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Old 08-25-2009, 03:39 PM
 
Location: southwestern PA
22,616 posts, read 47,741,590 times
Reputation: 48362

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Quote:
Originally Posted by fleetiebelle View Post
The Pens have a following, true, but Pittsburgh isn't a hockey town. Kids don't grow up playing hockey.
All the kids/teens using the sheets at the ISC would disagree with that....


I am in Westmoreland County, and ice time is a precious commodity here since the demand is high.
My son played grades 2 through 12.
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Old 08-25-2009, 09:43 PM
 
9 posts, read 10,483 times
Reputation: 10
Default Ebbs and flows

At ANY level football is first in Pittsburgh. High school hockey in PGH barely gets the fine print scorecard scores in the sports sections of local papers. But if Rothlesberger blows his nose, it is a front page headline. At the high school level hockey is not even a school sponsored sport, meaning no funding or minimal funding goes into the schools hockey team (if it even has one). The players pay for everything-ice time to cups and mouth pieces. Schools want no part of hockey because of the expense and limited control and ignorance of the game. The fans are coming around for hockey and supporting but could not tell you the difference between forechecking and backchecking. When Lemieux played as soon as he touched or came near the puck the crowd would stand and cheer as if he would score EVERY time he had the puck. It is almost becoming like that for Crosby and Malkin now. The fans are great, but probably 9/10 of the fans at a Pens game have no clue about the game itself and what to watch, to me they are fans of the players-not fans of the game itself. I myself will go watch any good game or good team-just to enjoy the game.We were at the tail end of a great growth spurt that came with Lemieux, figuring the Pens won their first cup in 1991 those kids are basically out of playing local hockey in PGH. My son was born in 1992, I played growing up and started in 1975, and coach now. The age groups that were 2 to 4 years older than my son were the most skilled I have ever seen here. As the pens went down, so did the numbers. I played with several good atheletes when I was younger, but all quit hockey-even though they actually enjoyed hockey the most, only because of the exposure and publicity that playing football, basketball, or wrestling can bring to a Western PA athelete. This area has produced many stellar atheletes, and now some are taking hockey seriously, but we still lack a JrA team. So our better kids have to move away at a fairly young age if they wish to move on...unfortunately I do not see this changing much in the next decade. The MN high school tournament is on my must see list...some day I hope to make it. There was a great article written in SI in the early '80's (I think) and ever since then I have wanted to make the trip.
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Old 08-25-2009, 11:53 PM
 
43,011 posts, read 108,124,939 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mjlough6 View Post
But if Rothlesberger blows his nose, it is a front page headline.
Come on, now, he blew more than his nose!
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Old 08-28-2009, 04:34 PM
 
1,080 posts, read 2,271,200 times
Reputation: 599
Oh wow, I completeley forgot about this thread. Thanks for all the responses everyone!

Quote:
The MN high school tournament is on my must see list...some day I hope to make it. There was a great article written in SI in the early '80's (I think) and ever since then I have wanted to make the trip.
It is unbelievable and still as strong as ever. Definitely come!!! (especially if Hill-Murray is in it )


YouTube - How Minnesota does High School Hockey


YouTube - 2009 Minnesota Boys High School Hockey Tournament Open
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