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2022 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA PENGUIN CUP SCHEDULE


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11 minutes ago, hockeyisgreat said:

I'm sure it was great but the game was sold out well in advance!  How do we grow the sport if we can't get more spectators?

No argument there but aside from myself and probably a handful of others, the crowd was 99% students/parents. There's not enough to fill the lower bowl that way. PIHL and the Penguins do absolutely no advertising for these playoffs and its a shame. 

Hell, they can't even sell out the lower bowl for the NCAA tournament that RMU used to host. We just aren't a hockey town in the sense that random fans with no affiliation to either team will come watch a game like they do in some other parts of the country of Canada. It is what it is, and I think the players enjoy playing to a loud house in Cranberry more than they would playing at PPG. 

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4 minutes ago, forbin said:

No argument there but aside from myself and probably a handful of others, the crowd was 99% students/parents. There's not enough to fill the lower bowl that way. PIHL and the Penguins do absolutely no advertising for these playoffs and its a shame. 

Hell, they can't even sell out the lower bowl for the NCAA tournament that RMU used to host. We just aren't a hockey town in the sense that random fans with no affiliation to either team will come watch a game like they do in some other parts of the country of Canada. It is what it is, and I think the players enjoy playing to a loud house in Cranberry more than they would playing at PPG. 

Yeah I went to a few of those NCAA games.  But I couldn't get a ticket for the finals to take my grandson!  So fill up one side of the bowl!  I still think it would be a great atmosphere for the kids! I f you don't try it will never happen!

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15 minutes ago, Spear and Magic Helmet said:

Sorry, I'm a little out of the loop. What rink is this?? I didn't realize we had a rink where you couldn't play above Pee Wee.

Hess Ice Rink in Newcastle, PA. It was a terrible rink before, pretty nice now. Locker rooms are some of the best around actually in my opinion. Biggest negative is there is only one small bleacher area so you just have to stand along the glass. 

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30 minutes ago, forbin said:

Hess Ice Rink in Newcastle, PA. It was a terrible rink before, pretty nice now. Locker rooms are some of the best around actually in my opinion. Biggest negative is there is only one small bleacher area so you just have to stand along the glass. 

The new locker rooms up there are great. HUGE. No doubt.

I may be wrong but I think the neutral zone is short there - I don't think it's a regulation sized rink.

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I believe PPG was donated by the Pens as part of giving back to the community. But then it was a lot cheaper donation to move it to their practice facility. Pens' supporting WPA HS hockey is like how PPE is supposed to develop local kids. They talk a lot but deliver as little as possible.

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By the way Congrats to Neshannock. Program has come a long way and great for the region - both HS and PAHL. Could/Should they have been in A? Probably but a rising program like them can use a couple of years of success to help build the program and get the hockey community behind the program. Any PAHL player from Neshannock that was there last night has to be dreaming about that being them someday.

Edited by Denis Lemiuex
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6 hours ago, Lifelongbender said:

The new locker rooms up there are great. HUGE. No doubt.

I may be wrong but I think the neutral zone is short there - I don't think it's a regulation sized rink.

Yes it’s short and minimal bleachers. As much as we did extending the building to extend the ice and add more bleachers was not financially feasible. There is a wishlist item to build a second sheet but further growth would have to happen for that to occur

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2 hours ago, Novos51 said:

Yes it’s short and minimal bleachers. As much as we did extending the building to extend the ice and add more bleachers was not financially feasible. There is a wishlist item to build a second sheet but further growth would have to happen for that to occur

Well, for what it's worth the renovations and addition are really nice. The lobby renovations look great, too.

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3 hours ago, Novos51 said:

Yes it’s short and minimal bleachers. As much as we did extending the building to extend the ice and add more bleachers was not financially feasible. There is a wishlist item to build a second sheet but further growth would have to happen for that to occur

Well, as others have said, it's great to see you took this step and improved the rink. The "B" division is a perfectly fine way to grow your program and I am glad to see you had some success.

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14 hours ago, forbin said:

Great idea in theory, but I don't see them selling out the lower bowl. The atmosphere of the completely packed house in Cranberry is really cool to see. It was SO loud in there for the Norwin/McDowell game. 

I know a lot more people would have liked to be able to  go to the Peters vs SV game and could not because it was sold out.  I am sure that was the case for some of the other Penguin Cup games as well.  It is time to move those games back to a bigger venue and if you ask the players they would DEFINITELY prefer to play at PPG. 

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WPIAL football championships are played at Heinz field. It obviously doesn't sell out but it is still awesome.

UPMC Lemieux is a nice venue, but the Seneca Valley vs Peters Township game could've tripled the capacity if the tickets were available.

You take one afternoon/evening at PPG and do all the games back-to-back. One ticket is good for all three (or four) games. I bet they sell 6,000 - 7,000 tickets, especially with even some minimal advertising.

I personally heard from a handful of people that wanted to go to the game at UPMC Lemieux, but couldn't because the tickets were sold out four days before the event.

Edited by RJUSHL
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9 minutes ago, RJUSHL said:

You take one afternoon/evening at PPG and do all the games back-to-back. One ticket is good for all three (or four) games. I bet they sell 6,000 - 7,000 tickets, especially with even some minimal advertising.

I do really like this idea, however I think you are severally overestimating the popularity of high school hockey in Western PA. Maybe things could change with the right people involved.

Bottom line is there is zero advertising done for this and its a damn shame. The Penguins should be responsible for doing a better job at getting the word out regardless of the venue. If it were to be held at PPG, then they should provide free tickets to all students of all schools involved, as well as free tickets to all players and families of local PAHL organizations that share a rink with those high school teams. Maybe then you have 5-6k people showing up, maybe. 

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11 minutes ago, forbin said:

I do really like this idea, however I think you are severally overestimating the popularity of high school hockey in Western PA. Maybe things could change with the right people involved.

Bottom line is there is zero advertising done for this and its a damn shame. The Penguins should be responsible for doing a better job at getting the word out regardless of the venue. If it were to be held at PPG, then they should provide free tickets to all students of all schools involved, as well as free tickets to all players and families of local PAHL organizations that share a rink with those high school teams. Maybe then you have 5-6k people showing up, maybe. 

someones kid obv plays for the Norwin team bc they where on the news the other day w game highlights and everything. but they said zero about the Peters township game..   so it is clearly IF someone has friends or family in places otherwise the city could care less about school hockey. this is a football city 

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At least 3,600 tickets were sold between the four games, most of the games selling out days before the event. Not a stretch at all to think that the couldn't sell 6,000 - 7,000 if at PPG.

But people are right, there isn't some wide audience of random people that care about high school hockey. Not like football. But between players family, friends, students, and other hockey players in the school program and their family, 6,000 -7,000 is not a stretch at all.

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I guess it depends on what the ticket costs, but 6000 tickets really sounds very, very optimistic to me. I would think the major obstacle is cost in any case. I'm sure it costs way more to get the ice at PPG. Someone would have to foot the bill for that, and I'm not sure if the Penguins are interested in doing that after a couple of years of revenues being battered.

I do agree with the points about the kids wanting to play at PPG. I am sure most of them would want to play there even if the entire arena were empty.

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Not sure what the attendance would be at PPG but RMU and UPMC are both too small for the Pens or PA Cup.  I've been to both several times pre COVID and more recently as well.  Unless your your connected to either team, it can be difficult to get tickets.

PPG is too big but unfortunately, there's no other facility in the area that falls in between.  Would love to see it there with HS bands to give it a NCAA game atmosphere.

I played at Mellon Arena several times in HS and even though it was too hot and the ice was terribly slow, it was still special to be there...I think most players would feel the same about PPG.

 

Edited by sarampage
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3 hours ago, Spear and Magic Helmet said:

I guess it depends on what the ticket costs, but 6000 tickets really sounds very, very optimistic to me. I would think the major obstacle is cost in any case. I'm sure it costs way more to get the ice at PPG. Someone would have to foot the bill for that, and I'm not sure if the Penguins are interested in doing that after a couple of years of revenues being battered.

I do agree with the points about the kids wanting to play at PPG. I am sure most of them would want to play there even if the entire arena were empty.

The cost to foot the bill? What about all the money taxpayers spent for the Pens to have a brand new building? That arena should be used not only for the championship games, but many other games as well. I played there as a member of Duquesne around 5 games a year. And that rink should be available for Duquesne and Pitt to use now. It is ridiculous to think that the rink gets used for around 45 Pens games and sits idle the rest of the time. Especially since it is a public subsidized building. 

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People really won't travel for these games so PSU is out.  The war memorial is still to far for the fair weather fan.  What other choices do you have? PPG is simply to big, most would probably rather play in front of a packed house at RMU or the UPMC facility in Cranberrry.  I just don't see any other options.  

Good luck PT!

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