quote:

Originally posted by Harks:
FlyersFan, that is a pretty good point there and Judge, Roman, Ryan and I would add Bonner to that list represent 4 of the 11 teams in AAA.

quote:

Originally posted by hgp fan:
Imagine the quality of play at the AAA level or any level actually, if the LaSalles, Malverns, Ghosts, G.A.s etc. couldn't siphon off the talent from the local parochial and public schools. Or if they couldn't enter the Flyers' Cup? Would there be parity? Would the players who are playing at the various prep schools remain at their local public/parochial school if the true "Prep" school weren't permitted to compete at the Flyers' Cup? I bet they wouldn't because winning the Flyers' Cup is what most players want. My parents told me that I had the option to either play club hockey or high school hockey. I knew the chances of playing at a higher level were slim so I decided on high school because nothing was more exciting than playing in front packed arena full of my classmates.

Whats your point? Its same for every other sport. Kids and parents choose where they want to go. Why wouldnt they be allowed to play in the Flyers Cup? Its broken up into tiers for a reason. Its an even playing field for privates and parochials. O'Hara, Judge, Ryan and Roman all finished with better records then St Joes and GA, and would kill privates like Episcopal or Haverford. For arguments sake, if Malvern did give a half scholarship for hockey thats still a $12000 tuition bill. Parochial schools charge $5000 across the board. What school is more feasible for a larger pool of kids?

I'm not trying to take away from what LaSalle has accomplished this year or what Ghost accomplished last year or the Malvern teams that won 5 straight Flyers' Cups, but when players are "recruited" the teams become an All-Star team. I would be willing to bet that what O'Hara, Judge and Conwell-Egan did when they won shows that the talent was developed internally within the organization for the most part. I'm sure some kids "transferred" to each school but not the same way at the prep schools.

Hockey works in cycles. As stated above, parochials can "recruit" these same players that some of the private schools have, and offer them a much lower tuition, and much lower standards to be admitted to the school. Who has more of an advantage? Maybe if these parochials dont have "all star" teams in hockey, they arent doing a good enough job "recruiting" these players. They sure have some "all star" teams in other sports.

When OHara won it 2 years ago, they had at least 4 kids that I know of transfer into the school. This would never happen in a private school, because as said before its tougher to get into, and costs more. Conwell-Egan was an impure team when they won the Flyers Cup. They also had at least 3 kids transfer into the school too.

If anything the private schools benefit the least from transfers.

Keep this in mind, that since the Flyers' Cup started in 1980 only 5 public schools have one the AAA title and only 8 parochial schools have won it.

And they never will again, because its broken up into tiers, to level the playing field. The last 2 years have been by far the best Flyers Cup tournaments in respect to fairness of playing field. I think the current system works great.

If hockey is going to grow and have the ability to develop talent like other hockey hot-beds in the country, then we need coaches who can teach and develop the players, not recruit them. Just my humble opinion.

I agree, but that has to occur at a younger age. No matter how great a coach is, he isnt going to turn an in-house player as a freshmen into a D-1 prospect as a senior.

quote:

Originally posted by Matt Sacks:
I'd bet my house that those Egan teams of the past were recruited heavily. Richie Slack as a coach??? C'mon he had to recruit!