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Corsi

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Everything posted by Corsi

  1. Lowering the amount officials are being paid would only make the ref shortage worse. I don't think you are going to find people to take time out of their day to do games, especially at the hours many of these games occur. For me to do a 7AM game, I need to be at the rink no later than 6:30 to get ready, and then we add in travel time, I'm probably getting up at 5:30 to do that 7AM game. The amount of money officials make is to give them an incentive to do the games. I would venture to say that by lowering what officials make, would lead to no coverage for games with start times before 9AM and as I stated before... If the officials don't show up, nobody gets to play.
  2. Nothing has been posted as of yet and according to some friends who officiate games, there has not been any dates/times sent to prospective referees yet to gauge availability.
  3. The reason we have a shortage of officials around the country is due to the post calling out the official by name. I have done games for 20+ years and the behavior of coaches, players, and fans has gotten progressively worse over that time period. Please DO NOT take this as me "calling out" everyone. There are some coaches and players who simply want an explanation and, agree or not, are respectful during the conversation. There are also players, and coaches that decide that they know the game better than everyone involved and thus refuse to have any kind of discussion and simply resort to shouting and swearing until the official has not choice but to impose a penalty for the behavior. That is on the coach and player, not on the official. Unfortunately, this behavior has led to the situation where you have no choice but to take whatever official you can get because no body else will do it. Also, this also isn't exclusive to just hockey, there's a shortage of officials across all sports because of the behavior exhibited by parents, coaches, and players. The simple answer to this is to say "if you think it is so easy, do it yourself", but the earlier post indicates to me that LGP13 probably wouldn't have the temperament to successfully cover a game. There is not a single official in any sport at any level that can say they have never made a mistake on a call or a rule interpretation and that is called being human. I would suggest being appreciative that these men and women are willing to get up at 6AM on a Saturday/Sunday morning so that little Stevie or Sally are able to play their 7AM 10U B game after working their "real job" all week or cover your adult league game at 11PM on a Wednesday night and then get up to go to said job. Always remember, if the officials don't show up, nobody plays.
  4. MidAm site shows boys at UPMC and girls in Columbus.
  5. Carter Hart Dillon Dube Alex Formenton Cal Foote Michael McLeod These are the players who have taken "leaves of absence" in the past few days. Foote and McLeod just took theirs this afternoon after the report that the 5 players were asked to report to face charges. Obviously, we don't know if this is why they are taking leaves, but like Mark Madden said yesterday after Dube and Hart took theirs, it is suspicious that they were all on that team and their were rumors that something was coming down soon.
  6. I just came across this thread, and messaged someone at SHAHA about the lack of 08s and 09s at MidAm's this year. Apparently the organization missed the deadline for nominations and the top 09 players never recieved the "invite email" from MidAm. The story I was told by someone involved in those teams was that at least on the 09 side there were multiple familes who were not happy and had they been nominated they would have participated. I'm speaking of the player referenced before as well as the teams 2nd leading scorer from the past season as well as their top defenseman.
  7. You are probably correct that the rink is not he investment for them, but having another local rink available to host AHF showcase weekends in the future is probably more of the idea.
  8. Has there been any word on BB moving toward a second ice sheet at Rostraver?
  9. That is partially true... Beaver County kept their teams out of Brady's Run, and were using the Airport Rink to buy ice as needed. At the time there were a bunch of high school programs in Beaver County (Beaver, Ambridge, Blackhawk, Center, Quigley, etc.) that were buying ice at Brady's Run in addition to running figure skating, and men's leagues out of one sheet of ice. If my memory is correct, while all of this was going on, a disgruntled Beaver County parent was working at the Airport Rink and started an organization out of there that they named the Badgers. At the time, the jerseys and logos were almost identical only with different the colors. I'm not a 100% sure if this the same organization that is now at Delmont, but I am sure there was another organization out of that rink called Badgers for a period of time.
  10. SHAHA did update their jerseys last year for the entire organization. The "AAA" teams all have their own jersey designs though, they include a 3rd black jersey that is modeled after the Stars 3rd jersey with the green on black look. They are really cool to look at, but according to some people I know in the organization, really, really difficult for the referees and the scorers to see jersey numbers (apparently the green just blends into the black). I'm pretty sure that the '09 "AAA" team is still wearing the same white and green jersey as the rest of the organization and just added the 3rd black jersey because they had all purchased the white and green setups a season ago, but I'm not 100% sure about that.
  11. Yes, Badgers have had pretty much the same branding since they played out of the old Airport Ice Arena across from Scally's. I'm pretty sure that SHAHA, and Preds have begun to go with different jerseys for their "AAA" BY teams, but I'm not 100% sure of that.
  12. This is probably correct, unless a player in the lower "AAA" or "AA" lights it up at the evaluation camps they hold over the Summer and performs better than the "AAA Elite" players that are also there. Keep in mind though, they hold evaluation camps all over the US, so even if a player looks really good during the one at UPMC, they are being compared to the kids at the camps in Minnesota and Michigan as well. The odds are pretty long.
  13. I know multiple players that have done it in the past. I've heard nothing but good things about it.
  14. I have said for years, that education should start at the "Learn to Play" level and continue through 8U and 10U. I was fortunate enough to grow up around the game, and understand how things work, so my son had a point of reference as far as those things worked. With some many organizations and chances for people to make money, there's more and more people who will just tell parents what they want to hear in order to get the player to commit to playing there and the parents commit to writing the check that goes with that commitment.
  15. With the way that the game is going now, if you are playing at a high level, you are going to be seen. Please know, by "seen" I mean, somebody is going to look at you as a player and say, "this kid can play" and if the player is an upgrade, they will get offers to play at a different program. If the player is extremely talented and skilled with a good work ethic, they will get opportunities to play at a higher level regardless of what team they are playing on. I would by lying if I said that it didn't help to play on a team like PPE who plays exclusively vs. "high ranked teams" in events that are scouted. Keep in mind, hockey is a small world, and within most "AAA" associations, coaches all have some connections, yes some might be better connected than others, but all have some connections.
  16. Yes, I feel like you would get the "best kids". I would think that most of those kids are already getting quality coaching/development and doing the lessons/skills stuff on some level. The difference is that the kids in the South Hills wouldn't be traveling all the way to Cranberry or New Ken anymore, assuming you could get Lebo, Preds, and SHAHA all to "play nice together". I feel like the consensus on this conversation has been that the South Hills has enough talent to support a "AAA" program which could be successful in that area if those organizations worked together to build it and there was ice available for each BY team.
  17. 100% true from what I've heard from parents both at Preds and SHAHA. According to some parents, their players have been asked to come to Esmark, but the parents wouldn't consider it because of the location of the rink. I feel like that makes perfect sense, why make that drive if the level of play, and development are all equal when you can do it and only have to drive 15-20 minutes if you are already in the South Hills. In a "perfect world", Preds and SHAHA would come together and form a South Hills based "AAA" program, which could compete with anyone in the area based off of how much talent is already present in that area of the city.
  18. The EJEPL has been using this for formula for while. I do find it interesting that when Black Bear started buying rinks and founded the AHF that those teams that left the EJEPL for AHF (Ashburn, etc) brought this formula for playoff seeding with them.
  19. My question is what age level is your son playing at? With the younger groups, AAA is worth the money but only if they are getting the necessary skills development and coaching. I very rarely was ever concerned about ice time until my son was at 15U and older. I would argue that up until they are 14 the focus should be on skill development and being a good teammate.
  20. Back to the BB/AHF discussion. Those teams will still be able to do their PAHL schedule, and just schedule around the AHF "Showcase Weekends", which will at least now take place locally. While it might cost more money in fees, it might not be a bad way for some of these teams to not have to travel to Buffalo/Detroit/Cleveland to get games with out of town teams. I'm going to assume that the savings in travel/hotels/food should be able to balance out the additional fees associated with the AHF. My only caveat with that would be that they need to do it like some of the tournaments currently do and when building the schedule, they work to keep teams from the same city from playing each other since there is a chance that they will see them during other parts of the year at some point.
  21. You must have never experienced the old Neville Ice Arena on the South Side. Legitimately, had fans and players pass out from the fumes there. There's a reason why it isn't there anymore.
  22. The issue I would have with some of this is what happens when a player from a smaller organization "outgrows" that organization? Should a "AA/AAA" level player be forced to stay and play at a lower level that is inappropriate for their skills, or should that player be allowed to "shop" for an organization/team that fits their needs better? I get the desire to keep the shopping to a minimum, but I really don't see how any of the ideas being thrown around would work due to the number of rinks we have in the area, as well as the wide gap we have in organization sizes.
  23. I agree... I coached for teams in the past where it was an expectation that the coach have a pre-season/mid-season/end-of-season meetings with each player just to let them know what was going on and where the coaches wanted them to focus as far as skills go. I have also had parents/players that asked for the feedback. If it wasn't outright solicited, I didn't volunteer it unless it was an instance where the player had to be sit down during a game because of something that had been addressed multiple times before, when that happened I felt obligated to let the player and parents know why it happened and what needs to change to keep it from happening again.
  24. Saucey, in past posts, I've brought up the importance of having coaches/evaluators that are honest with players and parents. I personally have always tried to do that when I was involved with coaching. What coaches and organizations run into now are parents only see their player through "rose colored glasses", so the minute you are critical of someone's play the parent and player get defensive and then they go "organization shopping" for a coach/organization that is going to simply "tell them what they want to hear" as a way to be sure they are going to bring in the fees/dues all parents pay. My son played AAA hockey at an older age, but the best coach he had was at AA when he was 12yrs old and told him what his strengths and weaknesses were and told him what he needed to do to play up at the "next level". I don't think it was easy for my son to hear, but it opened his eyes up and he worked, focusing on those areas that he was deficient in.
  25. Saucey, that is what most people think, but the "low level stuff" have some of the worst parent behavior. In my experience, it also has some of the most out control players, from a behavior standpoint as well. I've always chalked it up to the parents and players at "higher levels", tend to have more time and money invested in it and have normally been invested for a longer period of time so the expectations are usually different. I also feel like the "higher level" players often have a parent that has some level of playing experience, along with better coaching.
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