2023-2024 Esmark (PIA & Printscape)

[Danner27]

12 minutes ago, Hoxkeydad said:

Define illegal goalie.  Kid physically lives in the school district and physically attends the high school.  He tried out for Esmark in April and made the team.  His billet family placement didn’t happen until late July when the family volunteered to open house their home for him to play hockey out of state.   Seen other saying Esmark places him at Montour schools.  That’s prob about the funniest thing I’ve read on this so far.  A AAA  organization placing a kid in a school district to play PIHL hockey….that’s a good one.   Obviously don’t know what the heck they’re talking about on that one.  Montour school district is where his billet family lives.   Not sure what else would be needed.  He must have been pretty damn good.   Sounds like adults doing what they do best.  If you asked the kids they’d probably all say he’s fine he lives here let him play.  But……..

But here’s the problem - did montour submit the paper work properly ? Did they submit it at all ? Did the board make a mistake ? Why is this just now discovered ? There are questions only pihl & montour people would know.
 

you can try to kid yourself - us with no skin in the game see this for what it really is - montour needed a GOOD goalie. They didn’t want to suffer the ebb n flows of other programs that lose a senior goalie and suck for a few years. Montour did lose thier 3 year starting main goalie after last season ?I was just told montour was also moved down to A this season from AA.
 

Looking through the pihl rules it states in some cases a transfer has to sit out a year. The only real question - were all the pihl rules, guidelines followed. If not, they should be punished. Sure it sucks, as usual adults messing it up for kids but it’s also not fair to those teams that might have a bad goalie but still go out and play with what they have. If the Avonworth  example is true, they managed it with one goalie. Montours roster currently shows THREE varsity goalies. 

[fafa fohi]

3 hours ago, Hoxkeydad said:

Define illegal goalie.  Kid physically lives in the school district and physically attends the high school.  He tried out for Esmark in April and made the team.  His billet family placement didn’t happen until late July when the family volunteered to open house their home for him to play hockey out of state.   Seen other saying Esmark places him at Montour schools.  That’s prob about the funniest thing I’ve read on this so far.  A AAA  organization placing a kid in a school district to play PIHL hockey….that’s a good one.   Obviously don’t know what the heck they’re talking about on that one.  Montour school district is where his billet family lives.   Not sure what else would be needed.  He must have been pretty damn good.   Sounds like adults doing what they do best.  If you asked the kids they’d probably all say he’s fine he lives here let him play.  But……..

The next time a AAA coach encourages their players to play HS hockey will be the first.  Then again the stink from this Montour situation has an entirely different odor.

Edited February 21, 2023 by fafa fohi

[Hoxkeydad]

12 minutes ago, Danner27 said:

But here’s the problem - did montour submit the paper work properly ? Did they submit it at all ? Did the board make a mistake ? Why is this just now discovered ? There are questions only pihl & montour people would know.
 

you can try to kid yourself - us with no skin in the game see this for what it really is - montour needed a GOOD goalie. They didn’t want to suffer the ebb n flows of other programs that lose a senior goalie and suck for a few years. Montour did lose thier 3 year starting main goalie after last season ?I was just told montour was also moved down to A this season from AA.
 

Looking through the pihl rules it states in some cases a transfer has to sit out a year. The only real question - were all the pihl rules, guidelines followed. If not, they should be punished. Sure it sucks, as usual adults messing it up for kids but it’s also not fair to those teams that might have a bad goalie but still go out and play with what they have. If the Avonworth  example is true, they managed it with one goalie. Montours roster currently shows THREE varsity goalies. 

Montour “needing a good goalie” had nothing to do with the kid living in the district and going to school there.  It just happened to be were the kid billeted….period!!!     The league allowed the kid to play all year and previous commissioner reviewed the situation and had no issues with him playing for Montour.  then all of a sudden when they made the playoffs and a first round bye other schools found a way to possibly take it away.  He only played 10 games due to his AAA team commitments.  

[Hoxkeydad]

21 minutes ago, Danner27 said:

But here’s the problem - did montour submit the paper work properly ? Did they submit it at all ? Did the board make a mistake ? Why is this just now discovered ? There are questions only pihl & montour people would know.
 

you can try to kid yourself - us with no skin in the game see this for what it really is - montour needed a GOOD goalie. They didn’t want to suffer the ebb n flows of other programs that lose a senior goalie and suck for a few years. Montour did lose thier 3 year starting main goalie after last season ?I was just told montour was also moved down to A this season from AA.
 

Looking through the pihl rules it states in some cases a transfer has to sit out a year. The only real question - were all the pihl rules, guidelines followed. If not, they should be punished. Sure it sucks, as usual adults messing it up for kids but it’s also not fair to those teams that might have a bad goalie but still go out and play with what they have. If the Avonworth  example is true, they managed it with one goalie. Montours roster currently shows THREE varsity goalies. 

Montour “needing a good goalie” had nothing to do with the kid living in the district and going to school there.  It just happened to be were the kid billeted….period!!!     The league allowed the kid to play all year and previous commissioner reviewed the situation and had no issues with him playing for Montour.  then all of a sudden when they made the playoffs and a first round bye other schools found a way to possibly take it away.  He only played 10 games due to his AAA team commitments. 

[Hoxkeydad]

On 2/14/2023 at 6:01 PM, hockeyisgreat said:

So how does that 15 year old get from Montour to PIA for games and practice?  Must be an especially accommodating billet!

He billets with a teammate so being 15 not a problem.  

[Hoxkeydad]

21 hours ago, Stinger17 said:

“I’m going to move my kid to Pittsburgh to play high school hockey to help further his hockey career” - Said no parent ever

I very much doubt that he was “brought in”Kids come to Pittsburgh to play for PPE and Esmark not high school. Billets are the luck of the draw. The player could have ended up at any of the other schools that have kids playing for Esmark. To their credit, unlike the other program, they encourage their players to play for their high school teams. 

I thought the same thing.  Anyone that thinks you bring a kid to billet for Pittsburgh A HS hockey is laughable.  What a ringer eh!   Let’s place him in Montour district…freakin crazy thoughts for sure 

[Hoxkeydad]

22 hours ago, PUCKCOVID19 said:

even if you come in to pgh to play for esmark thats pretty sad 

Yes, playing for a AAA USA hockey National bound team ranked in the 30s for USA hockey is a sad affair.   Get a life! 

[Mr.lovable]

On 2/19/2023 at 12:53 AM, Carl Racki said:

So anytime a team needs a goalie they should just be able to recruit one? Get a billet ?   How about develop one.  That is what most other teams have to do.  I know recruiting is much easier.  "We don't have a goalie" is not an excuse to recruit one that is not eligible.

From what I’ve heard the kid was 14 when he moved and beating 18 year olds. he was probably taking on a lot of stress and other things at the time. All he wanted to do was play hockey and now there’s a team who’s mad because they didn’t get into playoffs. And which the team is trying to take advantage of the commissioner who died who gave the goalie permission. Sad life to stop a 14 year old kid from playing the sport he loves, Wild.

[Ihearthockey]

1 minute ago, Mr.lovable said:

From what I’ve heard the kid was 14 when he moved and beating 18 year olds. he was probably taking on a lot of stress and other things at the time. All he wanted to do was play hockey and now there’s a team who’s mad because they didn’t get into playoffs. And which the team is trying to take advantage of the commissioner who died who gave the goalie permission. Sad life to stop a 14 year old kid from playing the sport he loves, Wild.

Dude you can say it over and over and over.  You wont get sympathy on this board except from Hoxkeydad.  It sounds like you broke the rules.  Read the effin rules.  They are in place for a reason.  Done with you.  

 

[Mr.lovable]

1 minute ago, Ihearthockey said:

Dude you can say it over and over and over.  You wont get sympathy on this board except from Hoxkeydad.  It sounds like you broke the rules.  Read the effin rules.  They are in place for a reason.  Done with you.  

 

I’m not attempting to get sympathy in any way. Especially on a board where everyone just blabs their mouth about whatever they hear. I’m not affiliated with montour in any way, I’m just trying to spread awareness to people like you who don’t know what they’re talking about. Have a wonderful day!

[Hoxkeydad]

36 minutes ago, Ihearthockey said:

Dude you can say it over and over and over.  You wont get sympathy on this board except from Hoxkeydad.  It sounds like you broke the rules.  Read the effin rules.  They are in place for a reason.  Done with you.  

 

Gets my sympathy for sure.  Knows what they’re  talking about.    Oh…and have a good night. Don’t let it bother you too much it’s just youth hockey  

Edited February 22, 2023 by Hoxkeydad

[Ihearthockey]

1 minute ago, Hoxkeydad said:

Gets my sympathy for sure.  Knows what they’re  talking about.    Oh…and have a good night. Don’t let it bother you too much it’s just youth hockey  

Running out of ammo aren't ya buddy.  

Rules good.  Cheating bad.  

Hopefully that's simple enough.

Done with you 

[Pucks11]

28 minutes ago, Mr.lovable said:

I’m not attempting to get sympathy in any way. Especially on a board where everyone just blabs their mouth about whatever they hear. I’m not affiliated with montour in any way, I’m just trying to spread awareness to people like you who don’t know what they’re talking about. Have a wonderful day!

Not trying to get sympathy yet you keep pulling the dead commissioner card. Talking with a few of the Avonworth higher ups today they had no clue about what was going on until AFTER they lost last night and the North Catholic coach told them not to worry about playoffs.

Most of the parents I know from Avonworth were just happy they had a chance after moving up a division and losing 4 of their 5 goalies. They used 10 Freshmen on their Varsity team this season. They were barely able to field 2 teams but made it work. From what it looks like they didn't cry about their schedule or only having 1 goalie all season, they just played and whatever happens, happens.

Yes Avonworth would benefit from something happening to Montour but I haven't seen 1 person on this page (until this message) defending or fighting for Avonworth, just a bunch of (not involved) Montour parents crying foul to something that their organization MAY have known was illegal.

If not , cool good luck in the playoffs.

[HSFBLJ]

My god there has to be some shred of evidence out there that someone can produce.  If they filed the paperwork but it wasn't done properly, the kids gets to play.  Someone produce an email to the commissioner or from the commissioner that says something about the kid and he gets to play.  If there is no evidence, then sadly he does not get to play and you may have to disqualify games he did play in.  This is really a simple issue.  Show someone the evidence and move on.  

[RJUSHL]

Don't know if it's been mentioned here but according to people on the board at Rebellion in a Facebook post, Esmark will only have two ice slots per week at Printscape. Two ice slots for the entire organization. That's nothing. So they are advertising as if they are playing/practicing at both rinks, but it's going to be 95% New Ken. I know it's a sales pitch by Esmark to get some south hills kids, but those families may be disappointed. 

[bb2j3z]

5 hours ago, RJUSHL said:

Don't know if it's been mentioned here but according to people on the board at Rebellion in a Facebook post, Esmark will only have two ice slots per week at Printscape. Two ice slots for the entire organization. That's nothing. So they are advertising as if they are playing/practicing at both rinks, but it's going to be 95% New Ken. I know it's a sales pitch by Esmark to get some south hills kids, but those families may be disappointed. 

Yes that is correct.  Also btw, the second sheet construction has begun.  

[RJUSHL]

On 2/15/2023 at 8:19 PM, Ihearthockey said:

Second sheet officially announced at Printscape

Anyone at Printscape regularly? How's the construction going? Someone had mentioned that they are opening up the side of the building to put in bleachers. I can't even picture this.

[aaaahockey]

4 minutes ago, RJUSHL said:

Anyone at Printscape regularly? How's the construction going? Someone had mentioned that they are opening up the side of the building to put in bleachers. I can't even picture this.

Looked like a big hole last time I was there ?

[forbin]

24 minutes ago, RJUSHL said:

Anyone at Printscape regularly? How's the construction going? Someone had mentioned that they are opening up the side of the building to put in bleachers. I can't even picture this.

Was there this weekend. Construction crews working on it all day. They have the old base tore up and are completely redoing it from the ground up. No idea about the bleachers, not sure there there’s enough room to do that. I’ll take some pictures next time I’m there.

[sadday4hockey]

Based upon the picture above it looks like it will be spectator's nightmare to find a good spot or two?

Hopefully something is in the works to improve that.

[Icebucket]

37 minutes ago, sadday4hockey said:

Based upon the picture above it looks like it will be spectator's nightmare to find a good spot or two?

Hopefully something is in the works to improve that.

That upper runway is actually nice as it looks directly down at the rink, but there's no seating so it's only good for those who want to stand the whole game.

Edited April 17, 2023 by Icebucket

[forbin]

2 hours ago, sadday4hockey said:

Based upon the picture above it looks like it will be spectator's nightmare to find a good spot or two?

Hopefully something is in the works to improve that.

Not any worse than Barons arena really. I think there’s room in the corner not shown in that photo above to have a corner section of bleachers, plus then the balcony.

Better than nothing I guess! I’m assuming SP will mainly use that sheet for practices and overflow for game scheduling. @bb2j3z I know you’re involved with SP, any insight?

[bb2j3z]

Second sheet should be open by Labor Day weekend.   Work seems like it's moving along.  There was work going on the weekend while we were doing our younger BY 2011-2014 tryouts,

They should have bleachers in the lower corner where the cage was.   That's the end closest to the entrance from the lower lobby.  I don't think they can put bleachers in the balcony area due to a capacity limit.   I would assume yes that the second sheet would be used mostly for practices and game overflows since there's more capacity in the main rink.
 

[RJUSHL]

7 hours ago, bb2j3z said:

Second sheet should be open by Labor Day weekend.   Work seems like it's moving along.  There was work going on the weekend while we were doing our younger BY 2011-2014 tryouts,

They should have bleachers in the lower corner where the cage was.   That's the end closest to the entrance from the lower lobby.  I don't think they can put bleachers in the balcony area due to a capacity limit.   I would assume yes that the second sheet would be used mostly for practices and game overflows since there's more capacity in the main rink.
 

Have the Rebellion seen an increase in tryout numbers? I would think the potential for lots of ice time with a second sheet would be a good selling point.

The south hills in general had a major ice time crunch. This should help alleviate some of that.

I know SHAHA and Lebo always seem to struggle to get all their teams enough ice with just one sheet. I think last year SHAHA had some teams with just one practice per week, which they found out about after tryouts. And Lebo may still shift some practices to RMU?

[aaaahockey]

10 hours ago, bb2j3z said:

Second sheet should be open by Labor Day weekend.   Work seems like it's moving along.  There was work going on the weekend while we were doing our younger BY 2011-2014 tryouts,

They should have bleachers in the lower corner where the cage was.   That's the end closest to the entrance from the lower lobby.  I don't think they can put bleachers in the balcony area due to a capacity limit.   I would assume yes that the second sheet would be used mostly for practices and game overflows since there's more capacity in the main rink.
 

Are they still going to have a way to cover this for things like box lax?  I'm assuming not but thought it would be worth asking. Might be a market for another indoor non ice training facility in the area if not.