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Sam Lafferty


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It is a phenomenal story but why must you always twist things to fit your narrative?

He played 3 seasons of Prep hockey at Deerfield Academy and during that time I would be willing to bet that he barely practiced with MS Mustangs and only participated in pre-season games and the USA Hockey playdowns with them.

It is a story of his hard work and determination but an educated hockey person would realize that the foundation was set in youth hockey - 14U and younger, cultivated at a High level Prep school and finalized at Brown University and the AHL.

You try to make people believe that he went straight from Mid State to the NHL.

 

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/259043/sam-lafferty

Edited by sadday4hockey
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23 hours ago, Pa Hockey said:

Congrats to Sam Lafferty of the Pittsburgh Penguins from Holidaysburg and the Mid State Mustangs ........great story of kids who played AA Hockey and made it to the NHL !

Mid-State Mustangs alumni Sam Lafferty has signed a 2-way contract with the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins and will report to the team's AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre Scranton.  Sam just completed a successful college career with Brown University.  His playing career began right here in Altoona as a member of the Altoona Trackers and Mid-State Mustangs programs helping the Mustangs to two National Championships in 2011 and 2014!  Sam also played prep school hockey at Deerfield Academy.  

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4 minutes ago, sadday4hockey said:

Like I stated previously, it's always made to fit your narrative.

facts are facts, not sure what your trying to stir up with this.. the kid played for the trackers and mid state mustangs..guess we should just ignore truth. sounds like your trying to change the narrative.. 

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41 minutes ago, sadday4hockey said:

Exactly, look at the original post. MS Mustangs and NHL are the only things mentioned. I simply pointed pointed out that there were many other steps in between.

This is so true, he wasn’t like a kid that played hockey in PG( then left straight to college. He left to play at a level that wasn’t around his area. It’s not like he was grown here his entire life

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4 hours ago, Pa Hockey said:

Mid-State Mustangs alumni Sam Lafferty has signed a 2-way contract with the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins and will report to the team's AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre Scranton.  Sam just completed a successful college career with Brown University.  His playing career began right here in Altoona as a member of the Altoona Trackers and Mid-State Mustangs programs helping the Mustangs to two National Championships in 2011 and 2014!  Sam also played prep school hockey at Deerfield Academy.  

Sam Lafferty played for the Mid State Mustangs until 2014 while attending Deerfield Academy (finished in 2014)  and went to Brown University the very next year !

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This is a bizarre argument, even for this board. I think most people understand that for a western Pa kid to make it to the NHL, they are going to have to leave the area at some point. Ryan Malone never stopped being referred to as Upper St. Clair's, even though he spent some teenage years in Minnesota. 

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lol, yes, yes it is, so let's just stay bizarre. While people did refer to Ryan Malone as Upper St Clair, Ryan Malone did not. I remember an interview with him and another player, who i forget, but they asked the other guy something about PGH and he said, "why don't you answer that, Ryan, you're from PGH" and Malone scoffed and said, "i'm not from PGH", so the other dude says, "really, were are you from" and Malone says, "Minnesota". I remember it kind of irked me, he had a chance to give the local kids a hero and chose to poo on it. But he probably left so young, he hardly recalls much about here, so fair enough. 

 

but all this talk about how kids have to leave, i'm not buying it anymore. PPE has consistently been having kids sign NCAA commitments for quite a few years now, it's only a matter of time before someone breaks in. I only mention PPE because i know some people who's kids have played there so i've been on the website. kids in other AAA orgs around here are probably signing commitments as well. but it is a shame we don't have a model more like Minnesota HS. 

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2 hours ago, Stinger17 said:

The Minnesota model starts with a split season and it doesn’t look like that will happen anytime soon. I personally believe that the current model in This area is limiting the growth of the sport and development of the players. 
 

Here’s a link to the report

http://online.fliphtml5.com/nums/chna/

 

That's fascinating. Lots to think about in that report.

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3 hours ago, Stinger17 said:

The Minnesota model starts with a split season and it doesn’t look like that will happen anytime soon. I personally believe that the current model in This area is limiting the growth of the sport and development of the players. 
 

Here’s a link to the report

http://online.fliphtml5.com/nums/chna/

 

With all due respect, you cannot compare Pittsburgh to Minnesota.  It's apples and oranges and adding a slit-season isn't going to change that.  Minnesota is just a a different level than everyone else, with other areas like, Buffalo, Detroit and Boston a little further behind.  Pittsburgh just doesn't have the fan support to pull this off yet.  You need kids who have fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers who all played and understand the sport.  This area is just not there yet.  

That being said, it is nice to a see kid or two here and there make it to the NHL.  This at least shows some progress.

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good read, thanks for posting that. 

working toward something better than what we currently have should be a goal. there should be a way to keep all talented 14 year olds at home and still progress them appropriately.

 

Of the 'daddy' coaches my youngest has had over the years, 1 played juinors, 1 played ACHA, and 1 played D1. they will be the grandfathers soon enough. PGH isn't there yet, but it would be nice to have a good system in place for when we are, because i don't think we're that far off from having the multi generation hockey families.  

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Depends on your definition of "not far off".  As an outsider I once spoke to person from Pittsburgh about whether it was a "hockey town" or not.  I told them it wasn't, it was a Penguins town.  They said no, it is actually a "Sidney Crosby" town.  It's where their support ends.  When Crosby is done and if the Pens don't replace him with another superstar, and they start to miss the playoffs, they will be right back to and empty arena.  Most of you I am sure see it at work, you run into a guy wearing a Penguins shirt and you say hey are you a hockey fan?  And they say oh yea huge fan watch it all the time, and inside of 60 seconds you realize they really aren't.  They can't name more than 3 players from any team other than the Pens, they have no idea that Pittsburgh has a Men's and Women's NCAA D1 and D3 program, and don't know the name of the Junior Team.  Never been to a Nailers Game, and really don't understand what they are watching on AT&T Sportsnet when the game is on.  

If you go to an area like Minnesota you will see a much more wider scope and depth of knowledge that the majority of people here don't have.  I agree it will come in time.  

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On 10/16/2019 at 12:01 PM, miked said:

lol, yes, yes it is, so let's just stay bizarre. While people did refer to Ryan Malone as Upper St Clair, Ryan Malone did not. I remember an interview with him and another player, who i forget, but they asked the other guy something about PGH and he said, "why don't you answer that, Ryan, you're from PGH" and Malone scoffed and said, "i'm not from PGH", so the other dude says, "really, were are you from" and Malone says, "Minnesota". I remember it kind of irked me, he had a chance to give the local kids a hero and chose to poo on it. But he probably left so young, he hardly recalls much about here, so fair enough. 

 

but all this talk about how kids have to leave, i'm not buying it anymore. PPE has consistently been having kids sign NCAA commitments for quite a few years now, it's only a matter of time before someone breaks in. I only mention PPE because i know some people who's kids have played there so i've been on the website. kids in other AAA orgs around here are probably signing commitments as well. but it is a shame we don't have a model more like Minnesota HS. 

Unfortunately the ONLY tier 1 (AAA) program that gets attention is PPE. There are no kids on the “other” tier 1 teams signing any ncaa d1 commitments. Most of the players who have signed commitments were identified at 14 years old (bantam major). 
 

with that said committing to a ncaa college doesn’t mean the player will ever make it to that level. 

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@Eddie Shore

the same could be said about pretty much any US city with an NHL team. and honestly, i think one of the problems is the completely bizarre progression (or lack there of) scheme. If you take Football, kids play when they're little with the idea to make it onto their High School team. The best high school players go on to play in college and the best of them go into the NFL. I understand that I oversimplified it quite a bit, but for the most part, that is how it works and it is easily understood. So people can follow their local kids. Their friends and neighbors kids. The kids go to school together and play together. Families go through the process within their neighborhoods. When a team is doing well banners go up and such. no one is even aware of who the PPE is playing or that they won a National Championship a few years ago. there is no sense of community around hockey in our area. The kids play all year, then go to tryouts, get placed on a new team, with maybe 1 or 2 kids from last years team and the cycle goes on. the parents are always complaining about whatever association they are in and talking about how they going to go somewhere else next year or chasing the extra A, as it likes to be said on this forum.  there is not much reason for anyone without a kid involved to pay any attention to any hockey other than the Pens, even if you are a hockey fan. is there a rivalry? is one association looking to upset a top dog? without that, it's hard for people to get involved. but they can read high school football news and then go to the local watering hole and watch the game of the week on tv. 

as an outsider though, i think you may be surprised by how many people in the area are actually "true" hockey fans. i'm not sure what driving an hour and a half to Wheeling to see an ECHL game has to do with anything, but don't forget that the Hornets were a well supported team before the 67 expansion. I know some old timers who were season ticket holders and they were pissed about losing the Hornets especially because the expansion draft was not designed to actually build good teams. and no one was fooled by the "an expansion team will make the stanley cup" narrative. they were well aware who ever made would be curb stopped.  

but as for not far off, multi-generational hockey families like you mention will become pretty common place over the next 10 years. that will help fuel the change for more hockey but i think if our high school level stays as is, we will never really grow into a true hotbed.  

 

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8 minutes ago, miked said:

@Eddie Shore

the same could be said about pretty much any US city with an NHL team. and honestly, i think one of the problems is the completely bizarre progression (or lack there of) scheme. If you take Football, kids play when they're little with the idea to make it onto their High School team. The best high school players go on to play in college and the best of them go into the NFL. I understand that I oversimplified it quite a bit, but for the most part, that is how it works and it is easily understood. So people can follow their local kids. Their friends and neighbors kids. The kids go to school together and play together. Families go through the process within their neighborhoods. When a team is doing well banners go up and such. no one is even aware of who the PPE is playing or that they won a National Championship a few years ago. there is no sense of community around hockey in our area. The kids play all year, then go to tryouts, get placed on a new team, with maybe 1 or 2 kids from last years team and the cycle goes on. the parents are always complaining about whatever association they are in and talking about how they going to go somewhere else next year or chasing the extra A, as it likes to be said on this forum.  there is not much reason for anyone without a kid involved to pay any attention to any hockey other than the Pens, even if you are a hockey fan. is there a rivalry? is one association looking to upset a top dog? without that, it's hard for people to get involved. but they can read high school football news and then go to the local watering hole and watch the game of the week on tv. 

as an outsider though, i think you may be surprised by how many people in the area are actually "true" hockey fans. i'm not sure what driving an hour and a half to Wheeling to see an ECHL game has to do with anything, but don't forget that the Hornets were a well supported team before the 67 expansion. I know some old timers who were season ticket holders and they were pissed about losing the Hornets especially because the expansion draft was not designed to actually build good teams. and no one was fooled by the "an expansion team will make the stanley cup" narrative. they were well aware who ever made would be curb stopped.  

but as for not far off, multi-generational hockey families like you mention will become pretty common place over the next 10 years. that will help fuel the change for more hockey but i think if our high school level stays as is, we will never really grow into a true hotbed.  

 

I can say I am honestly a little confused by your post.  Your first paragraph does nothing but reinforce my statement that Pittsburgh is far from a hockey town.  You stated:

"When a team is doing well banners go up and such. no one is even aware of who the PPE is playing or that they won a National Championship a few years ago. there is no sense of community around hockey in our area."

You then go on in your 2nd paragraph to try to argue against this.  You state:

"as an outsider though, i think you may be surprised by how many people in the area are actually "true" hockey fans."

Not sure I am following your logic. 

However, I am sure there are lots of people in Pittsburgh who know a ton about hockey and come from very long lines of hockey families.  My statement was not meant to put everyone in this category.

However, even you have to admit that Pittsburgh cannot compare to true hockey markets like Minnesota, Detroit, Boston and Buffalo. 

From your post I think I can assume you have a kid that is playing, and you too may have played as a child.  Well, if this is true then you have in fact traveled to these areas and seen the difference.  Pittsburgh just isn't there yet.  Maybe in some time, just not now.

I hope this clarifies my position.

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yea, i got rambling.

it was sort of more of a complaint about why i see PGH not being as big a hockey town as it could be because there are a lot of actual hockey people here and many more who could be easily converted if there was more of a community oriented model.

but as i mentioned, i got rambling and didn't make good sense. so my bad, i wasn't actually trying to disagree with you, those areas are definitely more advanced than PGH. 

 

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