A better plan for ALL

[Pa Hockey]

 

   I’ve come up with a plan I would like to talk to you about which will change high school hockey going forward.

 

 This nonsense of players missing high school games is coming to an end.

 

 It will strengthen amateur 16 U and 18 U programs and people who are high school friendly throughout the league and have high school coaches refer players to high school friendly to build very good 16 u and 18 u teams that play a reasonable number of games and quality tournaments and play a maximum of 5 games Friday through Sunday (Monday if holiday)

 

Those programs who choose not to participate will not be a part of the referral program and high school players and their parents will be welcome to choose where they play.

 

FORMER HOSTAGES Quotes !

 

Former Player from PENS Elite AAA

This is from former pens elite AAA player Travel teams/seasons are overplayed - usually contributing to 80 game seasons which contributes to burn out , injury , and low quality exposure and development exposure and development

 

HS COACH - Former Player from PENS Elite AAA and NCAA D1

 

 It's a mess, Jeff. We play 14 of our 20 games on Thursdays when guys are often traveling for amateur. If not Thursday, it's Monday when they're coming off a long travel weekend filled with games.

 I've never seen so many injuries as we've had this year...just too much hockey in a condensed time frame. IMO we need to do a split season ASAP. HS hockey were my fondest memories even playing D1 and The PPE kids and other amateur guys should be able to play. Pens Elite Player wants to, his coach won't allow him to. Total shit show. 20 games over 5 months...ridiculous.

[zam]

Ok where's the plan? Or is it a concept of a plan?

[Pa Hockey]

6 minutes ago, zam said:

Ok where's the plan? Or is it a concept of a plan?

A Start ...............I have the Plan 

[fafa fohi]

On 1/4/2026 at 12:25 PM, zam said:

Ok where's the plan? Or is it a concept of a plan?

I see what you did there.  Well done.

[Spear and Magic Helmet]

Split season just doesn't around here. Way too many schools do not have teams and the current high school hockey season lasts way too long. You'd end up with a huge decline in local participation. Plus, we've seen this before in the early 00s. If you mandate split season midget hockey, guess what? Junior hockey doesn't follow those rules. If it's not Jr hockey, then it will be AAU or something else. Someone will come up with an alternative, especially with Black Bear lurking around here. If you want to fix HS hockey, great, would love to hear your plan, but if it involves split season, I can tell you it's not going to work and will probably kill high school hockey.

 

[Pa Hockey]

On 1/11/2026 at 3:53 PM, Spear and Magic Helmet said:

Split season just doesn't around here. Way too many schools do not have teams and the current high school hockey season lasts way too long. You'd end up with a huge decline in local participation. Plus, we've seen this before in the early 00s. If you mandate split season midget hockey, guess what? Junior hockey doesn't follow those rules. If it's not Jr hockey, then it will be AAU or something else. Someone will come up with an alternative, especially with Black Bear lurking around here. If you want to fix HS hockey, great, would love to hear your plan, but if it involves split season, I can tell you it's not going to work and will probably kill high school hockey.

 

Not really but the plan does have a lot of common sense and less Kool aid 

[Jkersman01]

I’m normally not a fan of USA hockey taking more control but their new Tier I league might impact HS hockey a bit for the better in our area. (Although there is huge malcontent brewing in MA and MN but that’s another topic).

 

Might get some of those kids/families on those current AAAAAAAA 1/2+ teams not part of that league rethinking things a bit. If the goal of HS hockey is to get those kids to play for their schools (which I’m not saying it is or should be), make games Tuesday nights only. 1 game a week. Or, if we want to prioritize HS hockey and just make the kids decide, games are Tuesday and Wednesday. Most clubs teams would manage that but tier 1 wouldn’t tolerate that. Maybe do a showcase once a month with the top HS players making up 4 teams traveling to Boston, MN, and hosting for exposure. 
 

And are we ignoring 90% of the players don’t have AAA tier 1 issues, but other club commitments? Foxes? NP? Predators? Unless you stop that too you can’t play a 40 game HS schedule.  

At the heart of the issue for the top players, if that’s where you’re going with this teaser, is the fact that scouts won’t notice a good HS player in western PA but will notice a good club player. Hence my exposure comment above. If you can get the top HS hockey players exposure, you’ll get some of these parents that think their kid is one good game away from the NTDP to rethink things. 

I’m a little all over the place here because not sure what direction you’re going but would love to hear more. 

Edited January 13 by Jkersman01

[twoboys]

On 1/13/2026 at 6:45 PM, Jkersman01 said:

I’m normally not a fan of USA hockey taking more control but their new Tier I league might impact HS hockey a bit for the better in our area. (Although there is huge malcontent brewing in MA and MN but that’s another topic).

 

Might get some of those kids/families on those current AAAAAAAA 1/2+ teams not part of that league rethinking things a bit. If the goal of HS hockey is to get those kids to play for their schools (which I’m not saying it is or should be), make games Tuesday nights only. 1 game a week. Or, if we want to prioritize HS hockey and just make the kids decide, games are Tuesday and Wednesday. Most clubs teams would manage that but tier 1 wouldn’t tolerate that. Maybe do a showcase once a month with the top HS players making up 4 teams traveling to Boston, MN, and hosting for exposure. 
 

And are we ignoring 90% of the players don’t have AAA tier 1 issues, but other club commitments? Foxes? NP? Predators? Unless you stop that too you can’t play a 40 game HS schedule.  

At the heart of the issue for the top players, if that’s where you’re going with this teaser, is the fact that scouts won’t notice a good HS player in western PA but will notice a good club player. Hence my exposure comment above. If you can get the top HS hockey players exposure, you’ll get some of these parents that think their kid is one good game away from the NTDP to rethink things. 

I’m a little all over the place here because not sure what direction you’re going but would love to hear more. 

 

A 40 game high school schedule would be brutal for the kids.  Way too many late nights.  PIHL would need to mandate that games can't start after 8 and 7 for Erie and West Virginia teams.   

[Carl Racki]

On 1/13/2026 at 6:45 PM, Jkersman01 said:

I’m normally not a fan of USA hockey taking more control but their new Tier I league might impact HS hockey a bit for the better in our area. (Although there is huge malcontent brewing in MA and MN but that’s another topic).

 

Might get some of those kids/families on those current AAAAAAAA 1/2+ teams not part of that league rethinking things a bit. If the goal of HS hockey is to get those kids to play for their schools (which I’m not saying it is or should be), make games Tuesday nights only. 1 game a week. Or, if we want to prioritize HS hockey and just make the kids decide, games are Tuesday and Wednesday. Most clubs teams would manage that but tier 1 wouldn’t tolerate that. Maybe do a showcase once a month with the top HS players making up 4 teams traveling to Boston, MN, and hosting for exposure. 
 

And are we ignoring 90% of the players don’t have AAA tier 1 issues, but other club commitments? Foxes? NP? Predators? Unless you stop that too you can’t play a 40 game HS schedule.  

At the heart of the issue for the top players, if that’s where you’re going with this teaser, is the fact that scouts won’t notice a good HS player in western PA but will notice a good club player. Hence my exposure comment above. If you can get the top HS hockey players exposure, you’ll get some of these parents that think their kid is one good game away from the NTDP to rethink things. 

I’m a little all over the place here because not sure what direction you’re going but would love to hear more. 

Not a fan of the new USA Hockey tier one league.  I believe it will end up a monopoly of tier one in a similar way Black bear tries to monopolize things.  Black bear has definitely  caused prices to increase in our area significantly.  USA hockey tier one league will make playing high level hockey even more expensive than it already is as there will be less legitimate options.  

It is a shame that teams will not let their players play highschool.  If they are a legitimate top 20 AAA team I understand kids playing on those teams are  trying to move on to the next level.  Some will some won't.  The landscape to do that now is much harder than ever.  Pens has moved a lot of players recently to legitimate tier one and tier two junior programs.  Hard to argue they have not.  If it is a goal of a player they need to play there or somewhere that will give them that competition and exposure.  The odds of that happening playing just PIHL is slim to none.  Just not the same depth even on PIHL AAA teams as a top 20 16uAAA or 18U. AAA

It is also a shame that kids have to decide when to leave home to play on legitimate tier one or tier two junior teams.  Some as early as age 15 or 16.  Lots leave to go play on  garbage AAA teams or garbage tier 3 junior teams.  It is unfortunate that these coaches and teams take advantage of uneducated people.  

USA hockey doing their new super league seems like another Black Bear money grab, will take away other competitive less expensive options, and make playing the sport at a high level more expensive than it already is.  If USA Hockey would do it so it was inexpensive for players than I would be impressed and all for it.  Pretty sure it will go the money grab route and select programs.  This will allow those programs to charge even more as it will be a monopoly and the only option to play in a high level league.

[CranjisMcBasketball]

157th in the country isn’t AAA

[aaaahockey]

Hockey is just a complete mess.  That summarizes it.  

[Jkersman01]

On 1/16/2026 at 4:44 PM, Carl Racki said:

  

It is a shame that teams will not let their players play highschool.  If they are a legitimate top 20 AAA team I understand kids playing on those teams are  trying to move on to the next level.  Some will some won't.  The landscape to do that now is much harder than ever.  Pens has moved a lot of players recently to legitimate tier one and tier two junior programs.  Hard to argue they have not.  If it is a goal of a player they need to play there or somewhere that will give them that competition and exposure.  The odds of that happening playing just PIHL is slim to none.  Just not the same depth even on PIHL AAA teams as a top 20 16uAAA or 18U. 

I agree and think we’re saying the same thing. I agree Blackbear has been bad in general. But this^^^. In a way it might help those orgs not invited to participate in the tier I league to perhaps, just perhaps, soften a bit and allow more freely HS participation. All speculation of course. 
 

Off topic a bit but your tier I comment gets really interesting. I think this gets real USSR breakup like-picking their 20 oligarchs. I have no clue how that’s going to happen. Would be a fun guessing game to play. Your prep schools would take an enormous hit if they don’t get one (Shattuck, Culver, BK, Mount). How do you handle MN? Do you do the rest based on some pro rata allocation on enrollment? If so lots of programs will get one in (ignoring MN) MA and MI? Maybe even IL. Is it just a flat 1 team per district and 8 wildcards at the onset? Can you get ‘relegated’ especially if you’re a wildcard? Really will be fascinating to see how this rolls out. 

[zam]

I give you credit for trying to make the PA area high school product better. But I think no matter what you do, you are just going to be creating different problems.  In my estimation you are talking about 30-40 kids that aren't able to play high school because of their amateur teams rules or commitments.  And even so, how many of those kids necessarily want to play for their high school.  

Again it's just my guess. But let's just say suddenly you add 40 high end players to PIHL. At least a dozen probably go to North Catholic for the pens program there, so you just created 1 super team that is essentially unbeatable.  And then you have 1 or 2 high end players sprinkled around another 15-20 teams. 

The league already has competitive balance issues, so this isn't going to help.  The overall quality of play in the league isn't likely to rise by adding 1 or 2 players to some teams rosters.  But what is going to happen is team play is going to decrease and teams will just keep those strong players on the ice for 40 minutes a game. 

And lastly how would you like to be a kid currently representing their school. They are damn good hockey players, maybe they used to play AAA but just couldn't cut it, or lost interest in that level. But they are having success at high school, going to PIHL all star games, their classmates come watch them play.  Then suddenly these new guys come in and show them up. 

I think we just need to realize Western PA High school Hockey isn't going to become Minnesota High school hockey.  We have too many small schools, and not a deep enough talent base.  

If you want to see some high level local games, how about doing like the PIHL girls league does.  NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST.   Top 20 high school aged players from each of those "areas"  Now that would look like real hockey. I could imagine some legit competition at tryouts for those teams.

[stickboy]

USA Hockey says, the HOSTAGES will not be released!