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Travel & Pens Elite Tryouts


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23 hours ago, Eddie Shore said:

Confusing post.  You said he would love to tryout for PPE because he is more "exposed" to that team, but you live closer to Vengeance and Esmark?

You said that you don't think he is ready for PPE maturity wise, more so than skill, but your not sure he would stand a chance to make Vengeance and Esmark (with the idea that he is actually good enough)?

You do understand PPE would be harder to make than Vengeance and Esmark correct?

You also stated that he has played a year in travel hockey, yet you seem surprised that people on this board are "mean" and you and your kid will have to develop "thick skin"?  I doubt anyone on here is "meaner" that what you would have encountered in your first year of travel, especially with a goalie.  This is what "scared the pants off you", and "overwhelmed" you?  This post?  This "disheartened" you?

I think you are right, you are not cut out for this, or any youth sport if this relatively tame post did all this to you.

Good luck,

It isn't clear what age the goalie is, right?  First year travel and looking at Esmark and Vengeance.  Esmark means at least Bantams.    I would think that most decent Bantam AA teams have two goalies.  Same as PPE.  Not sure how Esmark and Vegeance treat goalies but at the PPE they pay full price.  A lot of PAHL oranizations give a discount.

By Bantams, people have a clue as to which organizations have a strong team.  If the OP has an 06 goalie and isn't up for PPE or the other AAA teams.  Try the Renegades or SHAHA.  They have quality teams that are trying to make the jump to AAA. 

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5 hours ago, twoboys said:

It isn't clear what age the goalie is, right?  First year travel and looking at Esmark and Vengeance.  Esmark means at least Bantams.    I would think that most decent Bantam AA teams have two goalies.  Same as PPE.  Not sure how Esmark and Vegeance treat goalies but at the PPE they pay full price.  A lot of PAHL oranizations give a discount.

By Bantams, people have a clue as to which organizations have a strong team.  If the OP has an 06 goalie and isn't up for PPE or the other AAA teams.  Try the Renegades or SHAHA.  They have quality teams that are trying to make the jump to AAA. 

Predators give a huge discount on goalies 

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Thanks to everyone for your guidance. My son ended up convincing us to try out for ppe. After 2 days of tryouts in alphabetical order they are now broken in to group 1 and 2 according to skill level. About 23 vs 28 in numbers. So we shall see what happens after day 3.

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34 minutes ago, HockeyDad23 said:

Thanks to everyone for your guidance. My son ended up convincing us to try out for ppe. After 2 days of tryouts in alphabetical order they are now broken in to group 1 and 2 according to skill level. About 23 vs 28 in numbers. So we shall see what happens after day 3.

Good luck to your son.

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40 minutes ago, HockeyDad23 said:

Thanks to everyone for your guidance. My son ended up convincing us to try out for ppe. After 2 days of tryouts in alphabetical order they are now broken in to group 1 and 2 according to skill level. About 23 vs 28 in numbers. So we shall see what happens after day 3.

Did they tell you which group was which for skill?

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Well our PPE journey for this year has come to an end. I think it was a good learning experience. Was an eventful 3 days. My son was in a group with a lot of elite (elite not black) kids from last year (over 1/3). We assumed that might be a good thing as the coach said they were re grouping based on similiar skill level. But turns out it wasn't. So not sure how groups were set up. I originally started this post looking for advice so now I can give some if parents are considering PPE tryouts. Know the following:

-be sure you can handle the truth - my kid is not ready for AAA hockey

-is your family reasy for the committment if you do make it - financially committed and time

-be sure your kid is mentally tough to handle disappointment is rejected

-know your hands are tied during tryouts. You cannot see it happening so therefore cant provide feedback to your kid on areas to improve-this will make you feel helpless as a parent 

-know at this age there is a ton of hockey left. This is not the end.

Good luck to any parents and kids that try out.  

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1 hour ago, HockeyDad23 said:

Well our PPE journey for this year has come to an end. I think it was a good learning experience. Was an eventful 3 days. My son was in a group with a lot of elite (elite not black) kids from last year (over 1/3). We assumed that might be a good thing as the coach said they were re grouping based on similiar skill level. But turns out it wasn't. So not sure how groups were set up. I originally started this post looking for advice so now I can give some if parents are considering PPE tryouts. Know the following:

-be sure you can handle the truth - my kid is not ready for AAA hockey

-is your family reasy for the committment if you do make it - financially committed and time

-be sure your kid is mentally tough to handle disappointment is rejected

-know your hands are tied during tryouts. You cannot see it happening so therefore cant provide feedback to your kid on areas to improve-this will make you feel helpless as a parent 

-know at this age there is a ton of hockey left. This is not the end.

Good luck to any parents and kids that try out.  

Sounds like for the amount of a tryout fee you learned quite a bit, and you and your son will benefit from this experience as he continues to play this great sport.  

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19 minutes ago, fafa fohi said:

Sounds like for the amount of a tryout fee you learned quite a bit, and you and your son will benefit from this experience as he continues to play this great sport.  

Totally. And for 3 sessions with PPE coaches was worth the money

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It doesn’t take a lot of effort to see that a dad is being honest about his son, his try outs, and the results. Over and above all of the other white noise generated by this forum, I find it refreshing.

Congrats. To the player AND his dad. He might not have made the team he tried out for, but I’ll bet he is a better player for the effort put forth.

Edited by Chinstrap
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8 hours ago, HockeyDad23 said:

Well our PPE journey for this year has come to an end. I think it was a good learning experience. Was an eventful 3 days. My son was in a group with a lot of elite (elite not black) kids from last year (over 1/3). We assumed that might be a good thing as the coach said they were re grouping based on similiar skill level. But turns out it wasn't. So not sure how groups were set up. I originally started this post looking for advice so now I can give some if parents are considering PPE tryouts. Know the following:

-be sure you can handle the truth - my kid is not ready for AAA hockey

-is your family reasy for the committment if you do make it - financially committed and time

-be sure your kid is mentally tough to handle disappointment is rejected

-know your hands are tied during tryouts. You cannot see it happening so therefore cant provide feedback to your kid on areas to improve-this will make you feel helpless as a parent 

-know at this age there is a ton of hockey left. This is not the end.

Good luck to any parents and kids that try out.  

One of the best things that happened for my son was trying out for the Pens 2 years ago and not even making the 4th day. Lit a real fire under his tail. 

Last year he was offered Black and turned it down. He wants to make Gold and he has improved dramatically in the last 2 years. 

Not making the team he wanted with on-point constructive criticism (which we feel like we received) will drive the right kid to work hard. Did for my son. Hope it does for yours too...

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1 hour ago, Hky05 said:

Heard there were some

shakeups at the Squirt tryouts for pens elite already?? How much truth to this?!

What shake ups would there be with 48 call backs for skaters and 7 goalies for day 3? That is every kid being called back but like 5 from days 1 and 2. Just saying, not being defensive. 

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7 minutes ago, Questions21 said:

What shake ups would there be with 48 call backs for skaters and 7 goalies for day 3? That is every kid being called back but like 5 from days 1 and 2. Just saying, not being defensive. 

Some kids that made it before not making it 

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1 hour ago, Questions21 said:

Every single kid from last season that tried out got called back for day 3 on MONDAY with 20 more skaters and 3 more goalies on top of the 4 from last season. 

Did they keep the same goalies or change

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48 minutes ago, Hky05 said:

Did they keep the same goalies or change

There were a total of 5 goalies. 4 from last year and 1 random. The 4 made it according to the website and the 5th kid is an alternate. No change.

I personally did not see a big mix up if at all. In total last year there were 9 kids of 8 coaches on Elite and Black that played that made it again.  So thats 9 spots already fill out of a possible 30. And being coaches kids they probably are very advanced players.

My study of the numbers and what I know from friends that tried out is little to zero new kids made it that were not in the program. No a “shake up” by any means.

My only feedback or negative experience is when there are tryouts you are told not to wear PaHL stickers etc to avoid bias.

Well every PPE kid from last year that tried out had on a yellow Dicks helmet with their stickers. You can tell who has been there.

Other than that it is a tightly run ship!

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19 minutes ago, HockeyDad23 said:

There were a total of 5 goalies. 4 from last year and 1 random. The 4 made it according to the website and the 5th kid is an alternate. No change.

I personally did not see a big mix up if at all. In total last year there were 9 kids of 8 coaches on Elite and Black that played that made it again.  So thats 9 spots already fill out of a possible 30. And being coaches kids they probably are very advanced players.

My study of the numbers and what I know from friends that tried out is little to zero new kids made it that were not in the program. No a “shake up” by any means.

My only feedback or negative experience is when there are tryouts you are told not to wear PaHL stickers etc to avoid bias.

Well every PPE kid from last year that tried out had on a yellow Dicks helmet with their stickers. You can tell who has been there.

Other than that it is a tightly run ship!

I’ve heard esmark is the same way. The kids wear the shells and stickers even if they are asked not to 

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2 minutes ago, Hky05 said:

I’ve heard esmark is the same way. The kids wear the shells and stickers even if they are asked not to 

Yeah. Probably not a super big deal if the evaluators are being objective. But it looks bad and frankly we are all human. If I was an independent evaluator I see the yellow helmet, Im like “this kid has been here before.”  

 

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