Silver sticks

[Birddog]

I found it interesting that 3 western PA teams found their way into the finals at Silversticks this weekend.

[hockeydadlife]

It’s not a must attend tourney these days, like it may have been in years past.

[hockeyisgreat]

6 hours ago, Birddog said:

I found it interesting that 3 western PA teams found their way into the finals at Silversticks this weekend.

OK, so who were they and how did they do?

[hockeyisgreat]

1 hour ago, hockeydadlife said:

It’s not a must attend tourney these days, like it may have been in years past.

Why do you say that?

[PUCKCOVID19]

agreed all those ccm invites ruined the hype of the silver sticks.  silver sticks use to be the event to go to 

[forbin]

4 hours ago, hockeyisgreat said:

OK, so who were they and how did they do?

09 Mid State Mustangs lost 

07 SHAHA won 

05 SCIR lost 

[Wes]

11 hours ago, Birddog said:

I found it interesting that 3 western PA teams found their way into the finals at Silversticks this weekend.

Which teams to be exact?

 

[Danner27]

Silver Sticks is nothing more than any other tournament these days. 

[Jack Handey]

It's a little more.  like if you win regional, you still get to participate in a national event.  Most tournaments and showcases don't have that kind of opportunity.  but i do agree the prestige is dwindling.

[Start the Zamboni]

As a parent of one of the 3 Western PA finalists this past weekend, its really the coolest thing my player(s) have done in Hockey.  From the History and Tradition, to the Regionals, to the Fantastic Opening Ceremony, to the Pin Trading, to the exceptional Finals Pre-Game Ceremony and Post game awards.....  It just goes on and on.  

In the world of corporate sponsored tournaments and big $$, a lot is lost about the true meaning of what hockey is supposed to be.....Fun for the kids.  The volunteers at Silversticks go out of their way to congratulate winning players, console losing players and just make it fun for everyone while talking about the games over the years.  Kids from all over get to mingle and talk about hockey and share their experiences.

Its whats right for the game and I hope my player(s) get to go back at some point before they grow up and move on with their lives.

 

Just my two cents.

[muckerandgrinder]

The biggest problem with Silver Sticks (and has been for many years) is that they still use the same website from 10 years ago. They do not promote it and getting information on registration, dates, details etc. has always been difficult.

There are a TON of tournaments out there now and many of the are subpar yet… they have glossy websites, slick banter (swag for the players and coaches!) and registration months ahead of time that is easily accessible.

Also, higher level teams want to know who they are playing if they are going to be spending a weekend somewhere.

Silver Sticks could still be relevant. They simply have to get out of the year 2005.

[Rancho1]

Canadian teams didn't go....winning it kinda doesn't really count.

[Spear and Magic Helmet]

1 hour ago, muckerandgrinder said:

The biggest problem with Silver Sticks (and has been for many years) is that they still use the same website from 10 years ago. They do not promote it and getting information on registration, dates, details etc. has always been difficult.

There are a TON of tournaments out there now and many of the are subpar yet… they have glossy websites, slick banter (swag for the players and coaches!) and registration months ahead of time that is easily accessible.

Also, higher level teams want to know who they are playing if they are going to be spending a weekend somewhere.

Silver Sticks could still be relevant. They simply have to get out of the year 2005.

I imagine some of it is inertia. They have had Silver Sticks since the 1980s, maybe even earlier. There is probably a lot of "we never had to do that before, so why do we have to do it now?"

[fafa fohi]

7 minutes ago, Spear and Magic Helmet said:

I imagine some of it is inertia. They have had Silver Sticks since the 1980s, maybe even earlier. There is probably a lot of "we never had to do that before, so why do we have to do it now?"

Compare that to the recent AAA tournament that was here just a few weeks ago, held at Baierl, Alpha and other local rinks.  Not only were standings updated regularly, stats for each player were also on the main website.  

[Corsi]

Yes, Silver Sticks was a "big deal" going back to the mid to late 80s.  Now, the higher end teams don't attend and instead go to the CCM Invite and Super Series events.  The point about knowing who you are going to play is a big deal, especially when teams are putting together their schedules.  You would run the risk of having some very unhappy parents if you spend the time and money on a tournament and the teams are not even remotely competitive with each other.  

[Novos51]

The responses on this thread really encapsulates one of the big issues with local hockey. Someone posts a congratulatory post and immediately the “that’s not good enough” posts come flying. The amount of negativity on this board is insane. PIHL sucks. Pahl sucks. Fake AAA. AA not good enough. Complete disregard of the vast majority of kids playing at levels below AA. 
Don’t get me wrong this is a whole lot to discuss but this has turned into a bitch fest about everything. My son has won B, A major, and AA tournaments and had a blast in all of them. He loves hockey. He’s not always happy how things have gone but who is. 
Maybe just congratulate those teams on here and move on. Bitching about tournaments that less than 10% of teams in PAHL will go to. The CCM is even less. You bitch about AAA but a lot of those teams are chasing higher tournaments because they are being told what they are doing just isn’t good enough. 
Stop it. Support what’s out there. Offer positive advice and measured criticism. None of the negativity encourages any change. It rings way too much of old men screaming at clouds. 

[hockeyisgreat]

1 hour ago, Novos51 said:

The responses on this thread really encapsulates one of the big issues with local hockey. Someone posts a congratulatory post and immediately the “that’s not good enough” posts come flying. The amount of negativity on this board is insane. PIHL sucks. Pahl sucks. Fake AAA. AA not good enough. Complete disregard of the vast majority of kids playing at levels below AA. 
Don’t get me wrong this is a whole lot to discuss but this has turned into a bitch fest about everything. My son has won B, A major, and AA tournaments and had a blast in all of them. He loves hockey. He’s not always happy how things have gone but who is. 
Maybe just congratulate those teams on here and move on. Bitching about tournaments that less than 10% of teams in PAHL will go to. The CCM is even less. You bitch about AAA but a lot of those teams are chasing higher tournaments because they are being told what they are doing just isn’t good enough. 
Stop it. Support what’s out there. Offer positive advice and measured criticism. None of the negativity encourages any change. It rings way too much of old men screaming at clouds. 

Agree 100 Percent.  Too many people on here only want to emphasize the negative!  When there are a lot of kids in Western Pa just having fun playing hockey!  If you notice most of the people who complain have kids who are out of hockey now.  Maybe their kids didn't meet the parents expectations so the parents are bitter that they paid all that money just for their kids to have fun.

[Saucey]

It's all noise. This board has actually been fairly civilized.

[aaaahockey]

42 minutes ago, Saucey said:

It's all noise. This board has actually been fairly civilized.

Compared to the old one especially

[Novos51]

52 minutes ago, Saucey said:

It's all noise. This board has actually been fairly civilized.

I didn’t say uncivilized I said old men yelling at clouds about how everything about youth hockey sucks. This all while hyper focusing on like 10 teams while calling 8 of them trash 

[Saucey]

No one comes on here bragging about winning any tournament. If you want pats on the back for Silver Sticks, try your Facebook wall. IGlad you and the kids had a good time.

[Novos51]

1 hour ago, Saucey said:

No one comes on here bragging about winning any tournament. If you want pats on the back for Silver Sticks, try your Facebook wall. IGlad you and the kids had a good time.

Example A is above. My kid don’t go to silver sticks. No one came looking for pats. Someone posted to recognize local success. It was recognized. It was belittled. 

Resume cloud yelling

[Saucey]

7 hours ago, Novos51 said:

Example A is above. My kid don’t go to silver sticks. No one came looking for pats. Someone posted to recognize local success. It was recognized. It was belittled. 

Resume cloud yelling

I am not cloud yelling. I didn't denegrate the tournament. But it is the internet and an anonymous board. People are not nice on a big, anonymous level, so am I poking at people whining because they came here and people weren't nice? Yes I am.

If you want positive support, don't come here. Go to your Facebook page. To be perfectly honest, yes, I don't care that anyone wins Silver Sticks or any other weekend tournament. Should it be that way? I don't know. You are right, it would be nice to go back to the days where if you had nothing nice to say, you kept it to yourself. Our politics and the pandemic have made even in person interactions terrible right now.

Maybe the bigger issue here is that youth sports are such big business now that doing these things really is not special at all. When every team does multiple tournaments every year regardless of levell ..they aren't that special to win. It is on a micro level...to those kids, that team, that organization....but on a macro level, yeah don't expect people to be impressed. Or nice. 

I am old. You too will get old. But even when I was just starting out with my travel squirt, I didn't expect random strangers on the internet to be impressed with my kids weekend wins.

[Novos51]

2 hours ago, Saucey said:

I am not cloud yelling. I didn't denegrate the tournament. But it is the internet and an anonymous board. People are not nice on a big, anonymous level, so am I poking at people whining because they came here and people weren't nice? Yes I am.

If you want positive support, don't come here. Go to your Facebook page. To be perfectly honest, yes, I don't care that anyone wins Silver Sticks or any other weekend tournament. Should it be that way? I don't know. You are right, it would be nice to go back to the days where if you had nothing nice to say, you kept it to yourself. Our politics and the pandemic have made even in person interactions terrible right now.

Maybe the bigger issue here is that youth sports are such big business now that doing these things really is not special at all. When every team does multiple tournaments every year regardless of levell ..they aren't that special to win. It is on a micro level...to those kids, that team, that organization....but on a macro level, yeah don't expect people to be impressed. Or nice. 

I am old. You too will get old. But even when I was just starting out with my travel squirt, I didn't expect random strangers on the internet to be impressed with my kids weekend wins.

I’m done with your hockey by the way so I am the old man now. If you offer nothing but complaints why are you here? Do you know how many young parents come to this board looking for info and advice. Thats clearly what they don’t get. Got to your Facebook page is new speak for get off my lawn

[Saucey]

34 minutes ago, Novos51 said:

I’m done with your hockey by the way so I am the old man now. If you offer nothing but complaints why are you here? Do you know how many young parents come to this board looking for info and advice. Thats clearly what they don’t get. Got to your Facebook page is new speak for get off my lawn

What am I complaining about?