Corsi

Based off of last season's rosters, most of that State College team left and played either in Pittsburgh (SHAHA BY) or for Mustangs AA out of Altoona. I haven't heard where those kids are playing this season. You can have unexpected teams show up and compete at younger ages because if you have a good goalie or one or two really good players they can dominate. As the players get older and are able to mentally play more of a structured/team game the ability of one or two players to win a game on their own goes out the window. My guess is having younger BY teams at AA would help in developing that "structure" earlier for those kids. The problem, again, is what do smaller organizations do that might have one or two "AAA/AA" skilled players but then a huge drop in skill/talent? Going that route would essentially force the best players in small organizations to go to larger organizations so they can play with like skilled players or force those organizations to field "combined" teams at the AA BY levels as a way to keep the talent in-house instead of those kids going other places.

Going BY at 10U or 12U is a good idea if you are a larger organization with enough players at each year to field teams. Going BY would be bordering on the impossible for smaller organizations like Beaver County, Altoona, Indiana, State College, etc. There is also a misconception that being BY equals a higher level of play, it does not especially at 10U/12U where the skill/talent level between AA teams can be enormous, and that is not even considering the skill/talent level between the players on a given team. When the skill gap from team to team becomes too large, that is when you are going to see teams go independent at the younger ages. I have the feeling from talking to parents that the frustration is with teams being misplaced within a given division and games not being competitive. I think we can all agree that nobody wants to get up at 6AM on a Saturday/Sunday morning just to go to a rink and watch your players team either win or lose 7-0.

I happen to know parents with kids on each of the '09 teams mentioned here. SHAHA '09 actually beat the Preds '09 team last season. Nobody can really tell me a reason for the Preds going independent, other than just to say they are independent. SHAHA is planning on playing their PAHL schedule and then adding a full independent schedule of "high AA" and "AAA" teams to supplement the watered down PAHL level of play. Not sure what the parents of the Preds think about the decision to pull out of PAHL, I know the SHAHA parents seem to be really happy with how they are planning on structuring their season this year.

I know that some of the people that were giving private lessons in Delmont have been having a hard time getting access to the ice schedules. In the past the schedules were released at the start of each month, but now it seems like it is only a week or two at a time, which is making it more difficult to get students scheduled.

The AHF looks to be intended to being done in addition to an organization's "traditional" league. Honestly, looks like a way to ensure that the rinks sell every single ice slot. The closest thing I can think of is the EJEPL (https://www.ejepl.net), which operates up and down the coast and is a way for teams to play a "split season" schedule and not have to be scrambling to fill game slots. Ashburn, Montgomery, Tomorrow's Ice, and Team Philadelphia have all played in EJEPL in the past. The AHF has over 250 teams in the league providing high quality competition at every age group and level. AHF’s initial goal is to act as a supplemental Tier II league to rink owners who operate clubs in the DVHL, NJYHL and CBHL. The AHF provides high-quality, non-league games and showcases in the Mid-Atlantic uniquely catering to its member owned clubs. The key word there is "initial", if they buy enough rinks and attract enough teams/organizations I could see it replacing some of those leagues down the road, but not in the near future. It will be interesting to see how long it takes before Allegheny and South Pointe stop attending local tournaments and traveling to these other member rinks to complete in "showcases" as opposed to tournaments.

Parents have to be the driving force because I haven't met a kid yet that can foot the bill for hockey at any level, let alone at a "AA" or "AAA" level. I don't think we should look at this as just a "hockey" issue though, it is prevalent across all youth sports and I'm sure it also seeps into other activities in kids lives. If someone's son or daughter is a talented musician who wants to pursue that passion, I'm sure that those parent are more than willing to present them the chance to work with the instructors who are deemed to be the "best" or the "most accomplished". I would also be willing to bet that other parents have opinions on what instructors are worth it, the same way that people like to judge what organizations are "worth it". We need to just be happy when players find a fit that works best for the player and the family.

I think we are going back to a post that was made earlier that essentially asked "why is playing at a high level always equated with the kids not having fun?". I know from experience coaching and playing that the better kids almost always enjoy the higher level play more, while the lower level kids parents are the ones that make the assumption that they aren't having fun. In my opinion, the reason those parents have that perception is because either they, or their player are not willing to put in the work to be able to play at that higher level, so thus if they aren't willing/able to do it, then it can't possibly be fun. I've watched high level players throw away their 1st place medals from tournaments where they were misplaced and spent a weekend blowing teams out. Why did they do that, because those players have more fun losing a game 2-1 that was tight and competitive than they do winning a game 8-1 that they didn't need to work hard to win. I have always gotten the feeling that the lower level kids parents feel this way because they want to be able to say their player is a contributor or one of the best players on the team and have a hard time with the truth. I also feel that another part of it is not always having kids take the easiest route so that success is assured and allowing kids to fall and fail. The higher level players almost always have a better level of resilience and a better developed sense of how life will have detours and potholes on the way as opposed to being an open highway with no speed limit.

I've been an evaluator at a number of tryouts over the years. Believe me, it sucks when they are open to parents and you are getting calls from parents that you are friendly with because they "thought that Billy or Sally was better than Bobby or Kelley at tryouts, so why is he/she on the lower team". The best way I've seen tryouts run is when they there are evaluators present, but that the head coach has a say in the makeup of the final roster, not 100% based off of scores from 2-3 hours of drills and scrimmages. The reason tryouts are so early is because all the teams are competing for the same group of players. For example, in the South Hills area you have Mt. Lebanon, Predators, and SHAHA all within 15-25 minutes of each other. So once your "AAA" tryouts are over those teams are scrambling for any players that didn't make PPE, or Vengeance. It becomes a race for the players in each of the areas of western PA.

My son has worked with Marianne Watkins in small group sessions and clinics over the years. If you chose to work with her, she is pretty old school and will call out the students if they are not paying attention or screwing around. The player need to understand that, because I've heard of parents and players that have complained about this. My son likes that style of coaching and reacts well to it.

The other issue to look at beyond the "parent coaches" is how the organization implements ADM. There has to be some room for flexibility based on the skill level of the skaters. While it is fine to have all the players refine and practice the basic skills, if a player has moved well beyond the basic and needs more complex skills and drills to be challenged, then that flexibility should be built in, instead of simply rolling out the USA Hockey drills for "Week 5 - 10U", or whatever age level is being worked with. The other issue with ADM is how it builds the game awareness, it is great to have the players used to playing in tight spaces and being forced to make quick decisions, but if players are not being taught how to make themselves either options for the puck carrier or the correct way to defend the puck carrier then all you are going to see are 10 kids surrounding the puck and the players that do know what to do getting frustrated because the other players are not doing it the "right way".