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What if the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers got together and really supported Youth Hockey and the Community School Programs it serves?


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On 11/10/2021 at 10:09 AM, Pa Hockey said:

Great point or like Illinois the Penguins and Flyers could choose to invest in the community hockey programs ? The Penguins Cup and Flyers Cup should be in the NHL Arena to Start ! 

Playing high school hockey in an  NHL arena sucks.  The novelty wears off quickly when you are only filling 3 sections of the arena.

The Flyers have been investing in community hockey for years through Ed Snider Youth Hockey.  They have raised and spent millions.  They have paid for the city to reopen rinks.  Their youth hockey program (Snider Youth) has teams playing at all levels of Tier 2.  They are a fantastic program and very successful.  They are an example of professional sports having success in diversity and inclusion, before it was a thing.  Their efforts will never result in more growth of high school hockey though.

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8 hours ago, carroll81 said:

Playing high school hockey in an  NHL arena sucks.  The novelty wears off quickly when you are only filling 3 sections of the arena.

The Flyers have been investing in community hockey for years through Ed Snider Youth Hockey.  They have raised and spent millions.  They have paid for the city to reopen rinks.  Their youth hockey program (Snider Youth) has teams playing at all levels of Tier 2.  They are a fantastic program and very successful.  They are an example of professional sports having success in diversity and inclusion, before it was a thing.  Their efforts will never result in more growth of high school hockey though.

Personally I like the smaller venues UPMC Lemieux and Ice Line for the terrific atmosphere for the State Finals 

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8 hours ago, carroll81 said:

Playing high school hockey in an  NHL arena sucks.  The novelty wears off quickly when you are only filling 3 sections of the arena.

I think if you asked the kids who played Football at Heinz Field for WPIAL finals they will tell you it was Awesome even with only a few thousand fans in the stands.  I'm starting to agree that this is an NFL town only.  Haven't really watched or noticed. Are Steelers games sold out this year? My Hockey player remembers when he played at PPG in ADM many years ago.

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2 hours ago, Pa Hockey said:

Personally I like the smaller venues UPMC Lemieux and Ice Line for the terrific atmosphere for the State Finals 

RMU use to host it back in early 2000's. and it was filled to the gills( more fans then an actual RMU D1 hockey game)... it outgrew that venue and they moved it.  But they did an amazing job for the fan experience and the players as well 

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1 hour ago, forbin said:

Maybe if Pittsburgh had a NAHL or USHL team with their own barn it would make for a perfectly sized venue to host High School state finals..... 

Yeah that's been on the Penguins radar for awhile.  Looks like lots of unused property north of UPMC Lemieux for a bigger venue.  It might happen some day.

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They should hold the Penguins cup at PPG.  Even with the arena mostly empty I guarantee most kids would rather play there.  When it is held at the  UPMC rink there is no parking and no where to sit.  

  Pittsburgh sports fans only tend to be fans when teams do well.  Watch what will happen to the Steelers once they go further into the toilet.  Tickets become easy to come by.  The other thing to remember when comparing football and hockey is the Pens play 40 plus regular season home games while the Steelers play 8.  

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3 hours ago, PUCKCOVID19 said:

RMU use to host it back in early 2000's. and it was filled to the gills( more fans then an actual RMU D1 hockey game)... it outgrew that venue and they moved it.  But they did an amazing job for the fan experience and the players as well 

RMU and UPMC are the same size, RMU might be a bit bigger 

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31 minutes ago, Ron Shock said:

There was a NAHL https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_Forge

they were sold when RMU bought the rink.

Without derailing this thread to oblivion. I loved going to those games. That was pre Crosby era and I think a NAHL team would do better in Pittsburgh now. Make the tickets cheap, make it accessible, make a youth program that "feeds" into it and name it the same as the team like  Jr. Forge or something and people would be ALL about it. Pittsburgh may not be a "hockey town" by other standards, but something like that would generate a good amount of buzz for the sport. UPMC already hosts the USHL Fall classic. I am positive some conversations have been held about bringing a junior team here. 

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13 minutes ago, forbin said:

Without derailing this thread to oblivion. I loved going to those games. That was pre Crosby era and I think a NAHL team would do better in Pittsburgh now. Make the tickets cheap, make it accessible, make a youth program that "feeds" into it and name it the same as the team like  Jr. Forge or something and people would be ALL about it. Pittsburgh may not be a "hockey town" by other standards, but something like that would generate a good amount of buzz for the sport. UPMC already hosts the USHL Fall classic. I am positive some conversations have been held about bringing a junior team here. 

Lets do it!!!!

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48 minutes ago, forbin said:

Without derailing this thread to oblivion. I loved going to those games. That was pre Crosby era and I think a NAHL team would do better in Pittsburgh now. Make the tickets cheap, make it accessible, make a youth program that "feeds" into it and name it the same as the team like  Jr. Forge or something and people would be ALL about it. Pittsburgh may not be a "hockey town" by other standards, but something like that would generate a good amount of buzz for the sport. UPMC already hosts the USHL Fall classic. I am positive some conversations have been held about bringing a junior team here. 

I agree. I might add that it would be a much better use of the Penguins' money to get a USHL or NAHL team here.

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2 hours ago, forbin said:

Without derailing this thread to oblivion. I loved going to those games. That was pre Crosby era and I think a NAHL team would do better in Pittsburgh now. Make the tickets cheap, make it accessible, make a youth program that "feeds" into it and name it the same as the team like  Jr. Forge or something and people would be ALL about it. Pittsburgh may not be a "hockey town" by other standards, but something like that would generate a good amount of buzz for the sport. UPMC already hosts the USHL Fall classic. I am positive some conversations have been held about bringing a junior team here. 

It will go bust in less than 4 years due to lack of support 

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We should start by having hockey recognized as a sport and not a club activity.  Once we have that we can have schools provide transportation to the games.  Once schools start to provide transportation to the games you could fill the bus with students who want to go to the game.  Possibly add a second bus if needed.  If you have ever been to Div 1 game most schools also have a band at the game, at least a Pep band.  Why don't schools send a Pep band to the games at least the playoff games?  I can tell you the local High School band director was sent an email about doing this and we heard cricketts back.  

PPG is a great venue but unless you can fill the place some of the atmosphere is lost.  It would be really cool if Pitt had a D1 team with an on campus arena.  Maybe Pegula would be a great venue for the State Championship depending on who is playing.  Smaller venue would be better IMO if you can fill it up and get the place rocking.

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4 hours ago, HSFBLJ said:

We should start by having hockey recognized as a sport and not a club activity.  Once we have that we can have schools provide transportation to the games.  Once schools start to provide transportation to the games you could fill the bus with students who want to go to the game.  Possibly add a second bus if needed.  If you have ever been to Div 1 game most schools also have a band at the game, at least a Pep band.  Why don't schools send a Pep band to the games at least the playoff games?  I can tell you the local High School band director was sent an email about doing this and we heard cricketts back.  

PPG is a great venue but unless you can fill the place some of the atmosphere is lost.  It would be really cool if Pitt had a D1 team with an on campus arena.  Maybe Pegula would be a great venue for the State Championship depending on who is playing.  Smaller venue would be better IMO if you can fill it up and get the place rocking.

People have been trying to get hockey recognized as a sport for probably 50 years. The fact that lacrosse and field hockey are sanctioned despite coming along much later is not encouraging. Even niche sports like rifle, bowling, and water polo are PIAA sanctioned. The schools could do more on their own, but most schools do not, even at the schools where participation is (relatively) high. They are definitely not banging on the PIAA's door demanding hockey be added. I have a feeling they are discussing adding e-sports though.

I just don't feel like many people outside of hockey really want to add hockey. Plus I don't know if hockey wants it anyhow. You'd have to have the season run from November to February. That's half as long as the season is now, and the length of the high school season around here is a huge reason why split season amateur hockey will not work. I don't know, it just seems like there are a lot of issues that have never been resolved and aren't likely to change.

Edited by Spear and Magic Helmet
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19 minutes ago, BeaverFalls said:

Not the first person I’ve heard that the next sanctioned sport will be e-“sports”….it’s been discussed by AD’s…but maybe world of chel will be part of it. 
 

"E-sports" are much cheaper and, outside carpal tunnel syndrome, don't cause injuries.

And they have none of the traditional positive health effects, either.

One can see why schools wouldn't hesitate to add them, given how glued most kids are to their consoles. But what a shame.

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8 hours ago, HSFBLJ said:

We should start by having hockey recognized as a sport and not a club activity.  Once we have that we can have schools provide transportation to the games.  Once schools start to provide transportation to the games you could fill the bus with students who want to go to the game.  Possibly add a second bus if needed.  If you have ever been to Div 1 game most schools also have a band at the game, at least a Pep band.  Why don't schools send a Pep band to the games at least the playoff games?  I can tell you the local High School band director was sent an email about doing this and we heard cricketts back.  

PPG is a great venue but unless you can fill the place some of the atmosphere is lost.  It would be really cool if Pitt had a D1 team with an on campus arena.  Maybe Pegula would be a great venue for the State Championship depending on who is playing.  Smaller venue would be better IMO if you can fill it up and get the place rocking.

All of what you said backs up the claim that Pittsburgh is not a hockey town.  Schools don’t support it, the area doesn’t support it.  Pitt won’t have NCAA because there is no support for club (by the area or the school).

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6 hours ago, Lifelongbender said:

"E-sports" are much cheaper and, outside carpal tunnel syndrome, don't cause injuries.

And they have none of the traditional positive health effects, either.

One can see why schools wouldn't hesitate to add them, given how glued most kids are to their consoles. But what a shame.

There is a surprising number of college scholarships for e-sports now available.  It will soon surpasses that of hockey, if it hasn't already.

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18 hours ago, Eddie Shore said:

All of what you said backs up the claim that Pittsburgh is not a hockey town.  Schools don’t support it, the area doesn’t support it.  Pitt won’t have NCAA because there is no support for club (by the area or the school).

I agree Eddie. Pitt will have an on-campus football stadium before they have an on-campus ice arena. There were rumors that Lemieux approached Pitt about adding ice making equipment when they were building the Peterson Events Center. There response supposedly was no and the reasoning was they wanted the Penguins to leave town so there would less competition for the basketball team. Given the state that the basketball team is now, I am sure they aren't interested in spending the money now to retrofit the building with ice.

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