Congrats to the Armstrong Arrows u 18 and Southpointe Rebellion u 14 and good luck to two High School friendly organizations in National QF

Edited March 29Mar 29 by Pa Hockey

19 hours ago, Pa Hockey said:

Congrats to the Armstrong Arrows u 18 and Southpointe Rebellion u 14 and good luck to two High School friendly organizations in National QF

Since not one Western Pa Tier 1 or Tier 2 lit the world on Fire at USA Hockey National Championships MAYBE High School Friendly Organizations with less than 40-50 Games makes sense ?

   I’ve come up with a plan I would like to talk to you about which will strengthen high school hockey going forward.   This nonsense of players missing high school games CAN come 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. Congrats to Quaker Valley - Penn Trafford and Seneca Valley on first western sweep in Pennsylvania Cup in 15 years

This thread is actually kind of funny. You wish the two teams who made playoffs luck, while secretly (or really not so secretly) hoping that all western PA teams fail so you could further push your agenda.

Edited March 29Mar 29 by Icebucket

2 hours ago, Icebucket said:

This thread is actually kind of funny. You wish the two teams who made playoffs luck, while secretly (or really not so secretly) hoping that all western PA teams fail so you could further push your agenda.

Both of those programs are HS Friendly ....................no agenda just proof that I may have a good plan 

10 hours ago, Pa Hockey said:

Since not one Western Pa Tier 1 or Tier 2 lit the world on Fire at USA Hockey National Championships MAYBE High School Friendly Organizations with less than 40-50 Games makes sense ?

   I’ve come up with a plan I would like to talk to you about which will strengthen high school hockey going forward.   This nonsense of players missing high school games CAN come 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. Congrats to Quaker Valley - Penn Trafford and Seneca Valley on first western sweep in Pennsylvania Cup in 15 years

Calling that a “poor showing” doesn’t add up. Western PA had multiple teams across Tier 1, Tier 2, and girls divisions reach the Final 8 and Final 4, which is a strong national result. Jumping from that to “we need fewer games and a high school-only model” ignores other factors like talent, coaching, and competition level, and it creates a vague, political “referral system” without any clear structure or proof it would actually improve results.  Good try though. 

I’m afraid the horse is out of the barn in this aspect. 

You have been pimping your plan for some time now.  I assume your motive or intention is to add into the PIHL a couple dozen players that don't currently play because of Amateur team obligations. And you think this will improve the quality of the league and allow these kids to play with their classmates. 

I think the unintended consequence would actually be a more unbalanced and less competitive league.  If I'm a high end AAA player and I go to some school with 2 wins in the last 2 years, do I really want to play for them?  And even I'd I do, what's that get you 4 wins?  On the flip side if I go to SV, QV, Peters, etc sure I might want to play for them and win a championship,  So the good teams just get better. 

I will also argue, putting a couple AAA on a team also means a couple A players end up being cut, or sitting on a bench? So kids that have no chance of playing competitive hockey after high school suddenly miss out on that High school hockey experience that you keep promoting.  

3 hours ago, zam said:

You have been pimping your plan for some time now.  I assume your motive or intention is to add into the PIHL a couple dozen players that don't currently play because of Amateur team obligations. And you think this will improve the quality of the league and allow these kids to play with their classmates. 

I think the unintended consequence would actually be a more unbalanced and less competitive league.  If I'm a high end AAA player and I go to some school with 2 wins in the last 2 years, do I really want to play for them?  And even I'd I do, what's that get you 4 wins?  On the flip side if I go to SV, QV, Peters, etc sure I might want to play for them and win a championship,  So the good teams just get better. 

I will also argue, putting a couple AAA on a team also means a couple A players end up being cut, or sitting on a bench? So kids that have no chance of playing competitive hockey after high school suddenly miss out on that High school hockey experience that you keep promoting.  

There's plenty of "AAA" players in PIHL that don't stand out from a lot of the AA and A players, though. But that's the western PA way.

Great story with a Pittsburgh twist. The team pictured is the Columbus Chill Tier 2 USA Hockey 18 U Champions coached by RJ Umberger who played for Plum HS Hornets AAA Ohio State and NHL for 15 years .............Congrats RJ 

How is it considered a national championship, when they have more than one champion in a division? Example 18u tier 2, has 3 divisions. 

1 hour ago, nemesis8679 said:

How is it considered a national championship, when they have more than one champion in a division? Example 18u tier 2, has 3 divisions. 

It’s USA Hockey. It’s doesn’t have to make sense. 

4 hours ago, nemesis8679 said:

How is it considered a national championship, when they have more than one champion in a division? Example 18u tier 2, has 3 divisions. 

Called making money! 

On 3/30/2026 at 8:00 PM, CranjisMcBasketball said:

It’s USA Hockey. It’s doesn’t have to make sense. 

OK, at least I'm not the only one that thinks it's a weird way of doing it. You'd think they could make more money having the final teams play each other to actually get one winner. 

11 hours ago, nemesis8679 said:

OK, at least I'm not the only one that thinks it's a weird way of doing it. You'd think they could make more money having the final teams play each other to actually get one winner. 

Don't give them any ideas!

Actually I was being goofy in the last post but I think the seperation in the teams based on MyHockey says some teams would go somewhere and get killed in games.  When that happens they probably would just stay home.   I think the idea behind multiple tier ii championships is to get as many people to pay as possible.  If you knew you didn't have a chance, why go? 

In almost every case, any of the 1A champs would lose to the 3A champ by 10

3 hours ago, aaaahockey said:

Actually I was being goofy in the last post but I think the seperation in the teams based on MyHockey says some teams would go somewhere and get killed in games.  When that happens they probably would just stay home.   I think the idea behind multiple tier ii championships is to get as many people to pay as possible.  If you knew you didn't have a chance, why go? 

I believe the Tiering is based on numbers by District with adjustments 

1 hour ago, Icebucket said:

In almost every case, any of the 1A champs would lose to the 3A champ by 10

I'd have to do deeper digging to see that.  Looked like they grouped them based on myhockeyrankings into a 1 2 and 3. 

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