2024-25 Movement

[Guest]

The harsh reality that not many people want to admit is that 2/3 of AAA and AA don't live up to the levels they play. AAA is a money grab for the majority of clubs in this area. Clubs would be better off focusing on Tier 2 and actually developing players so they can compete in future years. My kids have played at every level from B to AAA. I've see AAA players drop to Tier 2 and not make AA. I've also seen AA players make AAA where they wouldn't have remained on their AA team.

AAA is not a money grab Tier 2 is a money grab. If you calculate what it would cost a-la-carte to get what AAA teams offer, you spend more money at Tier 2. Also travel at Tier 2 is almost as bad as AAA now that the AHF has teams in NY, CT & MD. My kids played Tier 2 and tried to get a discount and was told "No, we have kids lined up to pay full price". I have never paid full price at AAA going on 5 season now. AAA= 4 hours ice/wk, 1 hr video/wk, 1 hr gym/wk, 2 days a week practice April, May, June and a 4 day 6hr/day camp in August. If I did this at Tier 2 a-la-carte I would pay about $8500-$9k while I get this for a little more than half at AAA. Tier 2 is the real money grab!

[Guest]

The point still remains if you want to field pure teams at every age group with this many AAA programs there is not enough talent to make teams that actually play at AAA level, say what you want about value, choice, and any of that, the letters mean nothing when the play doesn’t match, AAA should not be used to develop marginal players, it should be the door that the elite players burst through when then conquer AA and need a stiffer challenge, FE made a mockery of that last season and will seek new lows this season with certain teams

[Guest]

The harsh reality that not many people want to admit is that 2/3 of AAA and AA don't live up to the levels they play. AAA is a money grab for the majority of clubs in this area. Clubs would be better off focusing on Tier 2 and actually developing players so they can compete in future years. My kids have played at every level from B to AAA. I've see AAA players drop to Tier 2 and not make AA. I've also seen AA players make AAA where they wouldn't have remained on their AA team.

AAA is not a money grab Tier 2 is a money grab. If you calculate what it would cost a-la-carte to get what AAA teams offer, you spend more money at Tier 2. Also travel at Tier 2 is almost as bad as AAA now that the AHF has teams in NY, CT & MD. My kids played Tier 2 and tried to get a discount and was told "No, we have kids lined up to pay full price". I have never paid full price at AAA going on 5 season now. AAA= 4 hours ice/wk, 1 hr video/wk, 1 hr gym/wk, 2 days a week practice April, May, June and a 4 day 6hr/day camp in August. If I did this at Tier 2 a-la-carte I would pay about $8500-$9k while I get this for a little more than half at AAA. Tier 2 is the real money grab!

A lot of parents don't care for all that ice time, video, gym, spring practices and summer camp. A lot of AAA teams I know of often have multiple tournaments a year that they have to fly to, just to get their butts kicked.

What percentage of your team is getting these "discounts"

[Guest]

Let’s end this post.

Many clubs have AA and A level players on their roster. We can go round and round with examples of situations similar or worse than Flyers Elite.

Bottom line is if you’re rostering players that wouldn’t make the top tier 2 team from the organization they left there’s an issue. Of course there are kids playing AA who are better than players on AAA teams. But if your AAA team is ranked in the 300’s (FE 2011) let’s be honest about the roster. It’s filled with kids who would be average at best on any tier 2 team. There are other programs that field weak AAA teams. Flyers Elite is the issue because every team they field is AA level at best.

Parents can make whatever decisions they want. If you’re playing for guys with absolutely no background and the team struggles against bottom end tier 1 teams it’s hard for an outsider to believe you’re doing anything other than chasing a letter.

There are too many AAA teams. If your player cannot make a legitimate AA team how does AAA make sense?

[Guest]

I love how everyone bashes Flyers Elite on this site. I am not associated in any way with FE (my kid plays AAA in PA) but know people there very well. While you bash the 2011 FE team, you should remember FE had no teams at SQ or PW Minor in 2022-23. Last season was supposed to be played as an independent  AAA/AA "transition year" team but BB put them into the THF. I was told by the end of the year 3 of the 2012 players were AAA level and about 5 of the 2011 were AAA level. The rest were AA at best. FE 2013 was a mess last year due to a bad mix of ages (2015, 2014 & 2013) with the 2015 dads as coaches. I was told the team was very competitive until the 2015 coaches decided to leave for PHC and things fell apart. My contact said FE is still rebuilding from Venom leaving in 2021. It took time to rebuild but Pilots program is thriving, both SQ teams look good this year, 2013 will be .500 at best (but has 3-4 really good players) and 2012 will be good to very good. 2011 has not been picked yet so that is up in the air, but pre-skates and tryout sign ups look promising. Older ages will struggle because a bunch of kids left for juniors and prep schools, which says a lot about the programs quality if kids are wanted at higher level programs.

I look at other AAA organizations and certain ages struggle their too, why single out FE?  I heard rumors that FE would not have enough players for pure age teams. My contacts said this caused a lot of 2013 & 2012 kids not to try out. I wonder who started those rumors? FY (who lost about 15 kids to FE)? Hollydell (PHC & Hurricanes- who lost about 10 kids to FE)? Parent/coaches that left? I just do not understand why so many other rinks want FE to fail? Is it because of BB beef with FY? Is it because Hollydell (who rarely promotes kids from Hurricanes to PHC) wants to avoid losing AA players to FE? I am not sure what the issue is? My kid used to do privates at Pennsauken and JP's coaching was awesome. I saw PHC, Mercer, JRF, VF & LF AAA kids at privates with JP. I saw Igloo, FY, Hurricanes, Snyder, Grundy, Blazers and Deloco Phantoms kids at privates with JP. If he is such a bad coach, why do some of the top players in the area do privates with him? Something is just not adding up with the hate against FE/coaches on this board?

I will admit there are too many AAA teams, but that is the world we live in at the moment. Would it be better if some AAA orgs were demoted to AA, yes. AAHA will sort this out after this upcoming season. I am told FE will be much better this year so maybe your tune will change. I doubt it as you seem to have a personal beef with FE!

[Guest]

No beef with FE, I actually think they are building up some good teams with the Pilot feeding FE now from the bottom. 
The issue I have is they are fielding pure teams for the sake of fielding them not because the talent is there.  They are perpetuating a problem that exists in youth hockey that has far reaching implications down stream.
Anyone who believed that BB would actually allow teams to play as independents rather than the THF deserved everything they went through last year, that was always a pipe dream and a sell job to get players to come over. 
JP is fine at what he does, but his students all have a selfish streak that coaches have to reprogram out of his players and he is resentful of players seeking supplemental instruction, it seems cultish. 
If FE wanted to be taken seriously they would field the teams they could and skip the rest until then they are a joke.

[Guest]

My son plays for lvpy and we did two pre-skates at fe I don’t know about other age levels but from what I witnessed at squirt ages I wish we could commit to the commute to play there. Coaches run well structured practices and the kids they had turn out to the skates we attended seems like aaa players to me. Good luck to all this year the real test comes in the fall….

[Guest]

No beef with FE, I actually think they are building up some good teams with the Pilot feeding FE now from the bottom. 
The issue I have is they are fielding pure teams for the sake of fielding them not because the talent is there.  They are perpetuating a problem that exists in youth hockey that has far reaching implications down stream.
Anyone who believed that BB would actually allow teams to play as independents rather than the THF deserved everything they went through last year, that was always a pipe dream and a sell job to get players to come over. 
JP is fine at what he does, but his students all have a selfish streak that coaches have to reprogram out of his players and he is resentful of players seeking supplemental instruction, it seems cultish. 
If FE wanted to be taken seriously they would field the teams they could and skip the rest until then they are a joke.

Yeah, JP is more than "fine at what he does". Your take on JP is way off base. He has no issue if you go to other people for privates/camps/skates. A player who is selfish is not a private coach that has kid 1-2hrs/wk. That is the fault of the kids team coach and parent. There is no cult with JP, just a lot of happy customers. I think other rinks/coaches are jealous of JP because he does have a faithful following. JP has improved many players that play for other AAA and Tier 2 programs. As far as this season at FE, time will tell if they have the talent to compete. Good luck to all the teams out there!

[Guest]

Can we argue about something else now?

[Guest]

Can we argue about something else now?

Yeah like which rink has the best concession stand or something.