Inline Hockey Hotbeds- Rank the top 5!

[born2runPROgm]

Where does everyone believe the biggest inline hockey hotbeds in the US are?

in ice it's pretty obvious: Minnesota, New England... etc.

I thought this might lead to a good debate. Always can use a good one of those right RG :) lol

This is hard and takes a lot of consideration because some areas have great youth inline hockey, some have the best adult players, some have the best travel teams and some are just good all around.

IMHO- my rankings (*note also that from 1-5, these are all extemely close in my eyes)

1. California (mainly socal, san jose)

2. St. Louis (if the Snipers can win with a drafted team in the Championships vs. Boston that will show alot about the depth in that region)

3. New Jersey/ Eastern PA (Don't know why but it's just always good)

4. Michigan (Detroit)

5. Colorado

close calls- Florida, New England, West PA and Hawaii (No one thinks of Hawaii of a hotbed but it really is. For a state with few rink and no surfaces but concrete the level of competition and participation is amazing!)

[Inferno91]

5. Western PA (Teams like Pittsburgh Bandits, Hot Shots Inferno, and Pittsburgh Fusion always seem to place high in tournaments)

4. Florida (D-Young-Gunz, and Beach Dogs)

3. St. Louis (Tour Wizard are top in the nation at many youth levels)

2. New York (mainly Long Island)

1. California (born to play fast and very skilled)

[CUDangled]

I guess you have to further define "hockey hotbed". You could look at it a couple of ways...

Several rinks, packed into the same geographical area, lots of leagues...producing multiple quality teams/programs.

-OR-

A few really talented teams coming out of a particular state/region.

[James Lambert]

I'm not even going to try to address this, except to ask one question that I hope will touch off a good battle...

Western PA, or Eastern PA/South Jersey?

I've always thought eastern...but that's just me, probably because of the Neumann College program.

Is there a big rivalry?

[James Lambert]

2. St. Louis (if the Snipers can win with a drafted team in the Championships vs. Boston that will show alot about the depth in that region)



Especially playing without their top two draft picks!

[Inferno91]

I'm not even going to try to address this, except to ask one question that I hope will touch off a good battle...

Western PA, or Eastern PA/South Jersey?

I've always thought eastern...but that's just me, probably because of the Neumann College program.

Is there a big rivalry?



Yes it is a pretty big rivalry

Me being from the west thinks that the teams from our area are better

For example my Hot Shots Inferno team plays in the NAYRHL and plays against teams from Harrisburgh and Philadelphia and we best them pretty bad.

SCORES AGINST EASTERN PA TEAMS THIS YEAR

Inferno 19 Barbarians 3
Inferno 15 USTC Rage 5
Inferno 13 Typhoon 3
Inferno 14 Barbarians 4
Inferno 7 Romans 6
Inferno 7 Romans 7
Inferno 15 USTC Rage 6

These are from NAYRHL games... and this is commn throughtout all of the divisions.

[FrankFrank]

Inferno91, Not to discredit your team's accomplishments, but Western PA has 2 travel team programs... the Eastern PA has At Least 6 programs that I can think off the top of my head. The talent in the East is more diluted, so-to-speak.

As for my top 5 (not including the PA's):
1. Cali... enough said.
2. St Louis... has always had a very strong inline community sicne the RHI days. And having a PIHA division stationed there as well as the NCRHA 4-time champs... it will rival Cali at some point in the near future.
3. NJ... Look at the talent produced here. 3 PIHA teams in this area.
4. NY... There's alot of of mileage in NY, but there's a reason teh Buffalo Wings have had such a following as well as the Mission Empire Snipers program.
5. North East... This area has had a great deal of characters come from this region. The Roger Lee's, Darrel Interbartola, Johnny Pinhero... this region is rich with talent and passion for the game... the youth programs can only blossom because of this.

But some others that are definitely making there way up into the more known world of inline in recent years have got to be places like:
Colorado
Great Lakes
South East (Carolina's, Florida, etc)
Texas

But this is my 2cents...


Frank~Frank

[TheSnake22]

well actually frank we have 3 programs with other independent youth teams at some various age levels, and ours are all in a single general metro area while yours cover a much larger amount of territory...

1) California

2) St. Louis

3) Detroit

4) New York

5) Jersey/East PA

Honorable Mentions - Colorado, Pittsburgh, Florida, New England

[FrankFrank]

Ah Gotcha... Thanks for the correction Jake.
PS... my back is still wrenched from our run in 1-2 months ago. Sucks getting old. haha.

F~F

[TheSnake22]

ouch that sucks... i know the feeling of back pain...

i don't really think you can quite compare western pa to eastern pa/jersey just yet in terms of overall contribution to youth inline hockey on a national level. there are some very good teams, but there isn't the depth that you see in other areas. inline is really just getting big in our area, but it is definitely growing fast. in 2-4 years, i think pittsburgh will be as strong as any area in the country for youth inline hockey...

[sanford]

i think that eastern pa/jersey is way better than western pa. how many narch medals at any level does western pa have. east/jersey has breakaway, isca, gladiators, the list goes on. i dont know of any teams in west that even play in these tournys.

[born2runPROgm]

So with that your stating that NARCh is tougher to win than TORHS, 2Hot4Ice, Topcat, AAU, etc...

Just curious.

[William Bourque]

In general, i think that Western PA is the better than Eastern PA.

If the results of tourney's don't show that, i don't know what to say.

It just seems to me that the hockey lines run deeper in the Western Half of the State.

Not Saying that the East is anything to laugh at.

PS - I was born and raised in Eastern PA, Work in South Jersey, and Attend School in Central PA.


1) Pennsylvania
2) St. Louis
3) Long Island
4) Southern California
5) Detriot

[Leaferguy]

I'd like to think that I bring down the eastern PA standards.

Only commenting from my limited knowledge:
1) Cali
2) STL
3) NJ
4) Long Island/NY?
5) Eastern PA

[patb16]

So with that your stating that NARCh is tougher to win than TORHS, 2Hot4Ice, Topcat, AAU, etc...

Just curious.

I would def say that NARCh is tougher than 2Hot4Ice, Topcat, AAU, as well as TORHS; however, TORHS is gaining ground.

Here are my rankings:

1) SoCal
2) St. Louis
3) Long Island/NY
4) Michigan
5) NJ/Eastern PA

There are a lot of areas around the country that are growing, but I still feel these are the big 5.

[sanford]

narch is the best roller hockey in the country. hands down.

[Center_ice]

Sanford the teams that you mentioned mostly play gold at narch which really isn't any different than playing D2 or competitive at torhs and aau.

some breakaway teams in the past have played plat.

narch plat is still the best overall division of any tournament series. Other divisions are pretty much the same as playing in torhs and aau.

[sanford]

are there teams from western pa that have had any success in those divisions? my point was more that i dont know of any successful travel programs based out of western pa. by success i mean wins and not longevity or anything like that. i dont have any kind of hard feelings toward western pa, just throwing my opinion out there.

1. cali
2. stl
3. long island
4. nj/east pa
5. Mich

[TheSnake22]

lol

saying "i dont follow roller hockey nationally" and then saying "my team can hang with any team from california" makes no sense... that, and it's probably just not true...

[TheSnake22]

you can put the northeast into the discussion, but they're not at the top. the roller rats are a great team, but that doesn't make boston a "hotbed" of inline talent... and ball hockey? come on bro... You gotta remember, in PIHA, St. Louis has they're talent spread pretty equally over 4 different teams. And how does Boston do in the youth scene? I think for most people when they think hotbed they're thinking of an area that is turning out a high level of youth talent, like st. louis and california...

and if you guys are so good, then why don't you put a team in...

[TeamBrockton#6]

you can put the northeast into the discussion, but they're not at the top. the roller rats are a great team, but that doesn't make boston a "hotbed" of inline talent... and ball hockey? come on bro... You gotta remember, in PIHA, St. Louis has they're talent spread pretty equally over 4 different teams. And how does Boston do in the youth scene? I think for most people when they think hotbed they're thinking of an area that is turning out a high level of youth talent, like st. louis and california...

and if you guys are so good, then why don't you put a team in...

well, those are all very good points. and i guess you are right the youth leagues around here are just starting to catch on and trying to compete with ice hockey. although i have scene a couple of very talented young players. and i am not saying the northeast should be at the top of that list, but i believe roller hockey is on the rise around here. maybe i just didn't think it threw. as far as putting a team in we never really thought about that until this summer and always just played to have fun with friends. our team will be trying out a few tournys comming up. anyways, thanks for the insite.

[Alvare71]

Northern Cali/Colorado
Central Cali
so Cal
Pa/MD
NY area

[TheSnake22]

unless there have been some invasions i'm not aware of... how can norcal and colorado be part of the same hotbed? aren't there still 2 states in between?

[Alvare71]

I am comparing the talent and facilities, i guess that would be my tied for first theory

[TheSnake22]

gotcha, just making sure i hadn't missed any skirmishes or conflicts on cnn...

[Alvare71]

cnn is great, I would have to say on the top 3 is because our population permits to have more facilities in bigger cities.

[Inferno91]

are there teams from western pa that have had any success in those divisions? my point was more that i dont know of any successful travel programs based out of western pa. by success i mean wins and not longevity or anything like that. i dont have any kind of hard feelings toward western pa, just throwing my opinion out there.

1. cali
2. stl
3. long island
4. nj/east pa
5. Mich


The last time the three Western PA Hockey associations competed in NARCH Regionals:

Pittsburgh Mission Fusion- 2006 NARCH 14u Buffalo Champs (One of our voted hotbeds)

Pittsburgh Bandits- 2006 NARCH 16u Buffalo Champs- 2007 14u and 16u Cincinnatti Champs

Hot Shots Inferno- 2006 NARCH 16u North Carolina Champs



In My Opinion for being limited to participation in these tournaments due to travel and schedule conflicts... 4 Championships in 3 Regional Appearances for Western PA is'nt too bad

[dan sangiorgio]

The last time the three Western PA Hockey associations competed in NARCH Regionals:

Pittsburgh Mission Fusion- 2006 NARCH 14u Buffalo Champs (One of our voted hotbeds)

Pittsburgh Bandits- 2006 NARCH 16u Buffalo Champs- 2007 14u and 16u Cincinnatti Champs

Hot Shots Inferno- 2006 NARCH 16u North Carolina Champs



In My Opinion for being limited to participation in these tournaments due to travel and schedule conflicts... 4 Championships in 3 Regional Appearances for Western PA is'nt too bad
I don't think he was talking about the regional level i think he meant how they fair at the narch finals. winning a narch regional is not very harder depending on the specific event. so far this year the only regionals that you have seen with muiltple plat bids across all age groups are the cali regionals, st louis, the detriot memorial day event which is always huge, and marple(eastern pa).

secondly i don't think there has ever been a western pa team competing at the level of the mission assault, breakaway, gladitors, isca all of these programs have muiltiple teams competing at gold and plat levels. also the east has neumann college one of the premeir college programs along with west chester and drexel who are also solid at the national level. as far as piha i think its a even spilt with both sides having good teams.

[93 Coach]

Based on the past 2 years TORHS Nat's and last year AAU Jr. Olympics in Detroit, I must say that at the youth levels (10, 12, 14) that the Detroit area teams have fared very well. St. Louis also produces some very good teams. Personally have not seen many Calif. teams.