Carl Racki

Overqualified should change his name to uneducated. I can't imagine Baierl doesn't make money.

Baierl has come light years from where it was. I am extremely thankful that Jim turned it around and made it a great place to play. You must have an ax to grind or are a moron. I am guessing both.

Again, the biggest problem with PAHL is all the bogus AAA wanna be teams that left. If they could get all those teams back you would have an excellent AA league. Maybe if they did all the PR that the AHF did it would help but I highly doubt it. That league is not much better. Their best beat would be to label it as a new AAA and then they would MAYBE get all the faux AAA teams back and have a good league.

Rankings don't mean much until mid December in my opinion. By the end of December there usually isn't big changes but week 1 through then will have a lot of big changes. Just not enough data the first few weeks.

There are numerous as I have friends who tell me their school has been on the wait list. Not sure why they just don't make it bigger. I know, I know ice but if people want in and are willing to pay I can't believe they don't find a way. Wouldn't be that hard.

Keep drinking the Koolaide. Teams in the 70's have now where near the depth of teams in the top 10-20. They may have a line or 7-8 AAA players but not a fulll roster. Drink up my friend!

Butler has a new coach. He seems to be doing a good job as they have really struggled the last bunch of years even moving from AAA to AA. Hopefully he will bring them some success

This is my point exactly. Teams that could or should play in PAHL AA could have played similar or better competition at home and saved the travel/trip. The AHF league is a weak league and no better than PAHL. If our local AA teams are going out and dominating then why not just play each other. You will just waste a ton more money on hotels, meals, and food. They fancy it up with stats and a nice website. Maybe if someone at PAHL came in and made some good changes it would help the league. The THF is also a joke in my opinion. It is a very good AA league but you can't register AA and play in it or you would hurt people's feeling when your AA team beat their "AAA" team. I have said this though for years on here. Now you have the AHF and THF made by BB to monopolize yet more markets, force their leagues, and make more money. The higher costs are definitely not good for the game.

Yes, the AHF league is a glorified PAHL level league that you will travel very far to play in and spend lots of money on hotels. They will try to dress it up with stats and "neat" stuff to sell the kids and parents on it. It makes no sense to drive 5+ hours and play similar PAHL competition multiple times a year. Just my thoughts. And again, if all the wanna be AAA teams in the burgh that aren't in the top 50 just played PAHL, it would be a MUCH better league the the AHF league. Might not have as cool of a website or the stats but it would be a lot higher level of play. BB is laughing all the way to the bank at these teams they push into this league.

Said it from day one of Black Bear coming to Pittsburgh, it is bad news. I have been in some of their other rinks out east and they really let them go. They are not in it for a love of the game. They are in it to make money only. Very sad what they have done so far. Hopefully they prove me wrong.

I have said it many times on here for many years, If all the wanna be AAA teams (teams ranked higher than 50 let's say) would play PAHL AA it would be a great league. Sure the bottom one or two teams would struggle but how many times do you drive 5+ hours and smoke teams in a similar fashion? People that think BB's league is an answer are delusional. Look at the rankings, it is not much better. It is very much just current low level PAHL but with more travel. If the Faux AAA teams all played in a local league it would be great. Then do four or five high level travel tournaments playing other teams ranked 30-120. It would be great competition. Sorry, had to chime in and beat a dead horse.

Since I was a kid and it was Ice Connection they have always taken out in the summer

Just curious how pushing the Viper Stars out went for BB. I never really heard much about Husky's tryouts

Parents are the problem but Black Bear also adds to the problem by adding leagues with stupid far travel to make it seem like you are competing against better competition.

Not all nominated kids get to go.

I disagree. Crazy parents will run to whatever organization they "think" is the best. Lots of the Esmark players went to Preds. Guessing because it is a far closer rink and why drive that far to play for the same caliber team. Same with the Esmark kids that went to Badgers. Probably went there after not making other teams because it was close. The thing I hate about BB is they buy up numerous rinks in the same area (PIA, Center Ice, Rostraver,..) and then they can fix ice prices, force their league,... Then your only option is a far drive to escape them. Crazy parents is want causes all the kids running from org to org. Some just have to run because if they don't they will be stuck with a horrible team or like in the case of the 09 Esmark, no team at all.

Agree, that is the problem. I have seen it with the 2005,2006,2007,... People want to stay at organizations but once everyone starts to leave you pretty much have to leave as well or you will be left with a really bad team and leave the next year anyway. What I don't understand is why successful teams like the 2006 or 2007 SHAHA teams just disappear after great and decent runs. Seems like once you hit Bantam and especially once you hit midget it becomes a mess. No stability in most organizations especially the wanna be AAA ones. Sometimes they field teams, sometimes they don't. If you stay you may be stuck holding the bag. 2009 Esmark kids are a great example of that this year.

I hope so too. There is nothing like traveling four or five hours to play PAHL type teams all the time and not playing PAHL/local. Super smart. Oh wait, another black bear money grab raising the cost further to play hockey. That's probably even worse than the independent wanna be AAA teams that travel all over in the new wanna be AAA league with all AA teams in it that black bear has. Next thing you know black bear will be starting a AA inhouse league for house teams that travels around the east coast. (Get it, in house traveling Lol, makes as much sense as the other leagues).

Yeah, guessing Vengeance will be lower in the rankings next season. I would guess a lot of these teams will all be close (probably within that goal or two range). I agree you want to be in the top 30 maybe 40 but once you leave that range not really a AAA roster. Again you may have some AAA players but not a team full. Just tough because not many AAA options in the area other than Pens which is insanely expensive. Very sad and why the sport has trouble gaining popularity. Everyone talked about the 2006 SHAHA , 2007 SHAHA, .... but look at what happen once some of their top players leave. Now look at the 2008 and 2009 Vengeance teams falling apart. Just a shame as people put in a lot of work so they could have been an option over Pens. As much as people may not like Pens, it seems to be the only local organization that fields teams in the top 30 at most, if not all ages. Sadly, you almost have to leave town still if not on the top two lines at Pens once you hit 2nd year bantam.

I disagree. Recently, it seems more like the bottom half of Pens guys get tired of paying a ton of money and being stuck in 3rd and forth line rolls not getting much ice time. They move on to other teams and play pp, pk,... and get more opportunity. Even the out of town guys get tired of it and leave after a year or two. It is a real problem they have right now. I would say less cutting and more leaving.

Well said. I think the 2009 Pens picked up four really good players from the 09 Vengeance and will be a better team. I think the 09 Vengeance lost a lot of their top players but may retain some of their players that tried out for Pens and got cut so guessing they will drop off a decent amount. Esmark seems as though they lost a lot of their better players so that team will drop quite a bit if they even end up fielding a team. The Preds seem like they are getting the most new players which will be an upgrade from their bottom players so they will get a little better. Same with the 09 SHAHA team. In reality the rankings for these teams are a joke. There is not much difference between the Vengeance 09 who were ranked 40ish and SHAHA 09 who was ranked 90ish. If you look at the rankings math it is about a goal or goal and a half difference. That is really nothing in my mind. If fact toe 09 SHAHA beat the 09 Vengeance in a scrimmage late in this season. It showed up briefly on MHR then disappeared. My point is all these teams are very close in talent. They all have some AAA players but not an entire team. I think a lot of the movement is people tired of driving an hour to play on a team that would be similar 20 minutes away. Its like a team ranked 300 vs 400. It's 100 spots but probably a goal difference. People get to caught up in the rankings. 90 and 40 are very close and depending on the day and goaltending it will be a good game Look at the Preds 09 team. I guess people flocking there because they were the highest ranked but they lost to Esmark 09 and have a loosing record. If you only play highly ranked teams it is EASY to hang in and look good! Pens do it best. Why do you think they won't play many games local or teams 30-60. Worried about the rankings and looking good for prospects

The funny thing is if you look at the 2009 rankings Preds, SHAHA, Esmark, and Icemen (I know hard to believe) were all relatively similar teams. Theoretically if they play each other it should be about a one goal game. I am sure they all have a few AAA players but not a whole roster full. Looks like Preds will pick up some Esmark players and maybe a few others. Sounds like SHAHA is getting a few players also. Esmark is going to be a rough team as seems like they only lost players, and Vengeance is probably going to be dropping down in the rankings as they lost a lot of their top players and who knows who will be back. To bad those teams wouldn't just have their own local league where they all would play each other two times this coming season. That would make the most sense but sadly I doubt it would ever happen. They will travel all over to play similar teams or often worse teams.

AHF is a joke in my opinion. Look at their teams rankings. Just traveling a lot further to play PAHL AA type teams. Great

Esmark, tryouts on Easter Sunday????? Enough said about the organization.

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