When USA Hockey awarded Pittsburgh what was previously known as the Chicago Showcase all-star tournament, it should have meant team general manager Gina Colligan would have a much easier time.
After all, she wouldn't have to worry about getting her players into hotel rooms and finding things for them to do in a strange city.
But Colligan hardly had an easy time this weekend.
Not only did she have to manage two teams — Pittsburgh Gold and Pittsburgh Black — instead of one at America's Showcase, she had to keep them occupied in their home city.
"It was a lot more responsibility, and what I tried to do was keep both teams on an even level. And everything I did, I did for 40 kids, whether it was a big bus to eat out or to the Pirates game (Friday) and made them like one team," Colligan said. "I just had to think of ways I could entertain 40 kids because in Chicago, everything was planned ahead of time. But here, I had to keep them busy, so I put them in a hotel just like all the other teams and have them have the same experience they had in Chicago."
Even though both teams were knocked out in the quarterfinals and had to watch New Jersey Red win the title after a 10-3 rout of Illinois at Robert Morris' Island Sports Center, they were far from disappointed by the overall experience.
"I've been to Chicago eight times. I played on the team in 1987, and I've coached seven other times. And I thought Pittsburgh really stepped up," Bethel Park head coach and Pittsburgh Gold assistant Jim McVay said. "It took Chicago 25 years and got better each year, and Pittsburgh, its first year, was tremendous, and a lot of that goes to the tournament people."
There's a possibility that this was a one-and-done opportunity for Pittsburgh, that America's Showcase will be moved to other cities and become a revolving venture while Chicago continues to play host to the USA Hockey's National High School Championship.
But there are indications that the high school all-star event will be in Pittsburgh at least one more year.
USA Hockey has yet to officially award Pittsburgh another year, though the organizers already are planning for the event in 2011.
That could mean the addition of several teams, bumping the participation from 18 to as many as 24. Several hockey-hotbed states like Wisconsin, North Dakota and Minnesota opted not to attend this year, and international participants from Europe and Canada might take part next year.
More teams probably would mean an influx of college and professional scouts, giving participants a greater chance of getting noticed.
It also would mean a longer tournament, with extended days and more games, but the organizers are going to use this first year as a barometer for improvement.
"We've interviewed players and coaches after the games to see what changes they would make and to see what mistakes we might have made, and we haven't gotten a lot of off-the-cuff negative remarks," PIHL commissioner Ed Sam said. "We will continue to look at it and strive, and the one thing we're looking to do is to get every game live on the Internet because that allows scouts that can't make it here to watch the kids play."
Still, one thing that would add more prestige to the tournament would be the inclusion of teams from traditional hockey powerhouses. Those states, by and large, attended the Chicago Showcase.
"We have to look beyond Minnesota and Wisconsin and North and South Dakota, and if we can't get those teams, we have to see who we can get," Sam said. "We came close to getting Belarus this year, and we really want to do some things with international teams, whether it's Belarus, some other European teams or a couple Canadian teams. If these American kids shine against those Canadian or European kids, it looks even better to the scouts."
