Loach

Midam Finals: 14U - Pens win 6-5 in OT (score tying goal with goalie pulled) 15O - Pens win 4-0 16U - Pens win 5-1 18U - Jackets win 2-0

I know a family who has a kid on the 18s and a different family who has a kid on the 16s at Culver. They both were pretty devastated that they weren't able to play in the district tourney and mentioned that they had 3 covid+ players and 1 coach in the program. I have no idea if one team (16s) was the one affected and the 18s got caught up in the quarantine rule and did something else this past weekend instead. But I can verify that it was a covid-related reason and it wasn't something that they decided by choice. Edit - I guess "verify" is too strong of a word to use here. I can just say that both families told me that it was covid-related and they both would rather have been playing than not. I don't really have details on whether it was Culver that decided to pull out, or if MidAm told them they couldn't play because of covid protocols.

See my post above. Chiller North has livebarn.

Top 2 teams in each division play tomorrow (Sunday) in the final. 16u - Pens vs Esmark - 10 am Chiller North 1 14u - Pens vs Cle Barons - 10:30 am Chiller North 2 18u - Pens vs Blue Jackets - Noon Chiller North 1 15O - Pens vs Blue Jackets - 12:30 Chiller North 2 For the 18u bracket, the order in the standings after 3 game round robin was: Pens, Blue Jackets, Esmark, Tri-State, Gilmour, Barons

PPE with a very narrow shootout victory (6th shooter) over Preds at 15O.

Yes, and #2 Culver at 16u had to also withdraw - multiple covid positive cases in Culver players plus at least one coach. Gilmour filling in at 16u.

Not the only sport, but hockey has had a bad history with hazing. I got pretty lucky with the teams I was on when I was younger but some of my buddies went through some horrific things. I don't know specifics here but if you don't clamp down, it spirals out of control and gets worse as each year tries to out-do the one before. That said, I do not have an issue with rookies picking up pucks, carrying water bottles - I don't consider that hazing. Being forced to do something you would never do voluntarily in public is hazing. I don't consider picking up pucks embarrassing, someone has to do it.

While that is true, it really is an invaluable tool when you are trying to schedule games and find appropriate competition.

Nice job on the update.

Yeah, but I'm not asking how the ML AAA team compares to PPE or other tier 1 teams in other states. I don't disagree with you regarding faux AAA teams. The AAA and AA ML teams both played Team Ohio with pretty much the same result. As both are from the same organization, presumably the AAA team had its pick of this pool of players, with the leftovers going to the AA team. Also, in years past, the 04 ML team has been strong compared to other AA teams and the second ML team in that age group. So, I found it surprising , and I was just wondering if it was just a fluke or something crazy going on in ML this year like some of the better kids deciding they wanted to play with the AA coach instead of the AAA one.

The 16U AA Mt Lebanon team tied Team Ohio, who had split one-goal games with 16U AAA Mt lebanon the weekend before. Based on that, the AA and AAA ML teams are pretty similar. What happened - did AAA team lose some players to high school this year or is the AA team just good?

You know the scores in the ML-Team Ohio games? Don't see it posted anywhere.

I feel for your situation. I wish I knew the what the right approach was and is going forward, but I don't. More importantly, I wish state and federal leaders knew what the right approach is and it's clear that they don't. This whole situation has been mishandled at multiple levels. I've voted both left and right in the past, and I want politics to stay off this board. But there's no easy solutions to your situation, and I believe it's not likely that it would have been better with a Republican governor. Texas has as a Republican governor - they tried to open early and it ended up being a disaster so they ended up shutting down their bars there too. It's not like opening everything up has been shown to be some kind of magical solution in the other states - if anything, it's made things worse. I realize that's no comfort to a bar/restaurant owner, I just don't see that there was a better solution than hoping for those establishments to be able to convert to increased take-out orders which some have been able to do. I'm fine with states rights and the result of that is that there are going to be different approaches taken. What the federal government should be doing is collecting the data and amalgamating it so that governors have better access to conclusions as to what works best and what doesn't. The governors are trying to do this by talking to each other, but a federal committee that supported both Democratic and Republican governors would be the way to go. Instead, everything at the federal level is focused on whitewashing the issue and pretending like everything is OK. At the end of the day, I want my kid to have a hockey season. I'd also like to minimize the COVID-related death and morbidity in my community, my country and the world. Don't know the answers to achieve both of these, but I'd like to see better cooperation between all levels of government to achieve it.

Yeah, I've never heard of drug testing for coaches being done in youth hockey.

CFL limits roster to 20 Americans. OHL doesn't have any limits - like the NCAA, the bottom line is that teams want to recruit the best kids they can so they can win. At the end of the day, having a couple of WPa kids on the roster can help with goodwill in the community, but having a roster full likely means the team isn't going to be able to compete against the top dogs.

Well, Illinois governor just released his 'guidelines' for youth sport. Hockey is in the high risk category which means skills practices only, no games (even intrasquad scrimmages) or tournaments. Illinois high school association came out right after saying it looks like high school football and soccer moving to spring. https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/ihsa-announces-decision-on-sports-after-state-releases-new-guidance/2313541/

Blue Jackets popped up because of the explosion of the Columbus hockey market as the NHL team arrived. Cleveland and Columbus are a couple of hours from each other so (although the occasional crazy family may do that drive for practices/games) they aren't really pulling kids from the same market. That's not comparable to having AAA teams given to PPE, Esmark, Mt Lebanon, Predators, Icemen and so on. But, it sounds like you are saying the state affiliates call the shots here, rather than MidAm itself. You would think MidAm would step in and regulate it more consistently but I guess they are fine as long as the affiliate fees roll in.

I'm curious on why it seems so easy to get 'AAA' status in Pittsburgh. Illinois and Michigan have kept their AAA charters constant for many years now - you could argue that Illinois could use another one and Michigan could do with one or two less, but it's the same organizations that have AAA status for every age group. Same with Ohio and Indiana which, like WPA, is part of MidAm. So, why can Mt Lebanon (as one example) do a AAA team at 05 level this year when it's been AA for that organization/age every year up to this point? Who has the say on this and why is it so much more lax in Pittsburgh to switch to AAA than say Ohio, which is also part of MidAm?

So, five 15U AAA teams in Pittsburgh this year? Pens elite, Predators, Mt. Lebanon, Esmark, Icemen Is every 05 hockey player not playing high school going to be a 'AAA' player?

It sucks, and my kid has been on both sides of the fence with this issue. I've just come to the acceptance that goalie is a different position - there's probably always at least one forward or D spot up for grabs that a player who dominates tryouts could force their way onto a team. However, tryouts are generally set up to find out who the best skaters, best shooters, best players are. They are rarely set up to evaluate goalies properly. Even if they do a bunch of goalie drills - it doesn't get at the essence of the position. What's the mental fortitude of the kid when they are playing in a tight game in the playoffs? Hard to recreate that in a tryout where there are 10 goalies switching out in the scrimmages. So, I think if the coach had goalies the previous year that he has confidence in, then there's no way for a new goalie to break in no matter how they look at tryouts. If there is an opening, then the tryouts matter more, but I kind of hope the coach also does his research and looks at what the candidates did do the previous season in big-game situations rather than relying solely on tryouts. I agree with your point that all goalies should be at all tryout sessions.

Getting cut sucks at the time, but can end up being a great life lesson. I know it was a big lesson for me when I was cut during my youth hockey days. I have a decent story about that but won't bore you with it. I do agree that there should be a spot to play for everyone, though. Everyone should have a chance to experience this sport if they want to give it a go - I mean, check out a low level beer league some night. But I don't believe in eliminating cuts or having everyone who wants play travel hockey, and I certainly don't believe in trophies for everyone.

I can't speak to what's happening Toledo. But, I can guarantee there's no hockey or skating going on in Columbus now or this weekend. The rinks there are all owned by McConnell (owner of the NHL team - all the Chiller rinks) or OSU and I don't see them opening up before getting an official blessing from the governor and USA Hockey.

Non-contact youth sports open in Ohio May 26. The governor mentioned this includes sports like tennis, golf, baseball. He specifically said that there is no set date yet for contact sports including hockey, lacrosse, soccer. What about if instead of 'hockey', rinks start doing skating skills sessions and the like and call it non-contact? I don't know, I'll have to look at the fine print. But, he specifically mentioned hockey as not being included in those sports opening May 26 in his presser today.

If tryouts end up in August, maybe a silver lining of all this is that will become the new norm.

Meh, I'm fine with teams having to be state champions to get to Nationals. Does that mean a team from West Virginia might have an uncontested path? Yes, but so be it and that's why I'm fine in having those states with fewer players having the separate 1A championship. If anything, a complaint could be that PA gets to send two teams because the state is split across two districts. There is only one state champ from Michigan, yet there will be two 'state champs' from PA. For the 2005 tier II W.Pa championship, the 8 teams in the tourney were the top 8 teams in WPa. I have no idea if other teams applied and were denied but that was a pretty good tourney with a couple of teams that aren't in the PAHL (Viper Stars, Icemen). Congrats to SC for winning.