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Teams looking for players! 2023-2024


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Thanks!  At South Pittsburgh Rebellion, we currently have the following needs in order of priority.

18U 2005/2006 AA Thomas - we are looking for some more skaters to fill out our team.   We have a supplemental tryout today on Sunday, 30th at 2:15pm - 3:50pm.   Email VPCoaching@southpittsburghhockey.org to be considered and more information.

16U Daddea - we are looking for another goalie, we have one.   This team will play A Major.

10U Squirts - 1 or 2 skaters at every level below BY to fill out teams.

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SCIR is looking for the following: 

16U A Major and A Minor - We have openings on both of our 16U Mixed Year teams including one goalie position

12U and 10U Mixed Year All Levels - We have room on our rosters for additional skaters and goalies at our younger mixed year teams.

Coaches: We are looking for paid, non-parent coaches for mixed year teams.  These teams are great for someone who loves the game to get started in coaching.

Please contact coaching@scirhockey.org for all of the above.

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  • Paul Baxter changed the title to Teams looking for players! 2023-2024
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On 4/30/2023 at 9:35 AM, bb2j3z said:

Thanks!  At South Pittsburgh Rebellion, we currently have the following needs in order of priority.

18U 2005/2006 AA Thomas - we are looking for some more skaters to fill out our team.   We have a supplemental tryout today on Sunday, 30th at 2:15pm - 3:50pm.   Email VPCoaching@southpittsburghhockey.org to be considered and more information.

16U Daddea - we are looking for another goalie, we have one.   This team will play A Major.

10U Squirts - 1 or 2 skaters at every level below BY to fill out teams.

Heard South Pittsburgh 18u folded. 

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25 minutes ago, Icebucket said:

I was told they had around 50 kids at tryouts. Did they not field a single team, or did they just fold the second one due to declines?

As I understand, declines, defections left them in need of a handful of players. Poor, or no, attendance at supplemental tryout yesterday. 

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25 minutes ago, Icebucket said:

I was told they had around 50 kids at tryouts. Did they not field a single team, or did they just fold the second one due to declines?

They did not field a single team.  I've heard conflicting stories as to why.  First being they cut most of their players for "AAA" players, and those "AAA" players bailed after accepting their placements for a different team.  I have also heard they cut better players to accommodate their returning players, and that's why those "AAA" players left.  The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. 

It's been amusing to watch how absolutely absurd this 18U tryout season has been.  I have never seen it this bad.  That's a good coaching staff at the Rebellion that now inexplicably doesn't have a team to coach.  

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6 minutes ago, sample39 said:

They did not field a single team.  I've heard conflicting stories as to why.  First being they cut most of their players for "AAA" players, and those "AAA" players bailed after accepting their placements for a different team.  I have also heard they cut better players to accommodate their returning players, and that's why those "AAA" players left.  The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. 

It's been amusing to watch how absolutely absurd this 18U tryout season has been.  I have never seen it this bad.  That's a good coaching staff at the Rebellion that now inexplicably doesn't have a team to coach.  

That's nuts. Have to think it's going to leave at least a handful of kids with nowhere to play.

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Well we had 50+ kids tryout and there was an original roster of 18 skaters and 2 goalies. Post tryout, there were many withdrawals because players only wanted to be on this team so a general tryout did not seem feasible to assemble a second team so general tryouts were cancelled.

Then with the original roster, we had called everyone prior to posting to get verbal agreements... then after posting, there was so many roster declines by the deadline + supplemental tryouts did not bear any qualified players to make it feasible to continue on.  The bad situation just snowballed as families got nervous about the team status.  We tried what we could to alleviate the situation, but it became untenable.  

We are disappointed that we weren't able to continue with the team, but this seemed like the best option for the families that remain - many of which are playing their last year of youth hockey.  

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ARMSTRONG ARROWS 12U PAHL GIRLS - 

is looking for a few more 9-12 year old skaters to complete the team.

Contact Armstrong Arrows Hockey Director at:

aahlhockeydirector@yahoo.com 

 

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28 minutes ago, bb2j3z said:

Well we had 50+ kids tryout and there was an original roster of 18 skaters and 2 goalies. Post tryout, there were many withdrawals because players only wanted to be on this team so a general tryout did not seem feasible to assemble a second team so general tryouts were cancelled.

Then with the original roster, we had called everyone prior to posting to get verbal agreements... then after posting, there was so many roster declines by the deadline + supplemental tryouts did not bear any qualified players to make it feasible to continue on.  The bad situation just snowballed as families got nervous about the team status.  We tried what we could to alleviate the situation, but it became untenable.  

We are disappointed that we weren't able to continue with the team, but this seemed like the best option for the families that remain - many of which are playing their last year of youth hockey.  

Kudos to you guys for pulling the plug when you knew it was a lost cause. So many teams drag it out just to call it down the road. Leaving nobody time to find a home elsewhere.

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Wow, this does seem like a really bizarre tryout season!  I wonder where the bulk of the Rebellion kids went.  The 06 team was a really solid group.  Did they go as a group somewhere?  I know the Viper Stars were trying to put together a team out of Alpha and had supplemental tryouts yesterday.  Did they take some of the Rebellion players?  How many players did the Rebellion need?   How many players did they leave without a team?

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This is across all ages.  

What's the solution here?  Raise commitment fees so much that people really do care about losing that money?

North Pitt I believe automatically cashes commitment fees if you make the top team, you don't even have a chance to decline.  Is that a/the solution?

It's not going to stop this year, if anything there's going to be so many people pissed off after this year, I think it gets worse next year.  And more people will be dipping out of teams at the 11th hour.

 

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Adding another A division under a “AA Minor” moniker is not the solution as all you are doing is pacifying the adults and coaches for ego purposes.  Hell, its what everyone on this forum complains about all of the time with adding the extra A for those seeking placement on  “faux AAA” teams when they should be at the AA level. 

If your kid is not good enough to make a AA team regardless of age, so be it.  Play A-Major Black or a comparable level based on their ability and ranking at tryouts.

Not allowing commitment fees to be returned if players are placed on the top team is a step in the right direction and will prevent mom and dad from sending their kid to five different tryouts while only paying for tryout fees.  NP does this.

AA Major and AA Minor?  Why stop there - let’s go full throttle with AA Minor Mediocre and AA Minor Adequate.  

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A lot of programs cutting talented kids that were loyal to their program or returning kids that have been there for a time for some AAA players looking to shack up for a year until next season’s AAA opportunity comes along.  Is it really worth it?   
 

Also heard some of the tryouts at various places were nothing but a formality as the teams were picked ahead of time.  Erich’s, morals, loyalty and honesty take a back seat to the prospects of winning a national championship. 
 

just remember how the Rangers tried to load up and win a cup.  See how that works.  Not sure how that will go but it will be some interesting matchups in the league this year. 

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8 hours ago, Murray Chadwick said:

As I understand, declines, defections left them in need of a handful of players. Poor, or no, attendance at supplemental tryout yesterday. 

This is so aggravating as a parent whose child tried out at SP (and several other orgs), had a shortened tryout, 18u general cancelled, they then hold a supplemental (while not contacting those who already paid), and then fold.  Tryout money down the drain. Heck, maybe next year, we just wait for supplementals since tryouts at numerous places went this route.  

How is this process helpful to the players who do the tryout grind, have played at that level but are an unknown, and then orgs hold supplemental trying to find good enough players!?! It’s insane.  Player development seems to be the last idea in tryouts. It starts to come across as all about winning and hand picking teams.  
 

With all the jockeying, there needs to be some introspection and creative changes to tryouts. It is not serving the players.  

At this point, they should just hold a city wide tryout per age division and skill level. Get creative bc the current system is awful. I’m glad my player finally landed somewhere bc April was insane. The 18u funnel is super hard on kids trying to find a team. 

Edited by Ferda
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Should we have a thread with players looking for teams?  I think the Badgers and North Pittsburgh are finishing up their tryouts this week.  I wonder how many teams still need a few players to round out their teams and how many players haven't found a team yet.  

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I think parents and all these AAA options have created this try out monster, quite frankly, and it is not quite fair to blame organizations. What do you really want them to do? If the goal is to put together a National bound team and it was advertised as such, then that has to be the goal, to win. But....you do need to cast a side eye at someone who has...tried out every year and never accepted a spot on your one team. Or not played AA for years. F those kids, I don't care how good they are, they never stay and you then annoy your long time family who frequently walks away. Stuff like that. It's hard to know what people's intentions are. No one can read minds. But those ones are easy red flags. Maybe make a call first to those players, ask if they are going accept the spot before you announce the team. It's a lot of work.

You hear conflicting complaints on this thread.....that loyalty is not rewarded. That spots should not be offered to AAA kids. Then you hear complaints that teams are hand picked and try outs aren't fair. Well, if you are rewarding loyalty rather than picking the best that came to try out, then yes, they are hand picked. And the team that goes to Nationals should be good, otherwise they are going to get their butts handed to them in Nationals. It is very possible around here that Mid Am teams won't be able to hang at Nationals with how bad AA is becoming. Look at Nationals results from 14u last year. And....you would be hard pressed to find any organization in Pittsburgh that doesn't already have an idea of who they want. You are usually trying out for a few spots if you are an unknown to an organization, so you better be good and stand out, because bubble players are interchangeable with many other players, usually, and quite frankly, those spots should be offered to the family that has stayed with the organization. When close, tie goes to the loyal. It just should, because again, you risk that unknown player walking AND you lose the long time player. It causes lots of damage.

In an ideal world, you only go to try outs where you want to play for that team. But....if the try out for the team you really want is far away, I know people use tryouts to keep their kid on the ice. If you don't, then they don't look as good as the kids who were doing this. It is sometimes really hard to find ways to keep on the once the season ends, particularly as your kid gets older. And not everyone can afford to pay for privates.

I think the organizations really struggle to field appropriate AA teams and it is a multi faceted problem. For the first time ever, my family chose not to play on the lowly A team when not offered a spot on the top team at an organization. It used to be that your kid could develop on those teams and I would say you should take that spot and not be offended. But everything is so diluted, that this thought is no longer the case. The drop is sometimes huge between the top teams and the next team down. So no....not paying thousands of dollars for that. Hockey isn't just for fun. It also has to be for development. Winning comes after development, but it has to be there and appropriate for your player. Otherwise just save your dollars for when they can play beer league.

PAHL is headed to no AA, quite frankly. The independent teams are going to start winning Mid Ams.

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13 hours ago, fafa fohi said:

Adding another A division under a “AA Minor” moniker is not the solution as all you are doing is pacifying the adults and coaches for ego purposes.  Hell, its what everyone on this forum complains about all of the time with adding the extra A for those seeking placement on  “faux AAA” teams when they should be at the AA level. 

Would you propose eliminating the 14U AA Minor division from PAHL?

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On @Sauceypoint - don't want to quote because it is too long.  

Someone made a good point a couple weeks ago that rotating third liners isn't going to make or break any team (substitute d-pairing If you want or fourth line if you have a huge team). I really feel like that's where teams can build loyalty. Obviously you get a first line/pair stud you need to put him on the team and probably cut a third line/pair and you have a substantial upgrade.  You don't need to replace a third liner who has been on your team for 2+ years for another third liner.  Most likely won't do anything for you.  Goalies I just feel bad for because they are going to be replaced when someone better or perceived to be better comes along no matter what.  

 

Going further, the lower the level of play, the lower the stakes should be.  If my kid is playing lower a major or a minor hockey why not surround yourself with friends and have a good time.  Forget replacing anyone. 

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16 minutes ago, RJUSHL said:

Would you propose eliminating the 14U AA Minor division from PAHL?

IMO, yes.  What good does it do?  Typically teams in 14U AA Minor are U13 BY teams and I assume it is only done in this division because it is their first year of checking and allows kids of similar age and size to compete as their intro to checking.

Unless anyone has another valid reason why there is a AA Minor division at only the U14 level?  

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