muckerandgrinder

I’m not asking anyone to buy what I’m saying. I do agree that people are going to leave regardless of any changes now. PAHL needed to adapt a bit when the PAHL/hybrid/ independent teams started years back and they did nothing. Take a look at the CSDHL. That’s a model in how a league should operate. Their AA teams regularly compete against AAA teams and they are good games. Why? Because the league is run with an eye on adapting to change and they make it appealing for players/families to stay.

I was our org. rep for PAHL when my ‘03 was in PW. On the outside it looks like your breakdown on how the league operates. On the inside it’s completely different and changes are met with strong “suggestions” to leave things as is. Basically you will be told that anything that requires any sweat equity outside of the current level will be shut down. The board has their cronies at various organizations and they will have their backing when they need to either push an agenda or shut something down. My main suggestions were a) a gradual transition period for the oldest mite group to eventually play a minimum of 2 full ice games at the end of the year. b) Required transition to checking camp/clinics by each organization for all players moving from PW to bantam. Even just a 1 day clinic to learn how not only to check cleanly but how to take a check. Also to fortify what the purpose of checking is in the game. That was almost 10 years ago. Glad they added that FPP though. Discipline and controls for discipline are what matters most to the powers that be.

For every team/player that has left PAHL there is a team/player that has left as a result of their dislike for the PAHL model. Honestly, I don’t think there would be any “faux” AAA teams if there was another league or AA option in the area at 14-18U that had a focus on adapting to change and growing the game.

SMH. I remember when you had to earn AA in PAHL. So much hatred for the so-called “faux” AAA teams out there. I’ve said it all along.. a small percentage of the parents on the non-PPE teams still chase the NHL dream, a large portion simply move on out of disgust for PAHL. Not the talent level but how he league is operated. The people running the league are dinosaurs with nothing better to do with their time since their kids aged out 15 years ago. No vested interest. No desire to make positive changes. Zero constructive thinking beyond the obvious until it comes to their favorite.. doling out disciplinary actions. Placements are a joke as well..I’m placing my bets on any team from Cambria, Westmoreland, Wheeling etc. to win any division. Tank the placements and cruise through the regular season while they run the wheels off of their top 2 players who shouldn’t be playing A major whatever because the organization “doesn’t have the talent to support a AA team”. PAHL is a joke and a bigger problem to local hockey than anything else.

For accountability, I see this two ways. First off, half (or more) of the people who run PIHL are well beyond their glory days and too far disconnected from their kids (or their own) playing days. The refusal to be proactive and implement preventative measures is a direct indication of this. ANYBODY can be reactive and throw out the rule book after an infraction etc. Staying ahead of the game requires an actual buy in and a modicum of passion for the organization you work for. It all starts at the beginning of the year. Division placement/alignment is a disgrace. But that’s a whole other topic. My solution? Give team managers a small stipend or league wide discount on tuition of $500 and make it 100% clear to all coaching staffs that they are responsible for valid rosters. Generally, the managers do a thankless job because they genuinely care. But give them a small perk and elevate their authority a bit. Too many are treated like grunts by their coaches and cave in to shady roster moves etc… Not a perfect solution and open to interpretation for sure.

To my point exactly. And the older kids definitely need full ice but not all of the time. How people can expect 75% of practices to be full ice baffles me. Then again, during the season most full ice practices offered are usually at 7-8 a.m. or 8-9 p.m. Per my experiences, the parents salivating over full ice are the same ones who complain about it being too early or hitting in the way of their Saturday evening plans. And as previously stated, the way things are around here anymore, if a team had 30 full ice slots their coaches and managers would use 25 of them for games instead of practice. Then everyone would be butt hurt about only having 5 full ice slots. Lol Thus is life in youth hockey.

Depends on who you talk to I guess. Always had 2-3 per week when my son played there. As a matter of fact we left hornets for that specific reason. Got sick of having 7 a.m. practices on the mini rink at at Mt. Lebanon. I did ask around with people I know with kids there and generally people seem happy with their ice time. 2-3 practices per week August through end of Sept. and minimum 2 per week during the season. Buddy with a kid on the bottom squirt team said the only weeks they had less practice were weeks that tournaments were at the rink. Also said AAA teams get more consistent ice but they pay for it. SHAHA people do seem generally happy with their practice slots as well. Having less going on at Spencer seems to benefit the existing teams. Hope the Y doesn’t close that rink as they have been saying for years. I don’t get the infatuation with full ice practices either. If you have a good coach they can utilize the 1/2 sheets and tie it together when they have full ice. And don’t forget the “game mania” going on with PAHL. People want to complain about not getting full Ice slots but every time they do they feel compelled to invite a team for a scrimmage, thus losing a practice on a full sheet.

I know SHAHA never had issues with ice time when it was two sheets. Now that they are down to one, some of their teams do utilize Rostraver a bit. As far as Lebo goes, I know some people that have regularly scheduled early weekday practices at RMU. Not really buying into an ice crunch at Preds though. Wasn’t even close to being an issue when my son played there at PW and bantam (it definitely was when he was at Hornets). I know a fair amount of people with kids on all of the teams listed above and ice touches have never an issue at Preds. Numbers would seem to back it up. All four have mites, host HS teams and have adult league as well. Rebellion (1 sheet) 17 teams SHAHA (1 sheet) 20 teams Predators (2 sheets) 18 teams Hornets (1 sheet) 19 teams

PIHL, PAHL, MidAm etc…. any entity where you have a bunch of people in charge that have kids who aged out 10-15 years ago is a recipe for disaster. Straight up vanilla thinking and zero thought of adapting to change (unless it’s discipline of course… they love that aspect of it). The antiquated website for MidAm speaks volumes.

Makes sense but I’m going to play devils advocate here… Biggest complaint I hear out of the Rebellion people is the amount of games that they play and kids getting burned out. Looked it up and some of the younger teams at PW and squirt are at 50+ (some pushing 60) games already. Add in scheduled games listed and playoffs you are looking at 65-70 games. That’s entirely too many for young kids. Not disputing anything but capping the amount of games your team plays at a reasonable amount is a true sign of a buy in for developing players. Games are fun. Development happens in practice. I’m not saying just the Rebellion either. Over scheduling games is an epidemic across the board and in my opinion more so than travel. Basically, travel gets in the way of parent developing their savings accounts. Playing a nearly NHL sized schedule can get in the way of developing your players at practice. PPE caps @ 55 games correct?

Updated per Instagram

I managed a few team along the way when my kid played and I’ll tell you this. There are coaches who don’t know or have selective hearing when it comes to roster rules. Trying to have guys in the lineup that were serving a one game suspension and adding players from other teams for tournaments without submitting an approved tourney roster were hand in hand my biggest battles. I knew the rules and put my foot down every time. Why, because while there is a good chance you may get away with it (outside of PAHL), there’s the chance that someone calls you out and you risk jeopardizing the whole season. Totally unfair to the team to have leadership that either does not know the rules or ignores the rules. Exhibit A1 right here.

To echo someone’s sentiments before, Danner can be abrasive but ultimately brings more value than a guy who probably a)“talked to a guy” and learned about this board b)joined said board two days ago c) creeped a members profile and after reading his posts d) put some serious F. Lee Bailey work into piecing together Danner’s posting schedule/habits and e)called a bunch of people losers on his 3rd post. Now. THAT’S comical. Honestly… we need THE KING to come back for just this thread lol Sorry about the multiple posts folks, just had knee surgery and I’m laid up and slightly medicated with nothing better to do today.

Oh, for the love of god. PLEASE step in. We can set up a gofundme for your campaign right here. How could we start it…. Hmmm… “Are you sick and tired of non alpha males in your high school hockey organization?!?! The brain dead, the spineless.. GASP! THE PUSSBALL WOMEN getting in the way? Well now is the time for action! Donate to AVONWORTHFAN FOR PIHL PRESIDENT!…”

Wait a minute now… if I’m doing my math correctly nobody around here really can do anything “professionally” until they are 18 which added to “over 40 years” makes you around 60 years old and still this engaged in HS hockey? First off, most 60 year olds I know think a “message board” is something to do with their voicemail. And really, at your age the only chicken dinner you should be winning at is the early bird senior special at Eat ‘n Park. Like others said, please clarify your resume Obi Wan Overqualified.