bitch about daily just doesn't matter. For the most part, it has always been a "who you know, who you blow, or who you can buy off" prospect. The hockey world is a lot smaller than most really know. It's more like an exclusive Country Club and you gotta have the right pedigree, have enough money, or be useful to get past the front gate. Probably the only reason that kids from the hoi polloi families (as that radio personality Mr. Madden would call us) have any chance of success is that they DO have family resources that have been through the grinder. Who were chewed up and spit out, while having had their dreams shattered and eyes opened. We remember and learn from that experience. We know the game and can teach the game. We know and can teach the skills. We pass our knowledge and experience on to our kids, grand kids, nephews & nieces. And we do their best to try to guide them through the jungle.
  24. There really is no incentive for the best players to participate. Been said for a long time that the best players avoid it as they either don't want to risk injury or are flat out not permitted to play by their actual teams. It's been a few years since I skated the games, but I can tell you that back then the JR's (and sometimes midgets) would usually devolve into a fight fest and kids trying to injure each other. I truly hope this has changed, but you still have the elephant in the room in that the keystone games don't really serve any purpose other than a couple game tournament over the summer.
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