PIHA Prospects Draft

[ISFN]

I was on the website earlier and watching the draft but I dont understand it. Like why would a team from say U.S get a kid from Canada or even different states, whats the point of this draft anyone have any info on this?

[TheSnake22]

Honestly i have no idea whatsoever... i thought the idea was to draft relatively local players and to boost the publicity... but i saw the first pick was a kid from hawaii? and who determines who these prospects are? i missed the page for the piha central scouting service...

[alex]

I am incredibly confused by this draft.

1) Why are teams drafting players from all the way across the country?
Are these players really going to move across the country to play pro roller hockey?

2) Who the hell is looking at these players and putting them on the prospects list? Have they been personally contacted about playing PIHA in the future?
For example, I'm from Arizona so I know the AZ kids...Michael Tibbetts was picked 18th overall by Edmonton. ?? Tibbetts is an average local AA player. Tyler Belling from Iowa is one of the best '91s around and he was picked 41st.

This makes no sense whatsoever. Someone please explain.

[wheels15]

As far as the draft goes, I have no clue how that works. I was at a tournament all day from 4:00 till about 11pm and Flynn and Yudell were there the whole time so I have no clue how the Growl even drafted a player at approx 6:30. That seems kind of odd to me. This whole draft seem kind of stupid. If a player wants to play that bad then just attend the open tryout. Every team had one.
Beauchamp 17

[Dave Garland]

The idea behind the draft is to generate interest in the league. A good way for younger guys to learn and get excited about the league is to feel a part of it. Realize these guys aren't officially on ter from these teams i.e a player from New Jersey would not be expected to play in Alberta..but it is pretty cool when you are 15 to hear that you have been drafted by a pro team wherever it is located.

[Drew10]

How excited is he gonna be when he finds out that he was drafted but won't actually be playing. It seems unprofessional. As much as this league is improving, this draft makes PIHA lose some credibility. If someone has a logical explanation for the draft itself, I may change my opinion. I'm sure young players that are drafted find the draft "cool". But when they find out they aren't gonna play they are gonna spread the word that the league is fugasi. Maybe I am overreacting. Some please tell me I am and I'll apologize for the post.

Drew

[GROWL]

But the whole point is that they can play. It's a way to spread the word to these kids that PIHA is an option for them beginning next season. My only question was the timing of the draft. It should have been done at the completetion of this season and letters should have been sent to everyone drafted explaining that they are now free to tryout at whatever team they like.

[ISFN]

I agree too that its a bit unprofessional. It would be one thing if the kid lived close to the team that drafted him but for teams from Canada to draft kids from the U.S.A is plain stupid, I saw some teams that did draft players that could actually play for them as its in a close proximity but I guess theres only so many place that are close to you and you have to draft someone.

[alex]

In theory, I understand the point of this draft: to generate interest in the league. But it seems like a poorly conceived way to do it.

It seems odd to have a draft in which teams pick specific players but those players are not even on that team. I think it would be enough to not draft these players onto certain teams but just notify them of their selection as prospects, which means they are invited to tryout for any PIHA team when they are old enough. But then again, aren't most or all team's tryouts open anyway? Doesn't make much sense.

PIHA is having teams "draft" players from states far from the nearest Pro team, in places where there is little knowledge of the existence of PIHA. Few players in Arizona, or the west coast know much about PIHA and they're finding out (if anyone is even notifying the players) that they've been drafted into a league they've never heard of. But again, they're not actually on that team, it's just an invite to tryouts. Tryouts which are already open? It's a confusing idea. It seems there has to be better way to generate interest in PIHA amongst younger players.

[cus32]

I think everyone should keep an open mind about this whole draft. The purpose was to drive interest in this league, executed well? that's your call. But all PIHA is saying is that it feels that these players can play at this level. And that is it.

Keep in mind, when Dominik Hasek was drafted in the NHL, he didn't know he was drafted until 3 months after that draft, and he didn't even know what the NHL was.

PIHA has come a long way in a very short time, mistakes will and have been made, but even Bettman destroyed the NHL once or twice before making it better.

Remember, the season is played on the court, not in a cyberspace draft.

[eXpress19]

I agree with almost everything on this post. I agree that it was a little unprofessional, but in the same sense I think that it is a great way to get the PIHA out onto the West Coast where it is not as big. Kids out there can say, "Hey, I got drafted in PIHA." And even though they can't play it still has to be a pretty cool feeling when your 15 years old to hear that you got drafted, whether or not you are close to a team. With that, the kids will spread the word and the popularity of PIHA will grow. So, all in all, I think it was a pretty good idea, maybe not very well executed, but a good idea.

[kicksave60]

Express19, did the Pottstown Express do up a logo yet? Just wanting to see if your logo is a bunch of stampeding ponies.

[eXpress19]

Hey Kicksave,

Haha yes, we do have our logo and uniforms finished. We are still awaiting the arrival of them though. Some details: They are ACE jerseys and pants. The colors are Green, Gold, White, and Black. The White jersey is white with gold sleeves with gold, black, and green stripes at the bottom. The dark jersey is black with gold sleeves with gold, white, and greens stripes at the bottom. The logo is a mack truck coming out of a tunnel, there is smoke coming out as well and above it says EXPRESS. It reminds me of the Dallas Stars with a different logo. Everything looks great. Hope that helped...

Go EXPRESS

[growl89]

will the express be having a website?

[eXpress19]

I honestly have no clue. I haven't heard anything from the guys about starting one.

Go Express