Wanted to get a thread started to talk about next season.

will any teams be greatly helped/hurt by additions or subtractions?

who looks good in the spring leagues?

who will be some of the top freshmen or transfers?

who do people expect to be the early top teams?

I'm just going to chime in here on ICSHL teams, since that is the league which I know best. That being said, in AAA I think LaSalle stands to have an even more dominant season this year than last - sorry hgp fan. In the ICSHL varsity division I think Rustin will push Henderson for the top for FC AA teams. I think WCE will be down a bit from last year because I don't think their JV & freshmen will quite make up for their outgoing seniors. That could all change, IF they convince Andrew Lamont to play for them. I think Kennett will be good, but down a peg from last season (though challenge for a high ICSHL FC A seed). Perk Valley peaked last season, but should still have talent to field a respectable team (loss of goalie and several top level talent will be hard to replace). Methacton will also be down a bit I think due to the talent that graduated, but again should field a good team. Springford, not sure how they will fare. New coach I believe in Mike Mazarella, and I'm not quite sure who is still there. In Downingtown, West has a new head coach (first head coaching job), they lost some decent seniors from last year as well as Blanken and McKinley (who decided not to play this year - though things like that can change once the season starts), their better of their goalie tandem (I feel) decided he wants to play defense this year (he'll be #5 or #6 at best), but they did get a couple of nice incoming freshmen and sophs that didn't play last year. D'town East has a new coach. Mike Anderson was their coach last year, and he's a good coach, but he was doing the Tri-State Select Jr. team last year, and as a result I think the HS suffered only because he couldn't commit enough time & effort needed. They had a lot of players come out (44 skaters, 4 goalies. Not a lot of top end talent, BUT the top 25 skaters are fast, and agile. No returning varsity goaltender, so that will present a significant challenge. Shanahan, is hurting. 23 graduating seniors. The ENTIRE HS coaching staff gone. Two and perhaps three of their top returning players may leave to go to public schools. The whole board gone. WOW! There could be a possibility that this organization could implode, though I doubt that, but they will be rebuilding for the next couple years. One positive: VERY good goaltending. I'll try to address some more later, but for now gotta run.

no, i agree, i think lasalle is the team to beat in aaa this coming season. they return their whole team, and i dont think they lose any underclassmen either.

i think our team will be pretty solid. we really only lose a few players, but they were huge parts of the team. the defense should be much improved, and the forwards will be solid too. its tough to replace soroka and andrusko, but theres plenty of kids that can step-up. we also have a very good freshman class coming in, not sure if there are any significant transfers yet. question will be goaltending. last season begley started about 90% of the games. 2 goaltending spots are up for grabs between a senior, a junior, 3 sophomores, and a very good freshmen, tryouts will determine how this turns out.

someone posted earlier that ryan will be loaded this year. i saw their roster online, and they do look like they will have a very solid team. i think they could be top 3 or 4 in aaa.

La Salle will be picking up a very talented freshman forward from Hatboro-Horsham. I don't believe they use 9th graders on AAA, so he will likely start out on one of their other varsity teams. He would have made an immediate impact had he stayed at HH. Another top player at HH, a 10th grader, is waiting to hear from GA.

It's very difficult to rebuild when your best players go elsewhere.

The SHSHL AA in general lost ton of seniors, but one team that didnt loose many was William Tennant. They have a real nice group of young players coming back, and on paper are probally the best SHSHL AA Flyers Cup team.

I play for Ridley in the eastern league..is it true that Carroll will be having a team in the Eastern AA?

Wm. Tennent??????????? They won exactly "ONE" game in the Hatfield Ice Spring League. Watch out for North Penn.

All their good players play club and probally didnt want to play spring league. Did Fabiani, DeChristopher, Dewald, Makinowski, or Horrox play? Also CB South won the hatfield spring league in 2006 and they were the worst team in the SHSHL last year

This message has been edited. Last edited by: AllOrNothing,

congrats holy ghost. won the varsity division of the lower bucks/suburban spring league. played most of the spring undermanned, and had some very big contributions from 8th graders. the jv team also won their division of the spring league with a 7th and 8th grader team.

where does that kid oliveri go to school? is he as good as a defensmen as I have heard?

Oliveri goes to Archbishop Ryan. He is supposed to be a real stud.

Considering almost every team is AA in the ches-mont icshl league...how will this play in to hand for flyers cup seedings for the A teams in the league?

quote:

Considering almost every team is AA in the ches-mont icshl league...how will this play in to hand for flyers cup seedings for the A teams in the league?

There are 9 teams in the Ches-Mont playing varsity hockey, only 2 of them are AA:
A:
Bayard Rustin
Shanahan (ineligible for Flyers Cup)
Great Valley
Kennett
Unionville
WC East
WC Henderson
AA:
Downingtown East
Downingtown West

The "A" group includes last year's "A" finalists and state champion Henderson, and a Rustin team that also made the Flyers Cup and didn't graduate a single senior.

The Ches-Mont may displace the Central League (see below) as the preeminent "A" playing division. The Central teams will have a lot more rebuilding to do, with graduation losses, etc., at both "A" and "AA", having had their 6-year string of winning the "A" Flyers Cup finally broken.
A:
Garnet Valley
Marple-Newtown
Penncrest
Radnor
Springfield(D)
Strath Haven
AA:
Conestoga
Haverford High
Lower Merion (ineligible)
Ridley
Upper Darby

In both "leagues" (which are really only regular season scheduling devices), there should be a high level of competition. I expect to see 2-3 Flyers Cup "A" semi-finalists emerge from these two leagues, but, hey, that's why we play the season...

quote:

Originally posted by Mandell89:
where does that kid oliveri go to school? is he as good as a defensmen as I have heard?

hes extremely talented, but not worth the headache.

quote:

Originally posted by CarlWood:

quote:

Considering almost every team is AA in the ches-mont icshl league...how will this play in to hand for flyers cup seedings for the A teams in the league?

There are 9 teams in the Ches-Mont playing varsity hockey, only 2 of them are AA:
A:
Bayard Rustin
Shanahan (ineligible for Flyers Cup)
Great Valley
Kennett
Unionville
WC East
WC Henderson
AA:
Downingtown East
Downingtown West

The "A" group includes last year's "A" finalists and state champion Henderson, and a Rustin team that also made the Flyers Cup and didn't graduate a single senior.

The Ches-Mont may displace the Central League (see below) as the preeminent "A" playing division. The Central teams will have a lot more rebuilding to do, with graduation losses, etc., at both "A" and "AA", having had their 6-year string of winning the "A" Flyers Cup finally broken.
A:
Garnet Valley
Marple-Newtown
Penncrest
Radnor
Springfield(D)
Strath Haven
AA:
Conestoga
Haverford High
Lower Merion (ineligible)
Ridley
Upper Darby

In both "leagues" (which are really only regular season scheduling devices), there should be a high level of competition. I expect to see 2-3 Flyers Cup "A" semi-finalists emerge from these two leagues, but, hey, that's why we play the season...

All the WC schools are AA this year, but i guess that makes it half and half