Carl Racki

Getting better for what men's league???

Again, DELUSIONAL PARENT, look at their scores in mid ams and against the top half of PAHL. I wouldn't call beating teams by 1 or 2 goals killing them and most of the two goal games were because of an empty net guessing. Teams and players caught up. They are a great team but AGAIN, the eight teams at mid ams were all very close with the exception of North Pitt(who by the way tied the Badgers) and honestly any of the four top teams could have won. Take out North Pitt and put the average 2007 Vengeance team in their spot and it would be a great league. Eight very competitive teams. Keep being delusional though. It doesn't matter as I hear kids are going all over the place this coming year from most of those teams because that's how Pittsburgh hockey works.They will play one one of the 5 or 6 fake/wanna AAA teams. Just stupid and sad when you had a really good grouping of teams. Again look at the Mid Am scores. Great competitive games. Heck if they want to play real AAA try out at the Pens this year. I hear there will be a lot of open slots.

You must be delusional and have a kid or friend on the 2007 Badgers team then. I don't care what they did the last five years, this past year many teams caught up and tied, beat or played them within a goal maybe two. Again, look at their mid am scores, all one or two goal games. I wouldn't call that domination. TEAMS RANKED THE TOP 40 ARE LEGIT AAA TEAMS. Teams in the 50,60,70,80,.....are really good AA teams with a few AAA players. Keep drinking the Kool-Aid. The schedule they played this year was pretty smart. You can add a few higher level tournaments with the wanna be AAA teams that are ranked in the 50-80 positions. Actually, just go independent and add the A so you can tell your friends he plays AAA and are two good to play local teams. Travel all over the country to play similar or lesser competition. Whatever makes you feel better.

Top dog locally? All their games in mid ams were only won by 1 to 2 goals. Certainly not blow outs. Maybe the competition in Western PA is a lot better than people posting here think. SHAHA, Foxes, Huskies and Preds all played the Badgers close and some of those teams beat and tied them this year as well. I guess it just shows we had a really solid AA group for the 2007 PAHL if the Badgers made it to the finals. AGAIN, if the 8 teams that played Mid Ams would have stayed together and had a league it would have been very competitive minus North Pittsburgh and add the AVERAGE 2007 Vengeance. No, everyone has to go independent, travel all over and not play each other. Super smart

It just depends where the top talent goes. There is nothing magical about it. They all recruit kids and where ever the deeper talent goes is typically the top team. The reason the 2008,2009,... Vengeance teams are better than Esmark is because parents started building that program as an option for their kids other than Pens. The reason you see Esmark with the older kids is that was often the best or next best option back in the day. Then, when Pens decided to do away with their black teams, Esmark went in to try to recruit those young kids out to Esmark.

You beat me to it!

I have watched all four 09 goalies. The two old pens goalies and the two new ones. They are all solid goalies and I was surprised to see both Pens goalies cut. I will say I am surprised about every year at a few players that get cut. On several occasions I would have much rather had the kid that was cut on my son's team. I have seen good players with good parents get cut because teams want to try a different player and see how they do when given the opportunity. Sometimes I wonder what the hell the evaluators are looking at too.

That does not sound like a happy hockey fan

Ps. You can only get some much out of players. If that were not the case everyone would go to Sid and Mc David's coaches and end up just like them. That is why I warn parents about over doing it or just wasting money but everyone always says on this board "it's their money so what do you care".

Yep, they cut them but they also developed them. I am not saying the organization makes the best decision but at the squirt and pee wee level they do a pretty good job of developing kids skating/skills and are all very good/qualified coaches. Not arguing that some kids get cut that should not and other make teams that probably shouldn't. As you said the team that beat the Pens 3-0 had a lot of kids Pens developed. Glad to see they went elsewhere and pushed themselves to beat those teams. That show great character and will do them well in life. Personally, I would never be a third or fourth line player, pay for North Catholic, pay for Excel and Pens Elite. It seems insane to me also.

Several head coaches at PPE have had their sons on their team. They are all very qualified good coaches. I don't really know about the 09 coach you are talking about but the current 2007 head , Edwards, and Mooney have all been head coaches and coached their kids team. They all did great jobs developing all the players and are more than qualified. Again, not sure on the 09 situation but who wouldn't want Mooney to coach their team and his son on it. It is usually just for a year or two. I guess you could hire a less qualified jamoke with no kids but that seems stupid to me.

No every team has to hire a paid coach now. Even when you have over qualified parent coaches that put in more time and effort in. Everyone has to have the paid coaches these days. I have seen both parent coaches do well and not so well but the same with paid coaches. Some of the best coaches I have had were parent coaches. It just depends on the person and if they are in it for the right reason if not send them down the highway. I remember hearing a few years ago that one organization was going to have all paid coaches. Good luck, good ones are hard to come by.

It is simple. Have it at PPG. They had it there and the Mellon/Civic arena for years. No reason they can't do it again. It is sad when students and families can not attend championship games because they hold them in a facility that is to small to accommodate the fans that want to attend. Very sad and no excuse.

I know a lot more people would have liked to be able to go to the Peters vs SV game and could not because it was sold out. I am sure that was the case for some of the other Penguin Cup games as well. It is time to move those games back to a bigger venue and if you ask the players they would DEFINITELY prefer to play at PPG.

The problem with ice hockey is the cost. You may have 2100 students but how many can afford to play? It not like football where anyone can play at next to no cost. Ice hockey is a totally different animal. You can not go off school size alone. When PIHL did, you had teams in AAA getting blown out by 25 goals and organizations loosing teams because they got tired of getting blown out.

Yes, running just two lines won't work. You can even go 1-2, 1,2 3 but they need a break in there. If it is a competitive game you usually won't get away with rolling just two lines. MAYBE four defensemen but not two lines up front. Especially centers.

I am not just calling the Badgers out, I am calling out ALL the independent teams out. It is what ruins local hockey. It just runs the price up even further and keeps athletes out. There is no reason. I am calling out the 07 SHAHA, Icemen, Vengeance, and yes the Preds and Allegheny if they all are independent next year. THAT'S 5 TEAMS!!! I am calling them ALL delusional AA teams that aren't intelligent enough to just form a great league with the top 8 teams in the area. I have been calling them ALL out the entire thread. All good teams and good competition for each other. Stop the madness. Don't make the excuses like "everyone else is". At least admit "boy this is stupid." Sounds like the 2009 AA SHAHA team now wants to be AAA independent as well. Again it's a joke. Yes they are a great team, yes they have a few AAA players but not a team full. 6 of their 13 games have been within 3 goals this season in PAHL AA. Teams will catch up. If you are not in the top 30-40 you are not a AAA team. Again you may have several AAA players but not the depth. Trust me I have been involved in the game for over 30 years. This is how teams recruit and sales pitch uneducated parents. Sorry, just trying to help educate them. It usually goes in one ear and out the other. 2010 group is the same ALREADY they have several independent "AAA" teams that left PAHL. It's laughable. Just keeps getting worse and worse. The 2010 Aviators tried playing up in PAHL Pee Wee AA. Got smoked and should have just played A major black. The only teams I have seen do that successfully were the true AAA teams that were in the top 30 for their birth year. That would have been the younger Vengeance teams.

Maybe the Badgers didn't get worse. Maybe everyone else caught up. That is the point we have been trying to make. I said it before mid ams even started that it would be good close competition in the U14 division. Surprise, I was right. No need for ANY of those teams to go independent. The only team that got smoked and couldn't complete was the 14u NP team. 7 of the 8 were VERY competitive and SHAHA, Preds, Huskies, and Foxes all had a great chance to win and possibly would if they replayed the tournament. Then if you add the fake AAA 07 Vengeance to that group you would have a SUPER competitive PAHL AA division. 8 really close and solid teams. 20 solid local games. Then do 4-5 low AAA , high AA tournaments. 27adams must coach the Badgers if he can't see that. Yes, I will say last year the Badgers dominated. Not any more obviously. Good team but they are all very close. Chase the AAA. I know I need to shut up. I can only explain it so many times. People will never get it apparently. Sorry

Plus SHAHA only has one sheet of ice.

And that is the problem. Teams are TOO WORRIED ABOUT RANKINGS AND A's. The Myhockeyranking are useful but they also really hurt the sport. We do need them to make scheduling better. I just wish people would just play local good competition rather than worry about their stupid ranking. Look at the 07 ICEMEN. Didn't and wouldn't play a PAHL AA team all year. They went 1-2 in Mid Am AA. They flew to Texas and Minnesota instead of playing great local competition they would have probably lost too. Look at the AAA 2007 Vengeance. They didn't even play in the AAA Mid Ams as they wouldn't have won the AA Mid Ams. So what did they play for this year? Yes fun but no playoffs or nationals.

No there is just AA and then A major black like 12u and 10u. That is probably why everyone leaves. One less "A". Maybe if they did a AA minor like 14u it would help. Again look at the 14u Mid Am scores. As predicted all the games were competitive and close with the exception of North Pittsburgh. That is 7 of 8 teams played each other very competitively. In the Badger's 4 games the largest goal diff was 2. It would be a GREAT division but there just aren't enough A's. So instead of having a very competitive league you will have Icemen, SHAHA, Badgers, and Preds all independent. They will travel all over wasting fuel and paying for hotels. The good news is they will be able to tell everyone their kid plays AAA hockey. The madness continues and you get dragged in because it becomes your only option.

Nope you forgot Icemen and Badgers. Might as well through in Foxes and Huskies as well!! Realistically it is PPE and barely Esmark. My opinion if you are not in the top 30-40 you are not a REAL AAA team. You may have several AAA players but not the depth. Ps U14 Mid Am:. SHAHA beat Foxes 5-4, Badgers beat Huskies 3-2. Badgers and SHAHA for the Championship. Again, all games pretty much one or two goal games and not sure how many empty net goals are in there as well. Those 8 teams would make a great U16 AA minor league next year minus NP and add a team but hey, I guess they should all just go independent and travel the country to find good competition with fuel at $5.00 a gallon. Plus never play each other.

What a joke! I guess extra A's for everyone next year!!!!!

I am assuming this is sarcasm. If you look at the scores for the 14u AA Mid ams you will see as I have stated the games are competitive. There are 8 teams. North Pitt is really struggling but the rest of the teams have played competitive games. The Badgers have won their two games by 1 goal and two goals. 7 of the 8 teams have played competitive. I guess those 7 should all also go independent????? Please note that last sentence is sarcasm.

I care because all the wanna be AAA teams or the independent teams are now forcing everyone else to leave and travel all over the country because when 6 or 7 of the top AA teams go independent then we no longer have a competitive AA PAHL league. Not to hard to figure out but organization/ people still do it to draw players and tell parents they are AAA. Wow not hard to understand.