They wanted to move their U18 to Tier II and the Pics said no thanks. The kids on U18 went to Elite, Premier, or walked.
Some saw this coming at the end of last season. They will loose any good current U16 players at the end of the season and frankly they don't care so if you have a U16 Player now you better get on the phone and find a program that will take you next year or consider Prep, etc..

Those 2 Euros were promised top forward minutes so if you are a returner you are already fighting for spots 3-6

U16 in the weakest USPHL Division with:

Boston Bandits 16U AAA
Connecticut Jr Rangers (Elite)
CP Dynamo 16U AAA
Middlesex Islanders (American)
Northern Cyclones (Elite)
South Shore Kings 16U AAA
Springfield Pics 16U AAA

Your wasting a very important year of your kids development..told you to come with us!

Glad to be gone from there. Heard they have a week of skates at Olympia next week for "pre-season" our boys are at Penn State for the week, which experience is better?

This post started out with a good question..why do kids not progress to local area colleges at the D1 or D3 level with so many options nearby. Still no answer other than the organization does not promote any of their players unless they are on Premier and still no local schools attended.

From the post it looks like the U16 might be ok but the coaches dont really coach and practice their toe drags and shooting just as much as the players do and they brought in more kids from Euro so the current players will not play as much. The U18s are gone? If so and they really did move the kids to Elite or Premier those teams may be ok.

Just looking at this on paper I would put my kid in the car and drive as far away from this organization as possible! USPHL lower division is not where you want your kid if he wants to develop and play at a higher level. Just my 2cents.:car:

Local colleges know that the Pics just don't develop players to that level. You have to go to Islanders or Jr. Bruins where they have the coaching, better players, better tournaments, and contacts. If your kid is a U16, get him there or to a prep as a repeat JR or if older do a PG year. If Prep isnt for your player, get to a program with NCDC option. Otherwise, write the check and know your player has a few years left and then done.

How many real good players do you have out there native in Western MA? 01, 02, 03...maybe 10-15 tops. Most of those would go Prep instead. Pics are a good Tier 2 program for all the others. Not many college players come out of a Tier 2 program. That answer your question?

Just lost another U16 to the Skipjacks

We get it! Pics aren't good and kids are leaving. You can stop now

^^ #6 can be #4 and #9 can be #7..wtf are you talking about. YOU PLAY FOR THE PICS! Just stop.
You sound jealous of a kid or you are a kid

There is peaceful easy feeling at the Olympia for the Pics Organization all of a sudden

11-1

U15 11-1 also

U16 7-0 Organization went 0-3 and out scored 29-2. Can we stop now

I don’t know, my son played his 2 U16 years there, team was a little under .500 and he moved on with no issues now playing college hockey.

We played the U16 last night and beat them 7-0. Goaltending is bad, defense is bad, they do have 1 or 2 really good forwards who can fly and are physical, the rest are JV public HS talent.

Don’t judge a team in September, judge them in Feb/March.
BTW: 2-2 on the weekend for 16s

The U16 Pics got kicked out of the Top Division this year! So those of you who decided to stay are playing more terrible hockey then the top division already had to offer. Should get exposure playing everyone's second teams full of 04's, or a highly scouted thriller against the Bandits :joy:

You lost to the Chiefs! Let that sink in

I bang in this org because of our experience there, but kudos to the U16 kids for being 9 and 3, I guess they do have some decent players.

Rankings:
U15- 105 (Last)
U16-82
U18-88

Bad. This is why local colleges have no interest, even if there are a few good ones in there, they will never get a look.

U16 Not invited to Jersey this weekend..or anywhere!

Rumors are a few of their top players leaving after not being told of division changes :sweat_smile: Did they think parents wouldn't find out?

Read your contract, says nothing about Divisions. You can leave, but don't expect any money back.

So bad that coaches aren’t showing up anymore

Can you just stop? The Pics is a Tier 2 organization with a few good U16/U18/Premier players that carry the teams. Those players will leave next year and their will be a few good players that come in to take their place. No more conversation needed. As for the local colleges, the few good players mentioned above have definitely had conversations with those coaches, but when was the last time a Pics player went to a D1 school. D3 is their sweet spot.

Again I ask, what tournament did the 16's get invited to? Jersey? No. NH? No. One of the biggest tournament weekends of hockey and I see NO Games scheduled anywhere for this team. Parents should wake up and realize you have been had. Nobody wants your team to be part of anything.

New to the program this year and my son is very happy with it. Good coaches and teammates, good practices, close games.

The Elite team has 36 kids on their roster, thats 1 shift per game per kid. Well worth the dream

Well you can only dress 20 a game so that’s back to 5-6 a period depending on special team play.

I hear the 16's have a big game against Central CT Youth Hockey this weekend. Great competition. SH and AP must be impressed with this years team and exposure.

Just heard they will not be fielding a U18 team again next year. Elite and Premier only. Kiss the program goodbye.
I also hear 16s only have 1 coach on the bench at all games now, not good. If you are a U16 on that team, start looking at Prep, get ready to go back to your public high school next year or you better be ready to leave home for a good U18 program.

Good Luck to them at states..........oh wait

Read entire thread and the OP has a good point. I would assume WNEU/ Westfield isn’t all that good so I’m surprised they are not recruiting PIcs kids. Amherst, Wesleyan have grade requirements so maybe that is an issue? AIC is a D1 program, they are not taking USPHL kids. Loosing the 18 program definitely hurts the program and area kids looking to advance through the process, USPHL Elite Division is not good but it’s nice to see some kids have success there but what are they going to do next year? I am surprised to hear about the U16 team being in the lower division, they have some good kids from that area who I assume will move on next year without the U18 option. I disagree with the shots taken at the coaching, those brothers relate to the kids and have always gotten the best out of their best players. I hope it all works out as I remember watching my nephew play against Dinnen/Flaggs Pics teams of years ago, they were some scary talented rough players.

There is a Lovell program that has same problem...