PIHA Top 25

[outcold]

I think we should do a top 25 for PIHA this season. I think PIHA could do something on their website like have a fan poll like espn does for all of the sports on there. They could also do a coahes polls although that would be kinda of tough to do with coaches not being able to see every team play. I think it would be fun to do, so heres my preseason Top 25.

1. Colorado Springs Thunder
2. Philadelphia Growl
3. Southside Snipers
4. Pittsburgh Bandits
5. LI 495ers
6. St. Louis Cobras
7. Harrisburg Lunatics
8. Mass. Bombers
9. Feasterville Fury
10. Conn. Blaze
11. Chicago Untouchables
12. Midwest Tornados
13. Raleigh Assualt
14. Maryland Knights
15. River City Whalers
16. Boston Swamp Rats
17. NJ Stampede
18. West Minister Blizzard
19. Marple Gladiators
20. Winchester Generals
21. NJ Grizzlies
22. Richmond Robins
23. Potomac Mavericks
24. Littleton Fire
25. Aston Demolition

[swampdonkey89]

Maybe you're just trying to get the ball rolling, which is a good thing, but I was curious as to how you came to the conclusions you did. I mean, realistically, after the top 10 its sort of a crapshoot. Even in college football where the polls mean everything, it's only the top 10 that really matters. So, what division do you play in? What sort of research and bearings did you use to come to this list?

[HockeyRefGuy]

www.yousuckref.com will be adding PIHA to their BS Rankings page a week after the season starts. I like the idea of a top 25. I was wondering if you really don't see any California teams in the top 25. I've been officiating in PIHA for 5 years now and CJ and Brian, on the Thunder, are a great pair but I do not believe those two could carry the Thunder over teams such as the Swamp Rats, Snipers, Lunatics, 495ers and the Growl. My top 10 would be:

1. Boston Swamp Rats
2. Philadelphia Growl
3. Southside Snipers
4. 495ers
5. Colorado Springs Thunder
6. East Bay Jawz
7. Pittsburgh Bandits
8. South Carolina Pirates
9. Midwest Tornados
10. N. California Mustangs

Good luck to all teams this season. See you on the floor.

[thepredictor]

TOP 25

1. Boston Swamp Rats
2. Philadelphia Growl
3. Colorado Springs Thunder
4. Pittsburgh Bandits
5. Southside Snipers
6. Long Island 495'ers
7. Harrisburg Lunatics
8. East Bay Jaws
9. Raleigh Assault
10. NJ Stampede
11. Midwest Tornadoes
12. South Carolina Pirates
13. Littleton Fire
14. Conneticut Blaze
15. Marple Gladiators
16. Aston Demolition
17. Chicago Untouchables
18. NJ Grizzlies
19. Savannah Stingers
20. Parker Prowlers
21. Potomac Mavericks
22. St Louis Cobras
23. Fort Collins Catz
24. Massachusettes Bombers
25. Richmond Robins

[GR8SK8r06]

I think those two (CJ and Brian) are the best pair of players in the league hands down! They no longer have to break their backs for the Thunder because now they have revamped that team with Mike Ciolli, Jami Yoder, Shane Carroll and others. I believe those two are the only players remaining from last years team. Take the top two point scorers in the league and add an arsenal of other narch pro studs, I think you can put the pieces of the puzzle together! They have to be deemed preseason #1!

[silverman56]

I like this idea its pretty cool to rank all the teams instead of just doing the division predictions. I agree outside of the top ten its a crapshoot.

1. Philadelphia Growl - with the addittion of Redstreake and Sgrillo adds more strength and youth.
2. Colorado Springs Thunder - They have four team USA guys but they are getting older thats why I ranked the Growl ahead of them
3. LI 495ers - Mosenson and Thompson plus other great player from NY
4. St. Louis Cobras - Lead by Johnny Mac, Jeff Hill, and Marchands
5. Pittsburgh Bandits - lost Ciolli and Ziggy, but are still very young and talented with Roux, Hardin, and Wilson
6. Midwest Tornadoes - Led by Fudge and Barnette
7. Connecticut Blaze - John Pinheiro plus some very good additions
8. Harrisburg Lunatics - Have a ton of experience and talent, mixed some young talent
9. Boston Swamprats - Have a different roster than last yar but they are still the defending champs.
10. Feasterville Fury - picked up Fischer and Catalano to go with a potentially great team.
11. Southside Snipers
12. Maryland Knights
13. Littleton Fire
14. Marple Gladiators
15. Richmond Robins
16. Chicago Untouchables
17. Raleigh Assault
18. East Bay Jawz
19. River City Whalers
20. NJ Stampede
21. Winchester Generals
22. Massachusetts Blaze
23. Westminister Blizzard
24. Aston Demolition
25. South Carolina Pirates

[outcold]

I was just trying to get the ball rolling, I think it would add more fun for the players. I based my rankings off of last seasons results and the rosters that I have seen so far this season and rumors that I have heard during the preseason, that why I didnt have any of the NorCali or Arizona teams in it. I play in the Atlantic division, but I have seen alot of the players play in either tournaments or in PIHA.

[xgeniusx98]

1. Colorado Springs Thunder
2.L.I. 495ers
3. Southside Snipers
4. Harrisburg Lunatics
5. St.Louis Cobras
6. Feasterville Fury
7. Conn Blaze
8. Pittsburgh Bandits
9. Chicago Untouchables
10. Midwest Tornadoes
11. Phoenix Dragons
12. Philadelphia Growl
13. East Bay Jaws
14. Littleton Fire
15. Potomac Mavericks
16. NJ Stampede
17. Boston Swamprats
18. Marple Gladiators
19. Richmond Robins
20. Raleigh Assault
21. River City Whalers
22. Westminister Blizzard
23. Phoenix Ghostriders
24. Maryland Knights
25. NJ Grizzlies

[xgeniusx98]

1. Colorado Springs Thunder
2. Midwest Tornadoes
3. Harrisburg Lunatics
4. Long Island 495'ers
5. Phoenix Dragons
6. Southside Snipers
7. Feasterville Fury
8. Pittsburgh Bandits
9. Chicago Untouchables
10. Conn Blaze
11. Boston Swamp Rats
12. Philadelphia Growl
13. St. Louis Cobras
14. Westminister Blizzard
15. Mass Bombers
16. Marple Gladiators
17. East Bay Jaws
18. Maryland Knights
19. Richmond Robins
20. Raleigh Assault
21. NJ Stampede
22. Phoenix Ghostriders
23. River City Whalers
24. NJ Grizzlies
25. Aston Demolition

[alex]

xgeniusx98: There is no Phoenix Ghostriders team in Pro. Ghostriders was the Minor team for the Phoenix Dragons, but not anymore. Both Pro and Minor teams will be called Dragons.

[GROWL]

Man outside the top ten, i think i will post this one the locker room inside door to motivate our team and see how they react. Thanks for the motivation.

[HockeyRefGuy]

Growl -

I don't think he has ever seen you guys play. His list is just no even close to accurate. I'll put this out there. No western division team will win a championship until they stop the draft. I love the idea of the draft and I wish the east would adopt the draft. It makes the competition more even.

[Alex Kozik]

Now I don't really know much about any of these teams or about a lot of the players in the league, but since its so much fun ranking the teams I will offer my top 25. Obviously, since I have no good knowledge about skill level of these teams, I will rank them based on alphabetical supremacy.

***** whoops, my original list was not based on complete list of teams, I just took the list from someone else's top 25. Here is my revised rankings ****

1. Arizona Strike
2. Aston Demolition
3. Boston Swamp Rats
4. Chicago Untouchables
5. Cincinnati Flying Monkeys
6. Colorado Springs Thunder
7. Connecticut Blaze
8. East Bay Jawz
9. El Paso Black Diamonds
10. Feasterville Fury
11. Fort Collins Catz
12. Harrisburg Lunatics
13. Hartford Fire Ants
14. Littleton Fire
15. Long Island 495ers
16. Marple Gladiators
17. Maryland Knights
18. Massachusetts Bombers
19. Midwest Tornados
20. N.E. Philadelphia Revolution
21. New Jersey Grizzlies
22. New Jersey Stampede
23. Northern California Mustangs Mustangs
24. Parker Prowlers
25. Philadelphia Growl
----------------------------------
26. Phoenix Dragons
27. Pittsburgh Bandits
28. Potomac Mavericks
29. Raleigh Assault
30. Richmond Robins
31. River City Whalers
32. Sacramento Saxons
33. San Jose Pirates
34. Savannah Stingers
35. Scottdale Inferno
36. South Carolina Pirates
37. Southside Snipers
38. St. Louis Cobras
39. Tucson Desperados
40. Westminster Blizzard
41. Winchester Generals
42. York Typhoon


Its very hard to rank teams past top 25, but I just tried my best. Sorry GROWL, maybe if your team would be called NJ Growl, you would have wound up a spot or two higher, but as it is right now, you still make top 25, congrats!

[CoachClipboard]

Brian, You state:
"but I do not believe those two could carry the Thunder over teams such as the Swamp Rats, Snipers, Lunatics, 495ers and the Growl. My top 10 would be:"

yet you leave the Lunatics off your top ten? I thought you were my boy!??? lol.

I disagree about the draft. The draft is fine if you are just starting the division for its first year. After that, pro teams must manage themselves and build on their own by trial and error. No one team should be mandated as to who they must take on their team. That is the beauty and the basis of a functioning franchise organization. You build your team with great players. It isnt some recreational league. How are you supposed to build a fan base if each year your fans have to get reaquainted with new and different personel?
In the East it works just fine and has for years. I dont see too much disparity in the teams and games in the East as they all play each other relatively tight. The draft in the East would be the demise of this league, because players "dont get paid" and because of geographics players or I should say "most" players dont want to, wont, or cant travel to teams away from their homes, families, and occupations several times a week for pracitces and games. Sure the new Atlantic division could possibly pull it off. But teams are all prideful of the selections they make and the players the retain and build into a family like team. Players too enjoy being able to claim a team as their own and the rivalries in the East that are involved. I am sure many teams and players in this forum from the East can agree with me on these points. Use a draft to start an entire divison in its first year, provided that all the teams are close knit geographically like in Northern California and the St. Louis area in the Gateway. I am sure that the Chicago team will be using Chicago area players. I cant imagine a St. Louis player travelling to play each game and practice there. In time too, perhaps very soon, the Gateway will need to do away with the draft and follow in the Easts footprint. And that my friends is a very good thing. It is called progress.

[Dave Garland]

We will always have some kind of draft here for various reasons. The draft may change its form over the years, but I don't see it going anywhere for a long time. For example, we may just use it for new players coming into the league in future years. That being said, it is the only way to make our division fair. Last year our division was very, very strong and evenly matched. This year it is from top-to-bottom much stronger. If we allowed players to go to any team they want to, it would create a competitive inbalance which we don't need right now for a growing league.

Players, on their tryout form, could request to be drafted or not drafted by their team from last year so the players do have an element of control.

The bottom line is to have fair hockey here and not have an all star team that kills everyone, we will use the draft. Plus, the Draft Party is the best off-rink event of the year with speculation and fun.

-Dave


PS We will draw over 1,000 fans opening night and get a video of it up onto the web!

[CoachClipboard]

Dave and if that works for your division that is great stuff! Obviously with all of your hard work, and in by no manner was I trying to underscore all you do for the division and the league for that matter, and the strong turnouts you get for the draft party and how it is presented, your division has proved that it does work depending on how the teams are located. Each area is obviously going to need to make those decisions based on what works for them. In the East that cant happen simply because of its location of teams and the history that makes it up. The Gateway division is a shining example of excellence in PIHA. Make no bones about it.

[alex]

1. Colorado Springs Thunder
2. Philadelphia Growl
3. Long Island 495ers
4. Southside Snipers
5. Pittsburgh Bandits
6. Midwest Tornados
7. Harrisburg Lunatics
8. Connecticut Blaze
9. Chicago Untouchables
10. Boston Swamp Rats
11. St. Louis Cobras
12. River City Whalers
13. Feasterville Fury
14. Massachusetts Bombers
15. Phoenix Dragons
16. Arizona Strike
17. Westminster Blizzard
18. Raleigh Assault
19. East Bay Jawz
20. New Jersey Stampede
21. Maryland Knights
22. South Carolina Pirates
23. North California Mustangs
24. Tucson Desperados
25. Winchester Generals

[Dave Garland]

Todd,

Exactly. The east does a great job with their current setup. Things are a bit different for each region.

[GROWL]

East RULES!!!! So does O'Doyle

[Gladiators6]

This PIHA top 25 thread is stupid!

Maybe it'll make sense around the time of the all-star break, when people actually can back up they're rankings with stats and records.

Although the alphabetic superiority rankings look accurate to me...

[GR8SK8r06]

Do you just say that because your team isn't good enough to be on the top 25 Gladiator?

[Drexel63]

Well that response pretty much reiterates the uselessness of this thread... The league doubled in size this year, no one knows the whole big picture, so what's the point...

[phil29]

i know this is off topic but

what exactly does the league fee go to? travel? money prize?

[dan sangiorgio]

my top 25 is ranked mascots
1. flying monkeys
2-25 doesn't matter because nothing is cooler then a flying monkey maybe a spider pig.

[CoachClipboard]

Dan that is the funniest post all year to date!

I agree the top 25 is useless and pointless. No one knows Jack yet. But people do get their jollies out of it for some reason, so it is funny to read!

[Gladiators6]

Do you just say that because your team isn't good enough to be on the top 25 Gladiator?

To: Yet another anonymous IHC member...

No team is good enough to be anywhere....every team's record is 0-0-0

That's my point....

of course they'll be favorites but other than someone guessing the top 3 or 5 teams every other spot is just people guessing.

I could care less where everone thinks my team is ranked.

p.s I'm not on the Gladiators anymore.....still waiting for an IHC administrator to let me change my name to Demolition96

[Alex Kozik]

every other spot is just people guessing.

I used quite a scientific approach to come up with my ranking;)


p.s I'm not on the Gladiators anymore.....still waiting for an IHC administrator to let me change my name to Demolition96

Why not just change it to JackPhelan, for example?

[Wingman]

It more like educated guessing, based on rosters, last year's stats, and pre-season games... it's supposed to be fun. :rolleyes:

[growl89]

1. Colorado Springs Thunder
2. Midwest Tornadoes
3. Harrisburg Lunatics
4. Long Island 495'ers
5. Phoenix Dragons
6. Southside Snipers
7. Feasterville Fury
8. Pittsburgh Bandits
9. Chicago Untouchables
10. Conn Blaze
11. Boston Swamp Rats
12. Philadelphia Growl
13. St. Louis Cobras
14. Westminister Blizzard
15. Mass Bombers
16. Marple Gladiators
17. East Bay Jaws
18. Maryland Knights
19. Richmond Robins
20. Raleigh Assault
21. NJ Stampede
22. Phoenix Ghostriders
23. River City Whalers
24. NJ Grizzlies
25. Aston Demolition

I'm impressed, a team with no roster posted finishing 5th and the Growl finishing 12th ... talk about more motivation...

[SPORTSPLEXJEFF]

This thread has motivated me so much to take my monitor off my desk and throw it at the wall because I am not rated in first place. Who gives a crap about the top 25. If you don't win the league then you are back to the drawing board. #1 at the end of the season hoisting the trophy is what matters. So after you all read this you can put my team in last, hell were not even good enough for the list.

Since I am in such a sarcastic mood why don't we rate who is the cutest owner of a team.

My vote goes to Todd Wiley.....have you ever seen this man pick up tape balls in a lockerroom. What a view!

[William Bourque]

I am pretty sure that Todd would get my vote for #1 as well...he has the entire package...

[Drexel63]

No one knows Jack yet.

And this just makes it so much funnier... haha

Why not just change it to JackPhelan, for example?

[stksave27]

Dave Dave Dave... at some point each franchise out there will have to operate independently... but keep what works for however long it is effective.

As for the draft party being the best off rink activity in the league... thats should be up to a poll cause my back room Growl Girl Massage parlor is quite popular and I think I just saw the number 2 pick in your draft come out with a smile...

[Leaferguy]

I love happy endings.

[Dave Garland]

what did you mean by happy ending?

The actual meaning after a massage or were people happy your horrible event was over. :D

J/K

[Gladiators6]

Why not just change it to JackPhelan, for example?


I'm about to just make a new account...didn't wanna lose my PIHA forum rights.

[Gladiators6]

And this just makes it so much funnier... haha


Did I miss something here???

[Leaferguy]

what did you mean by happy ending?

The actual meaning after a massage or were people happy your horrible event was over. :D

J/K
If I even had an event, no one would come, so that's not a problem :D

[alex]

It's supposed to be a fun thread, guessing who's going to be good this year and who's not. All other sports do pre-season ranking, it doesn't matter that everyone's record is 0-0-0. Nobody said it's a perfect science, it's fun speculation!

And obviously this thread isn't irrelevant to everyone when people are getting pissed/motivated by where their team is or is not ranked by random people on a message board who may or may not have seen their team play, haha.

[alex]

I'm impressed, a team with no roster posted finishing 5th and the Growl finishing 12th ... talk about more motivation...

Dragons roster has been posted on the IHC thread "Rosters" just not on the PIHA website yet.

[CoachClipboard]

Ok Jeff and Bill are freakin me out.

And I dont believe anyone is getting "pissed" at all about the rankings. Quite the contrary I think this thread has been one of the more jovial in a long time and this is great pre season banter hype stuff. We need more of this!

[Falcons77]

I agree Todd, it has been very funny to look at.

So many people, so many opinions, so many rankings......

Thats why the NCAA and NFL Football picks always draw so much attention. Hardly ever does anyone pick all the right winners.

Everyone should think that THEIR team should be in the top 25.

[alex]

Ok Jeff and Bill are freakin me out.

And I dont believe anyone is getting "pissed" at all about the rankings. Quite the contrary I think this thread has been one of the more jovial in a long time and this is great pre season banter hype stuff. We need more of this!

Hmm, maybe "annoyed" would have been a better word choice.

[Phelan96]

Ok Jeff and Bill are freakin me out.

And I dont believe anyone is getting "pissed" at all about the rankings. Quite the contrary I think this thread has been one of the more jovial in a long time and this is great pre season banter hype stuff. We need more of this!

Agreed...I'm not at all worried or pissed about where someone places my team on their list.

I get equally annoyed when ESPN has they're "NFL experts" i.e. Merril Hoge; sit around and make they're super bowl predictions before the pre season even starts.

It's just dumb....but it is passing the time while I'm here at work.