Jump to content

Black Bear Starting to move in on Youth Hockey??


Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, HSFBLJ said:

Black Bear could be the solution to the PPE problem-

 

Boy I really hope you are joking and I missed the sarcasm.  Black Bear seems to try to monopolize the market, raise prices and control everything so they can control prices as well and make even more of a profit.  Everyone gets on PPE for trying to make as much money as possible but Black Bear is no different.  BB immediately raised ice costs, wants teama in their league which they profit from,.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, Carl Racki said:

Boy I really hope you are joking and I missed the sarcasm.  Black Bear seems to try to monopolize the market, raise prices and control everything so they can control prices as well and make even more of a profit.  Everyone gets on PPE for trying to make as much money as possible but Black Bear is no different.  BB immediately raised ice costs, wants teama in their league which they profit from,.....

Not to mention the rumors of them freezing out local skills instructors at their rinks as soon as they took over.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wasn't joking, everyone complains about PPE.  Do local skill instructors get ice time in Cranberry?  I think not.  BB may not be nice, they may be charging people more money, you may not like them.  PPE stinks, Esmark is in a bad location, I get it you think Pittsburgh Hockey stinks.  I have been a proponent of relocating your kid if you think he/she is the next "great one".  The truth is Pittsburgh has limited options.  People here just like to complain about all of them.  If (and if is a big word here) BB could somehow manage to scrape together all the kids at Esmark, whatever the frozen pond is these days, PIA, Preds and every other organization out there maybe just maybe they could have a program that could compete with PPE.

Listen boys, everyone knows hockey is expensive it always has been and always will be.  I remember when we used to pay .99/gallon of gas as well. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am really interested to see what will happen this year with the Huskies and Mon Valley Thunder.  I hope BB makes them a force in Western Pa and creates more opportunity for kids to play. PAHL or not will be interesting.  The next few years will be a big adjustment for WPA hockey. We can embrace it or complain about.  Only time will tell!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, HSFBLJ said:

I wasn't joking, everyone complains about PPE.  Do local skill instructors get ice time in Cranberry?  I think not.  BB may not be nice, they may be charging people more money, you may not like them.  PPE stinks, Esmark is in a bad location, I get it you think Pittsburgh Hockey stinks.  I have been a proponent of relocating your kid if you think he/she is the next "great one".  The truth is Pittsburgh has limited options.  People here just like to complain about all of them.  If (and if is a big word here) BB could somehow manage to scrape together all the kids at Esmark, whatever the frozen pond is these days, PIA, Preds and every other organization out there maybe just maybe they could have a program that could compete with PPE.

Listen boys, everyone knows hockey is expensive it always has been and always will be.  I remember when we used to pay .99/gallon of gas as well. 

Esmark has beaten the Pens at the midget level this year and in years past.I think they are doing pretty well compared to the Pens. Especially since their location is not ideal. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, Happy Hockey Fan said:

Esmark has beaten the Pens at the midget level this year and in years past.I think they are doing pretty well compared to the Pens. Especially since their location is not ideal. 

I would take the Coaching at Esmark over the PPE any day and take the 16uAAA SHAHA Coach over all of them!

  • 100 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, hockeyisgreat said:

I would take the Coaching at Esmark over the PPE any day and take the 16uAAA SHAHA Coach over all of them!

I'm not quite sure I know enough about either of them at all levels but from what I've seen/heard (at least post peewee) SHAHA and Esmark both have better coaching than PPE overall.  That might change at U18 but even then seems like Esmark is outperforming PPE? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

So what are the THF teams in the area now? Esmark, Icemen, and now Preds? Better than just a single THF team in the area, if you're on one of those teams.

Now we'll see what SHAHA AAA does. Join THF? Stay independent? Seems like South Pitt is trying to become a landing spot for some Tier 1 teams. They have to fill that new ice sheet.

I'm sure we're going to see some PAHL teams announce that they are playing in the AHF in the next few weeks. Badgers, Rebellion, etc. will start with full season PAHL and half season AHF schedule for their AA teams next year if I had to guess.

Edited by RJUSHL
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, RJUSHL said:

I'm sure we're going to see some PAHL teams announce that they are playing in the AHF in the next few weeks. Badgers, Rebellion, etc. will start with full season PAHL and half season AHF schedule for their AA teams next year if I had to guess.

Nothing planned yet for Rebellion teams for next season.   Currently the SPHC board as a whole does not feel like it's in the best interest of our families to do so nor are we getting any pressure from BB to join.   Yes, there will be some of our girls teams during full or partial seasons in AGHF.  There may be a Rebellion team that may want to buck the trend and go AHF, but it would have to be a team decision made by coaches and parents.   It's going to be a lot more travel in AHF and maybe not in the best interest of the player's development.

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, bb2j3z said:

Nothing planned yet for Rebellion teams for next season.   Currently the SPHC board as a whole does not feel like it's in the best interest of our families to do so nor are we getting any pressure from BB to join.   Yes, there will be some of our girls teams during full or partial seasons in AGHF.  There may be a Rebellion team that may want to buck the trend and go AHF, but it would have to be a team decision made by coaches and parents.   It's going to be a lot more travel in AHF and maybe not in the best interest of the player's development.

 

Makes sense but I’m going to play devils advocate here…

Biggest complaint I hear out of the Rebellion people is the amount of games that they play and kids getting burned out. 
 Looked it up and some of the younger teams at PW and squirt are at 50+ (some pushing 60) games already. Add in scheduled games listed and playoffs you are looking at 65-70 games. That’s entirely too many for young kids. Not disputing anything but capping the amount of games your team plays at a reasonable amount is a true sign of a buy in for developing players. Games are fun. Development happens in practice.
I’m not saying just the Rebellion either. Over scheduling games is an epidemic across the board and in my opinion more so than travel. 
Basically, travel gets in the way of parent developing their savings accounts.
Playing a nearly NHL sized schedule can get in the way of developing your players at practice.

PPE caps @ 55 games correct?

DC94A8A0-709F-4F42-9147-24B3C2ECA326.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, muckerandgrinder said:

Makes sense but I’m going to play devils advocate here…

Biggest complaint I hear out of the Rebellion people is the amount of games that they play and kids getting burned out. 
 Looked it up and some of the younger teams at PW and squirt are at 50+ (some pushing 60) games already. Add in scheduled games listed and playoffs you are looking at 65-70 games. That’s entirely too many for young kids. Not disputing anything but capping the amount of games your team plays at a reasonable amount is a true sign of a buy in for developing players. Games are fun. Development happens in practice.
I’m not saying just the Rebellion either. Over scheduling games is an epidemic across the board and in my opinion more so than travel. 
Basically, travel gets in the way of parent developing their savings accounts.
Playing a nearly NHL sized schedule can get in the way of developing your players at practice.

PPE caps @ 55 games correct?

DC94A8A0-709F-4F42-9147-24B3C2ECA326.jpeg

Way too many games.  I assume it will get fixed with a second sheet but the other issue is not enough ice for enough practices.  Assuming you want 3 practices per game no way they are coming close to that ratio.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, bb2j3z said:

Nothing planned yet for Rebellion teams for next season.   Currently the SPHC board as a whole does not feel like it's in the best interest of our families to do so nor are we getting any pressure from BB to join.   Yes, there will be some of our girls teams during full or partial seasons in AGHF.  There may be a Rebellion team that may want to buck the trend and go AHF, but it would have to be a team decision made by coaches and parents.   It's going to be a lot more travel in AHF and maybe not in the best interest of the player's development.

Thanks for chiming in on this board. I know a lot of the south hills teams (Preds, SHAHA, Lebo, Rebellion) have had some major ice time crunches this past season, with a lot of them scheduling ice at RMU, Rostraver, Armory, etc. With the additional ice sheet is it pretty much guaranteed that all the AA teams will have at least two practices per week? Maybe more?

Edited by RJUSHL
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, stickboy said:

First everyone wants to be independent and now they want to be in a league ?

To be fair when the league offers a lot of benefits that independent doesn’t, to some it does make a lot of sense. There is good and bad about both scenarios. From an outsiders perspective I think this is a smart move for the Preds.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, forbin said:

To be fair when the league offers a lot of benefits that independent doesn’t, to some it does make a lot of sense. There is good and bad about both scenarios. From an outsiders perspective I think this is a smart move for the Preds.

I agree with you depending on the amount of travel they are forced to do. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, RJUSHL said:

Thanks for chiming in on this board. I know a lot of the south hills teams (Preds, SHAHA, Lebo, Rebellion) have had some major ice time crunches this past season, with a lot of them scheduling ice at RMU, Rostraver, Armory, etc. With the additional ice sheet is it pretty much guaranteed that all the AA teams will have at least two practices per week? Maybe more?

Yes, it will be 2+ weeknight practices per week/70+ team practices per year and at all levels.  We probably won't need to buy extra ice at Hunt Armory or WesBanco this season.

In addition we will have TK Training Academy included - every other week (10U, 12U, and 14U).  These sessions will be run by Tyler Kennedy and his coaches.  Last season, Tyler would come to our team practices maybe once a month at these levels.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, RJUSHL said:

Thanks for chiming in on this board. I know a lot of the south hills teams (Preds, SHAHA, Lebo, Rebellion) have had some major ice time crunches this past season, with a lot of them scheduling ice at RMU, Rostraver, Armory, etc. With the additional ice sheet is it pretty much guaranteed that all the AA teams will have at least two practices per week? Maybe more?

I know SHAHA never had issues with ice time when it was two sheets. Now that they are down to one, some of their teams do utilize Rostraver a bit. As far as Lebo goes, I know some people that have regularly scheduled early weekday practices at RMU. 
Not really buying into an ice crunch at Preds though. Wasn’t even close to being an issue when my son played there at PW and bantam (it definitely was when he was at Hornets). I know a fair amount of people with kids on all of the teams listed above and ice touches have never an issue at Preds. 

Numbers would seem to back it up. All four have mites, host HS teams and have adult league as well.

Rebellion (1 sheet) 17 teams 

SHAHA (1 sheet) 20 teams

Predators (2 sheets) 18 teams

Hornets (1 sheet) 19 teams
 

Edited by muckerandgrinder
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, muckerandgrinder said:

I know SHAHA never had issues with ice time when it was two sheets. Now that they are down to one, some of their teams do utilize Rostraver a bit. As far as Lebo goes, I know some people that have regularly scheduled early weekday practices at RMU. 
Not really buying into an ice crunch at Preds though. Wasn’t even close to being an issue when my son played there at PW and bantam (it definitely was when he was at Hornets). I know a fair amount of people with kids on all of the teams listed above and ice touches have never an issue at Preds. 

Numbers would seem to back it up. All four have mites, host HS teams and have adult league as well.

Rebellion (1 sheet) 17 teams 

SHAHA (1 sheet) 20 teams

Predators (2 sheets) 18 teams

Hornets (1 sheet) 19 teams
 

I agree with Preds not having issues with ice time, but the other three certainly do. Sounds like next season there won’t be an issue at Rebellion with the second sheet. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, RJUSHL said:

I agree with Preds not having issues with ice time, but the other three certainly do. Sounds like next season there won’t be an issue at Rebellion with the second sheet. 

Preds definitely have issues with Ice time for AA teams.  Beware and ask questions about ice time.  I know of more than one AA Preds team that was lucky to get a half ice slot per week and maybe a full ice slot once a month.  If you check their website no where do they tell you what practice time you will get.   

Was thinking about trying out there but unless you are Faux AAA you won't get ice time.  Buyer beware!!!!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...