aaaahockey

If you decide to play in PAHL (my suggestion at that age) North Pittsburgh usually has pretty good AA teams

I'm not sure anyone at PPE makes that much. Don't forget many of them get good salaries 50k+ but also have alternate jobs (scouting, sales, recruiting, etc) that double+ those salaries.

In case anyone missed it:

I don't want to over dramatize this because I haven't seen every team or every kid but from what I have seen at the squirt and peewee levels (changes as they get older) these teams do struggle to play a team game. There is a lot of puck hogging, selfish play, skating down the boards with heads down, over decking, and it works well against medium to high talent and they lose against the elite talent (which is why despite being ranked in the top 10 they feel a need to bring in outside help as the kids age). That being said the kids are very skilled so it does work sometimes. A lot of this may be driven by the fact that ever kid feels they need to be the best in order not to be cut next year and kids measure best by how many goals they score not how many times they attempt passes or play defense.

Lebo went back to AA PAHL or did they stay independent? That's big news to me.

Somebody made the GOP really grumpy.

Not if you were required to play geographically as suggested above. Then everyone would either have to play there or quit playing hockey. That's not a good choice.

The problem with only being able to play at a geographic rink closest to you is: What happens when some programs put effort into finding good coaches or more ice/practice or scheduling? You are just stuck with whatever crappy coach the organization throws out there? Some organizations are run atrociously and unprofessionally as well. I, for one, am happy to have choices where my kids play.

Agreed and frankly with Esmark starting the money grab with 08-12 birth year teams this year they aren't far behind all these other faux teams. It's a shame Pens aren't willing to actually try to grow the sport locally rather than poach the best rich kids

I think at squirt it isn't a big deal because everyone makes it if I were coaching and I was looking at standings for playoffs I wouldn't take someone who was missing 25% of our games. And I'm coming from a perspective of them being average to top players. If you are just rounding out rosters whatever.

I know a lot of times the girls miss multiple games every year. I guess it's a coach decision as to who you take but it would bother me if Iost one of my players half the games to another team.

I might be missing context on this but often the girls are on the first team. Ive seen that at Southpointe, Lebo, SHAHA (the girls above were on peewee 1) and Mon Valley to name a few

Yes this is definitely allowed.

Without getting too specific (I know one of the rules here is to not identify specific players), I think it would depend on if she is coed or girls only PPE (I don't think the coed team members can double roster on a pahl coed team) and whether it is a coed or girls PAHL team.

I think it would be a good idea to pair external evaluations with the coaches making the final call especially with teams who have been together for years. Tryouts are only one piece of picking a good team.

Revisiting this topic, are there still arenas without livebarn? Maybe Covid did something???

Agreed it was tongue in cheek. I'm assuming 15 or 16 is the cream of the crop

I didn't think any mattered at u18 - don't you commit as an elite mite these days?

Also.. .. .... Wait for it... ... . Registration / Try-Out Process: AAA Teams will be formed by invite only with no formal try-out process. Invitations will be sent by Pittsburgh Ice Kings on behalf of the coach’s request that will include a registration and payment link. Players who may not know the head coach, but interested in AAA consideration should fill out the following application. AAA Player Application Click Here

Spring Esmark teams?

I don't know if this is just another version of Esmark but you forgot the "Ice Kings" 08 and 09 AAA teams ?. https://pittsburghicearena.com/ice-kings/

I think there are 4-5 at the 08 and 09 levels as well. And that doesn't include pens black (gone at that age now?)

Every AAA program any of my kids were a part of I was paying enough money that you better be straight I trusted my coach. If not, I can find a million AA or A or B coaches that I can pay much less and find a million other opinions.

100% this - if you are paying for a AAA program and trust the coach (which I sure as hell hope you would) why isn't he at a minimum pointing you in the right direction?

Depends on the age and skill as well as the individual kid. I've seen A major players step into games with AAA players and look just as good and I've seen AAA players play A Major the next year and look average. I know Pens and Vengeance seem to use their own normal drills for tryouts so kids coming back would likely have an advantage of knowing the drill just like kids who do their various tuneup programs. As they get older and the kids start coming from other states or countries it's just naturally going to be harder because that's an amazing talent pool to draw from.