ice is cold

3 hours ago, Jkersman01 said:

I disagree vehemently with this logic but let’s say you’re exactly right. Make PAHL and PIHL the options for girls. Now it’s equal. How many PAHL girls have a legitimate shot at making a high school team? Remember the top girls aren’t playing PAHL now. I’d say very few especially at decent sized schools. Now girls make up less than 1% of the PIHL players- is that really a second option? You’re making the second option an option the girls are by and large not going to be able to actually have practically speaking.
 

Under this rule, like Bender said, a PAHL girl is now playing a 12 game PAHL season if she’s lucky (assuming  PAHL girls teams don’t crumble under this rule which some certainly will) and can’t crack a high school team. Practice once a week if she’s lucky on Saturday night. A boy is playing 25ish games for PAHL, regular practices, plus a full PIHL schedule, regular practices. 
 

Rules are now equal. Are they equitable?

Did you read what I said? Your disagreement has nothing to do with what I responded with. Your logic/example says anyone who is harassed should have their own safe space to play with like people. That was my comment to you. If you don't like how you come across or how you sound so ignorant,  as  you are recommended segregation in hockey with your example, that's on you. As you brought it out as the example and I'm just calling it what it is 

Back stepping into game counts and practices has nothing to do with my comment. 

Good damn lord. Ps . I'm a female ex college D1 athlete, and 3 sport HS all American,  so yeah. Tell me about female sports and our fight. Please. Enlighten me?!? 

My argument was with your poor example of why girls don't or won't want to play pihl and why they need other places.to play . Girls have fought for years across more than sports. FYI. So I take offense to you insinuating we can't handle some name calling when boys and girls  have unfortunately dealt with it for centuries. 

Im not engaging with you anymore. 

On 2/28/2024 at 1:14 PM, Jkersman01 said:

I see your point. Let me throw this back out there then. Boys have a legitimate option to play on two teams. PIHL and amateur. Let’s make the rules ‘equal’ and say girls have those same options. Is playing PIHL for girls a legitimate option when compared to the non-PIHL girls teams? I can tell you absolute horror stories of girls playing on PIHL teams with the boys. One of which made the news 2 years ago with the Mars goalie. It might look ‘equal’ on paper, but PIHL isn’t a legitimate option for girls unfortunately. So this rule leaves boys with two options and girls with one. 

Everyone seems to think it’s completely fine for boys to prioritize PIHL over PAHL, but girls can’t prioritize their non-PAHL girls team over PAHL?

I should note, she only missed 1 period of 1 PAHL game when she played both because of conflicts with PPE. And I should note this doesn’t apply to us now so I have no horse in this race. 

What happened to that goalie was awful, and 100% should never happen. But if you think all players regardless of sex don't deal with the BS of horribly raised children, you live in a bubble. Racist comments are all over the ice (and any sport), as well as derogatory comments to all players regardless of race, sex, etc.  until people start raising their kids correctly and ramifications are handed out, some kids will just continue (ill lump parents in their too)

I'm not downgrading anything, but by that statement you are saying any demographic that doesn't fit what you perceive as a hockey demographic should have their own team and league to not deal with poorly raised players and parents. 🤔 I thought we were all trying to go the other direction.... 

1 hour ago, Jkersman01 said:

I'm just curious as to the rationale here. Not trying to be confrontational, just understand. Why is it acceptable for a player to miss a PAHL game/practice for PIHL, but not acceptable for a girl to miss a game for a girls team for example? I know you didn't say "girl" to be clear, but I think that's the root of the issue here with this rule that's causing some concern. The big argument against this from the girls side is that it is OK for boys to play on a PIHL team (non-PAHL) as their second team, but not OK for a girl to play on a girls team (non-PAHL) as her second team.

It seems like a simple equation to me. Using pahl was a bad term, I should have used amateur. 

Pihl and amateur fall into separate "conferences" not sure the best word to use there and players can play in both. Amateur and school.

Missing an amateur game for an amateur  game shouldn't happen.  Just like you can't miss a pihl game for a pihl game, as you can only play on one pihl team 🤷🤦🤔

Seems simplistic to me. Everyone can play amateur and pihl. That should be the only hockey conflicts. 

10 hours ago, Wes said:

"Gender Equality Issue..." 😵‍💫

So glad I'm not dealing with this bullcrap anymore.  The PAHL and Midam are run by inbred stooges.

Our family is out of the game as it pertains to pahl, pihl and anything youth hockey. My only 2 cents is my sons pahl team when he was 14u had a female player (she was very good) but missed half of the pahl co-ed games due to conflicts with her girls team or the other 3rd (and 4th) team she was on. At one point the conflict was them playing each other. I feel that is an issue. A pahl teammate missing games/practice for a  pihl conflict is ok and  acceptable. But to miss because of pahl or similar conflicts I see an issue...Mind you this was years ago, I can imagine it happens more now. Just something to think about..... Boys only miss for pihl hockey conflicts... So ultimately it hurts the team (s) they may be multi rostered on.... 

1 hour ago, Saucey said:

You mean the Icemen can no longer send entire teams? ☺️

As long as mid am gets their $$, pretty sure they don't care who is there and who is not. 

4 hours ago, Saucey said:

It's also a sales pitch....paid coaches!

I dunno. My son had a parent coach his first 2 years (which he didn't start ice untill u12) and they were both pretty bad. Taught him wrong things, kids acting like idiots, almost dangerous on the ice with no ramifications or correction, it was awful, he wanted to quit. So I think it all depends on the coach. Not all parents, not all paid coaches, not all ex players can be coaches. It takes a person who knows the game, can handles kids appropriately and can discipline in the right way. Unfortunately, that typically lands on a paid coach as they don't have a personal association with a child and said childs friends. And they also typically have coached longer than a parent coach. 

6 hours ago, Pucks11 said:

This right here☝🏻☝🏻☝🏻. I know for a fact that in 1 Tier 1 AAA birth year that 4 of the the top 10 teams in the country have parent coaches. I know "pay for" coaches that are worse than parent coaches. The people usually complaining about parent coaches know NOTHING about hockey and just repeat what they hear other complaining parents say or they THINK their kid is better than they are. If you don't like it then volunteer/apply yourself.

I think every parent coach situation is different and the majority of parents realize a parent coach who is experienced and a good coach vs a parent. But let's all be honest... up until recently the "parent coaches" were just parents who could stand on skates and coach in PAHL... it's the last few years where PAHL orgs have stepped it up to have parent coaches who actually played hockey and had the aptitude to coach. Not everyone who can skate or played hockey can coach.  Just saying. Can't put them all in one bucket. Frankly some of them suck and were coaching for their player, family, friends benefit and it was obvious to what teams had that approach (cough, cough, NP to name one)

35 minutes ago, Ihearthockey said:

41 charges on the indictment. Fantastic owner.  

I mean who is shocked by this? I find it expected.  

5 hours ago, Oighir said:

The standard for "AAA" is watered down in our area due to a variety of factors and the lack of oversight capabilities on defining "AAA." The only real defining factor is whether or not you have the finances to declare your program "AAA" and whether you can convince parents of the same.

A reset is necessary across the board on what has turned into a bloated and convoluted leveling system in which predatory organizations take advantage of overly vicarious or naive parents seeking the next step for their son/daughter in the WPA area. The truth is programs declaring themselves as "AAA" will only drain their bank accounts and leave them wondering why their child isn't playing at the next level (juniors, D1, etc.) when all is said and done.  The only hope is whether their child is enjoying the sport despite being dog walked or are they brainwashed due to the vicarious nature of their parents? 

"AAA" is supposed to be for the elite talent in the area, with "AA" being a suitable alternative for those players just a step below. It gives them an opportunity to play in a competitive setting while honing their skills. Instead, we see a number of teams getting obliterated by better-level systems in other states.  WPA youth hockey feels like a mess because we've let it become a business first and an outlet for children second. 

I disagree to an extent. AAA in our area grew out of a crappy AA (PAHL) alternative (for 80% of player a few years ago). Kids wanting to work hard vs jag off. Kids wanting to pick practice over a Friday night football game. Kids wanting to show up at practice vs stay home and play video games. AAA had accountability (which most pahl orgs did not). Today it is probably different with dillusuonal parents. But when my kid played he moved to AAA because he was annoyed with the level of responsibility, accountability and dedication in the team, organization and league. 

4 hours ago, Oighir said:

ACHA and similar levels are a chance to continue playing at a meaningful and competitive level without expecting "what's next?" Leagues like these are for the players who stood out in high school, "AA" or "AAA" (if it's from one of the several sham "AAA" teams). It's not exclusive to those groups naturally and worth trying out depending on where you go to school. It's fun and satisfies our competitive nature. It's not bad to watch and gives collegiate kids something to do for a few years.

Reading through these comments it's fascinating to some users overthink what it means to play ice hockey and what the end result should be. At the end of the day best case scenario is we're all watching on TV but for 99% of us it's just the memories and friends that matter most. 

I have said this 100 times. But I'll say it again. Kids need to pick a college based on the college they want to got to, the curriculum and the campus. If they have hockey, bonus!  But club hockey (unless they are getting $$$, which means D1 in a sports scholarship and D3 typically a large academic scholarship ) should not drive their decision. Just my 2 cents. 

22 minutes ago, Overqualified said:

How is Armstrong ranked 7th in 18u tier 2

They are responsible for reporting scores for tier 2 to my hockey rankings 

Their score goes in immediately 

And don't post other teams for awhile to benefit themselves 

They just posted that they  beat the preds but they didn't 

I'm sure it was a HONEST mistake that will take weeks to fix

They lost to the preds twice 

They tied Np/ lebo/ Allegheny / rennagades

Don't get me wrong they have played good teams but 7th in the country ?

 

Lost faith in MHR when they told me all games should be reported. Even ones that were scrimmages who had more players on the bench than would be USA hockey sanctioned approved games. They basically said a floor hockey game should be reported. 🤦🤷🤔

4 hours ago, Rewster said:

You’re mostly right. There was the 2020-2021 season that Canon Mac won the regular season AAA. But, that must have been their culmination; as it’s been the opposite (record-wise) since then.

From what I have heard, their board runs the team, vs coaches.... which may be their challenge.  

5 hours ago, Hattrick Swayze said:

Beyond that I heard that the coach went into the locker room and lost it on the kids and basically said he was quitting. It’s not the 9 and 10 year olds in the rooms fault that they were blatantly lied to. The organization and the coach should be ashamed that they stole these peoples money and set the kids up for failure. 

And that is why people who are not part of this cult realize how bad it is for Pittsburgh hockey.... 

1 hour ago, YardSale said:

based on the scores, no, they are not developing them at all.  I would say they are developing at a slower rate than their competition

 

 

I'd argue they are going backwards in their development. Certainly their check books are going backwards. I'm sure Yuri has them in his lessons 🤣 

4 hours ago, dazedandconfused said:

Thanks for the reminder. Here is an update. Things haven't really improved. 7 games in Pittsburgh all season long. At the 10U level!! What a waste of time and a great way to drive players and families away from the game. There are already enough barriers that limit the growth potential of the sport, self-imposed ones aren't needed.

https://myhockeyrankings.com/team_info.php?y=2023&t=32685

I can't believe teams are not canceling games against them. All around it's not a good situation. I am also assuming the teams they were playing started to hold up and still scored all of those goals and kept them from scoring any in like a 10 game stretch. Where did they find enough families to think this is normal?

Losing is one thing, but this... Are they developing them at all? 

1 hour ago, Carl Racki said:

The problem is stats for PIHL, AHF, and other leagues/tournaments are so far off all the time.  Shot stats are wrong, goals , assists points, shg ppg, ,.....  Kids get mad, parents get mad, leagues here about it.  Until they actually make a real attempt to get them correct, why bother.  PIHL parents constantly complain.

Parents complain. Does not matter what league they are in. 

1 hour ago, Rewster said:

Id like to piggyback a question if anyone knows; why doesn’t the PAHL provide their league with individual statistics in aggregate compilation on their website? The PIHL does, and it’s essentially the same format of SportsEngine as PAHL. For instance, say I wanted to look up and compare the goalies in PIHL. It’s easy to find each division and compare: Games Played, Minutes Played, SOG, SVs, Goals Against Average, Save %…you can even see their PIMs and Assists under the separate “skater” category in PIHL. You can separate it by each division, or do the whole overall Varsity or JV league-wide comparison. Same thing with skaters statistics.

But the only statistics that you can find on PAHL for goalies is the number of Games Played. That’s it. No Goals Against Average, no Save Percentage, no W-L-T record. In this day and age, it seems weird to not provide the running statistical total…especially for the top-end AA teams. 

I was told at one point the "commissioner" of pahl was afraid of independent teams poaching top talent.

1 hour ago, fafa fohi said:

The most popular programs get the most kids.  The Yeti ( formerly known as Butler Valley ) used to be a huge player in this space and now are a shell of what they had. But both NP and RMU have a cap and limit the number of kids that participate in their mite programs.  They close registrations once they hit that cap - I know that for a fact.

I would say location plays a huge role when starting at a younger level. 

2 hours ago, Fosta812 said:

Hi all, I stumbled across this forum researching youth hockey. My son loves the sport and as a parent that has never played hockey, I am clueless. My son is 7 years old. He started skating at 5 years old and is in the advanced 8u mite development at upmc rink. The question I have is where does he go on to after mite development? It seems like upmc only has Lil 66ers as an option and that looks like a difficult team to make. Would we have to change rinks and find somewhere else to play after mite?

 

 

The closest rink to your  house, best cost and a place you feel welcomed... and then reevaluate at u14/u15. 

1 hour ago, Rewster said:

I think that you’re obviously missing my point. I was generalizing ACHA D1 and comparing the overall level of play to NCAA D1 and NCAA D3. The gap between ACHA D1 and NCAA D3 is small…generally speaking. I gave an example of a local, Pittsburgh area, school-sponsored NCAA D3 hockey team. A school that most locals would at least be familiar with. Would it make you feel better if I swapped, say—Hobart, Trinity, or Norwich in place of Chatham? I’m pretty sure that most of our average hockey fans aren’t familiar with many (if any) NCAA D3 hockey programs. Chatham University was simply the proverbial local example that I used for my broad point of reference.
Oh, and by the way…just say ‘NO’ to drugs.

Can we all just agree the player "kid" should pick a school for academics and happiness.... I mean WTF... Let your kids go to a school they will thrive at vs one you may think has "better hockey". SMH

2 hours ago, Jawzz20 said:

They now have 5 goalies, but are making Facebook posts needing more skaters. So now they are losing players. 

That just tells me they want their $$$

On 11/29/2023 at 3:58 PM, Ynot02 said:

That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to share it. It’s one piece of the whole picture. For those who pursue Juniors and don’t get a sniff at NCAA D3, these are good options - and many are much better quality schools than you find in NCAA D3. 

Several points in the article are valid even for the lower divisions in ACHA and AAU. The variety of fees, possible student run/student coached, etc. Also, depending on the school, some struggle to field a team, while it can be very competitive to make any team at others. Even lower division schools “recruit” and have prospect skates. Getting in touch with the coach in advance is important. Assuming because you’ve played a decent level of hockey here in western PA is no guarantee you’ll make a team. I’ve just encountered a lot of disappointed players/families lately who didn’t have enough insight, and figured it might be a helpful topic for this board. I’m just trying to encourage others to share their insights on college club hockey to show the full picture. 

My thoughts... you pick the school based on your future and where you will be happiest, not your desire to play hockey for 4 years to be better at beer league, but not enjoy your 4 years at college or come out with a degree that you didn't enjoy getting because the college you chose for club hockey didn't have the major you wanted 🤷. Good news is a ton of colleges have club hockey, so start with what campus and majors make your 4 years enjoyable and your future bright. 

I'm thinking it rhymes with flurry. 

But complaining about coaches being in multiple rosters could be mis leading. Most teams have coaches rostered on more than one team in case a coach can't make it, etc. So that in itself isn't concerning really. It's called making sure the kids have a coach who is legally rostered to coach. 

4 minutes ago, Danner27 said:

I somehow just discovered this thread, I’m commenting on stuff from July, didn’t realize it was 3 pages!  🙂

It's a good one, and I predict will only get better! 

1 minute ago, Danner27 said:

nobody will be getting paid much if at all. Its sponsor dependent - they don’t have crap for sponsors, look at the leauge webpage.  it’s my understanding the players have to help find sponsors. 
 

it’s travel beer leauge with the local team run by a con man. This will be over soon 

I was100% being sarcastic. Lol.  I originally called out the owner was a con 😂.