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U18 “AAA” same old story year after year


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My niece playing still makes me follow some youth hockey - mainly midget. 
 

I took a look today at the rankings - its only the start of October, already the predators “AAA” & Vengance “AAA teams are eliminated from the district tournement. This is one of the main reasons you play tier 1 - to make the district tournement. This is like a never ending story. By October the faux western pa teams are already out! So I have to ask the parents with kids on these teams - WHY ? I don’t want to hear better competition, there are western pa PAHL teams ranked higher ffs. SSA isn’t a tier 1 program anymore.  I don’t want to hear better coaching because the guy running the south hills midget teams is a terrible coach showing up for money. I hope it’s not the my kid plays “AAA” ego because that’s pretty embarrassing to see this many AA teams ranked higher.   I am really trying to understand the thought process. Every year this song is on repeat. 
 

U18 midget over all district rankings 

image.thumb.jpeg.c4478282d48706d77dc826f8ff97d5f8.jpeg
 

U18 tier 1 district rankings below  - culver hasn’t played enough games. Culver will take a top 3 spot. did the icemen go away ? 10 teams in the district once culver enters. A team will probably need close to a 94 rating to make top 6 and the tournament. Current 7, 8 & 9 are sunk and done for the year. 
image.thumb.png.bbc9672d6eccd66b8fdb4e582e219c36.png

 

 

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They like to travel their kids like to travel the AA families are so lame because they only want to travel twice the AA programs don't offer enough ice or off ice it's our money let us spend it however we want it's none of your business.

There. Took care of everything they will say.

Can we talk about something else?

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It is their money, why do you care how they spend it? If they want to listen to what people have to say on here then cool if they don't want to listen then cool. Maybe they just like the organization or coach that they are playing for and don't give a shit about the rankings. ????

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1 hour ago, Pucks11 said:

It is their money, why do you care how they spend it? If they want to listen to what people have to say on here then cool if they don't want to listen then cool. Maybe they just like the organization or coach that they are playing for and don't give a shit about the rankings. ????

It’s not even much a money question -I am trying to understand WHY. these teams clearly can not compete at the tier 1 level, it’s not making their kids better. What’s the allure ? As I stated above, year after year it’s the same story. Season over as soon as it starts. PAHL teams ranked higher. 

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12 hours ago, Danner27 said:

It’s not even much a money question -I am trying to understand WHY. these teams clearly can not compete at the tier 1 level, it’s not making their kids better. What’s the allure ? As I stated above, year after year it’s the same story. Season over as soon as it starts. PAHL teams ranked higher. 

No mention of U16 Tier 1 and what is developing there with local talent - how convenient.  

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21 hours ago, Danner27 said:

My niece playing still makes me follow some youth hockey - mainly midget. 
 

I took a look today at the rankings - its only the start of October, already the predators “AAA” & Vengance “AAA teams are eliminated from the district tournement. This is one of the main reasons you play tier 1 - to make the district tournement. This is like a never ending story. By October the faux western pa teams are already out! So I have to ask the parents with kids on these teams - WHY ? I don’t want to hear better competition, there are western pa PAHL teams ranked higher ffs. SSA isn’t a tier 1 program anymore.  I don’t want to hear better coaching because the guy running the south hills midget teams is a terrible coach showing up for money. I hope it’s not the my kid plays “AAA” ego because that’s pretty embarrassing to see this many AA teams ranked higher.   I am really trying to understand the thought process. Every year this song is on repeat. 
 

U18 midget over all district rankings 

image.thumb.jpeg.c4478282d48706d77dc826f8ff97d5f8.jpeg
 

U18 tier 1 district rankings below  - culver hasn’t played enough games. Culver will take a top 3 spot. did the icemen go away ? 10 teams in the district once culver enters. A team will probably need close to a 94 rating to make top 6 and the tournament. Current 7, 8 & 9 are sunk and done for the year. 
image.thumb.png.bbc9672d6eccd66b8fdb4e582e219c36.png

 

 

I think someone else said it to, but enough of the AAA or "faux" AAA talk.  Who really cares anymore?  I feel like the people who bring it up over and over again have kids on AA teams and they want to try to make some weird point that their AA kid's team is better than the kids on AAA teams.  Hell, they even rip the Pens AAA.  Nothing makes them happy. Let's face it, in the end, 99.9% of them end up playing on some club team or going to some bad jr. team or just end their career until beer league.  Just let the kids play whatever overpriced, underpriced, bad coached, good coached, or whatever platitude you want on the teams.  It's just youth sports.  Period.  The U16AAA or U15AAA, or whatever other AAA program is out there is going to end up doing the same thing.  

These threads are old and repetitive.  Isn't there anything else going on in Pgh Hockey other than rehashing this same drama?

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1 hour ago, hockey57410 said:

I think someone else said it to, but enough of the AAA or "faux" AAA talk.  Who really cares anymore?  I feel like the people who bring it up over and over again have kids on AA teams and they want to try to make some weird point that their AA kid's team is better than the kids on AAA teams.  Hell, they even rip the Pens AAA.  Nothing makes them happy. Let's face it, in the end, 99.9% of them end up playing on some club team or going to some bad jr. team or just end their career until beer league.  Just let the kids play whatever overpriced, underpriced, bad coached, good coached, or whatever platitude you want on the teams.  It's just youth sports.  Period.  The U16AAA or U15AAA, or whatever other AAA program is out there is going to end up doing the same thing.  

These threads are old and repetitive.  Isn't there anything else going on in Pgh Hockey other than rehashing this same drama?

I agree these threads are old and repetitive!  But that's human nature unfortunately!  We only like to complain! And people generally only go on Forums when they want to grump.  Occasionally you will get someone who has an honest question but mostly it's about complaining for whatever reason!

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44 minutes ago, Danner27 said:

Ok, found the parents. 

Aww, how cute.

Another swing and a miss.  We have heard your story and your kid's ad nauseam but keep drinking the PPE Kool-Aid.  The straw must be really, really long.

BD3EDE7D-7590-48D4-9F95-E3CCA8FAB326_4_5005_c.jpeg

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17 hours ago, Danner27 said:

It’s not even much a money question -I am trying to understand WHY. these teams clearly can not compete at the tier 1 level, it’s not making their kids better. What’s the allure ? As I stated above, year after year it’s the same story. Season over as soon as it starts. PAHL teams ranked higher. 

I think the following is the real reason...we, as humans, are programmed to think our kids are the best and/or want the best for them. Most good ones. Quite a few parents have trouble telling their kids no, too. They don't want to be the dream crushers and literally will finance their child's dream with their house or retirement. Even when all logic tells them it is not going to happen for their child. Or they can flat out afford it and don't care.

Those feelings are some powerful stuff. You can't fight that with stats or logic or whatever. It's rooted in wanting to do right by your child, too, so it's hard to fault parents.

This is a parent driven market. Until an organization steps in to rein in

 

 the AAAs nothing will change. And really, then a non USA sanctioned league would start. 

If the powers that be don't care why should any of us?

 

 

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11 minutes ago, Saucey said:

I think the following is the real reason...we, as humans, are programmed to think our kids are the best and/or want the best for them. Most good ones. Quite a few parents have trouble telling their kids no, too. They don't want to be the dream crushers and literally will finance their child's dream with their house or retirement. Even when all logic tells them it is not going to happen for their child. Or they can flat out afford it and don't care.

Those feelings are some powerful stuff. You can't fight that with stats or logic or whatever. It's rooted in wanting to do right by your child, too, so it's hard to fault parents.

This is a parent driven market. Until an organization steps in to rein in

 

 the AAAs nothing will change. And really, then a non USA sanctioned league would start. 

If the powers that be don't care why should any of us?

 

 

@Saucey that’s a great reply. I myself was guilty of not saying no when my kids were much younger, not so much with sports but life in general.  In life we all want the best for our kids, we want our kids to out live us, have even better lives. I understand your logic BUT year after year after year with these few teams it’s the same result. It’s maddening - parents are not doing what’s best for their kids imo. Tier 3 garbage junior hockey has somewhat gutted midget aaa over the past few years, a lot of the dream chasing parents gravitate towards it. So who is left to fill the roster of these basement dwelling “aaa” teams ? is it really just education - uneducated parents thinking they are opening a door for their kid ? 

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Just now, hockeyisgreat said:

What does that mean? I'm a little slow! Please explain!  Thanks

He thinks that he is agitating people by making stupid posts. He gets off on people commenting on what he says and thinks that he triggered someone.

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32 minutes ago, Danner27 said:

a lot of the dream chasing parents

My observation is that line 1 on the lower teams is interchangeable with line 3 on the higher teams.   There is some talent to be found, but for whatever reason, the kids can't break in to the better squads.  So only choices are to leave town or stay and play with other hopefuls.  Dream chasing fo sho.

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Case in point, a recent Preds 03 worked his way onto a NAHL team this summer.  It appears he had been cut, but now picked up by an NCDC team.  Best of luck to him as he progresses.  That's not bad for coming from one of the faux programs - and further ahead than a lot of his birthyear peers at PPE/Esmark.

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55 minutes ago, Danner27 said:

@Saucey that’s a great reply. I myself was guilty of not saying no when my kids were much younger, not so much with sports but life in general.  In life we all want the best for our kids, we want our kids to out live us, have even better lives. I understand your logic BUT year after year after year with these few teams it’s the same result. It’s maddening - parents are not doing what’s best for their kids imo. Tier 3 garbage junior hockey has somewhat gutted midget aaa over the past few years, a lot of the dream chasing parents gravitate towards it. So who is left to fill the roster of these basement dwelling “aaa” teams ? is it really just education - uneducated parents thinking they are opening a door for their kid ? 

Tier 3 juniors are garbage? They do advance players to NCAA Div. 3. And I wonder if you have ever watched a game at that level.

I’d also like to know what your qualifications are to make such a statement. Were you such a high level player that you can say that the hockey is no good? Have you been appointed the arbiter of what is or isn’t good hockey by the hockey gods? I guess if you think that Tier 3 is no good, then you probably do not think much hockey besides the absolute top levels can be good. 
 

I myself enjoy watching all levels of hockey, from mite to to midget to junior and pros. I find joy in seeing kids compete at all levels. Even at the lowest skill levels a kid can make a play that makes me smile. 

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8 minutes ago, Jack Handey said:

Case in point, a recent Preds 03 worked his way onto a NAHL team this summer.  It appears he had been cut, but now picked up by an NCDC team.  Best of luck to him as he progresses.  That's not bad for coming from one of the faux programs - and further ahead than a lot of his birthyear peers at PPE/Esmark.

If we are talking about the same kid -  he started out at PPE, got cut went to the  predators, nobody noticed him then he went to esmark for U18, yuri got him some looks,  made a nahl team, cut to the na3 then moved over to the ncdc. This kid has serious talent if we are talking about the same kid. His goal is to get back to the nahl. This kid was and is better than 80% of the players that played on that special 03 ppe BY. He should have never been cut. Pure politics at its best. His talent interfeared with the kids PPE wanted to advance from that BY.  There is currently another western pa kid on this same ncdc team that played for the shaha bantam tier 2 national champs, went to the predators for U15, left for esmark at U16. Yuri has a relationship with this ncdc team. A good amount of esmark kids over the past 2-3 years have got solid looks, along with some games from this team. 

 

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12 minutes ago, Happy Hockey Fan said:

Tier 3 juniors are garbage? They do advance players to NCAA Div. 3. And I wonder if you have ever watched a game at that level.

I’d also like to know what your qualifications are to make such a statement. Were you such a high level player that you can say that the hockey is no good? Have you been appointed the arbiter of what is or isn’t good hockey by the hockey gods? I guess if you think that Tier 3 is no good, then you probably do not think much hockey besides the absolute top levels can be good. 
 

I myself enjoy watching all levels of hockey, from mite to to midget to junior and pros. I find joy in seeing kids compete at all levels. Even at the lowest skill levels a kid can make a play that makes me smile. 

"I'd also like to know what your qualifications are to make such a statement."

Oh god here we go again.  Be careful of what you wish for and I can quote point by point on his "qualifications" because he has stated them here on this forum a hundred+ times, while talking down others that disagree with him.  Indirectly he has called levels, teams and players "garbage." He's quite the guy. 

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22 minutes ago, Jack Handey said:

Case in point, a recent Preds 03 worked his way onto a NAHL team this summer.  It appears he had been cut, but now picked up by an NCDC team.  Best of luck to him as he progresses.  That's not bad for coming from one of the faux programs - and further ahead than a lot of his birthyear peers at PPE/Esmark.

What team in the NCDC is he playing for? 

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1 minute ago, fafa fohi said:

"I'd also like to know what your qualifications are to make such a statement."

Oh god here we go again.  Be careful of what you wish for and I can quote point by point on his "qualifications" because he has stated them here on this forum a hundred+ times, while talking down others that disagree with him.  Indirectly he has called levels, teams and players "garbage." He's quite the guy. 

Well what are his qualifications then? 

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18 minutes ago, Happy Hockey Fan said:

Tier 3 juniors are garbage? They do advance players to NCAA Div. 3. And I wonder if you have ever watched a game at that level.

I’d also like to know what your qualifications are to make such a statement. Were you such a high level player that you can say that the hockey is no good? Have you been appointed the arbiter of what is or isn’t good hockey by the hockey gods? I guess if you think that Tier 3 is no good, then you probably do not think much hockey besides the absolute top levels can be good. 
 

I myself enjoy watching all levels of hockey, from mite to to midget to junior and pros. I find joy in seeing kids compete at all levels. Even at the lowest skill levels a kid can make a play that makes me smile. 

Smh - keep playing your usphl bill. The EHL is the best of tier 3 in the states and it’s not that great. 
 

I have seen enough “ncaa” division 3 hockey to want to vomit. @Pa Hockey and I discussed this somehwere a few times on this board. 

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9 minutes ago, Danner27 said:

Smh - keep playing your usphl bill. The EHL is the best of tier 3 in the states and it’s not that great. 
 

I have seen enough “ncaa” division 3 hockey to want to vomit. @Pa Hockey and I discussed this somehwere a few times on this board. 

You must have been the best hockey player I never heard of. 

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