Roman Catholic Gladiators

       I have been involved in promoting Interscholastic Hockey since it inception in 1971 at the Alpine Ice Chalet which marks the 40^th Anniversary of High School Hockey in Western Pennsylvania. The year 2010 should be a celebration of those programs, like Shaler, Upper St Clair and Mt Lebanon, who were 3 of the 6 Original High School Hockey programs.

       In addition, the Pittsburgh Penguins are moving into the state of the art Consol Energy Center and have been generous to display the Interscholastic and Amateur Hockey Organizations Jerseys and have computerization, which at some point will be linked to PointStreak and give live updates to all games in Western Pennsylvania. This is a great way of promoting the sport and after 10 years the PIHL may have gotten something right, although the Pittsburgh Penguins have a huge part in that promotion, because they understand where their future ticket base is.

        To lose storied programs like 8-time State Champions Meadville and 5-time State Champions Bishop McCort should not go unnoticed, but this has been a gradual process beginning when the PIHL was formed in 1999-2000. Under the current leadership, the PIHL has gone from well over 90 schools and 250 + teams to somewhere around 45 schools competing for the Penguins Cup. Yeah, the economy can be blamed or yeah the numbers in hockey can be blamed or travel hockey, oh yeah that’s a convenient excuse as well.

        The big number is the cost of High School Hockey and the lack of value that is given to this sport. For a child to play Freshman Hockey in the PIHL, it costs over $ 1500 for a 6^th grader to suit up for a Freshman team. Being a parent, I have a 6^th grader now eligible to play Freshman Hockey and why in the world would I pay over $ 1500 to play 16 games, when in Amateur Hockey, you can pay $ 1000 to play more games and if you want to play 3 times as many games for $ 2000. That is a huge issue for people and the PIHL is now sending surveys out to ask their membership to help them, with the question ‘Do you think all High School Teams should HAVE TO play in the PIHL?’. Folks, Monopoly is a board game and monopolies in business were banished in the 1980’s with government regulation.

        The plain and simple truth is that the Laurel Mountain Hockey League [Volunteers and Less Cost], the Lake Shore Hockey League [Volunteers and Less Cost] and the PAHL [Volunteers and Less Cost] are attractive options for potential High School Hockey Players and this is why Meadville and Bishop McCort are no longer participating in the PIHL. Not like there where not any warning signs of this happening as long time programs Indiana, Penn Hills, Seton LaSalle, North Catholic and others are amongst the refuse of 40 + ‘Teams that are not here Anymore’ Wall of Shame of the PIHL Administration.

        I walked away from the PIHL Administration in 2001 and saw at the time that it was a power and money grab at the time and it continues with the stale people who still are running the league. The original By-Laws had term limitations bccause many of the people involved felt that you always needed to have new blood coming in and as one so called hockey expert stated at the time “you need to have hockey people running hockey”. That person was involved with one of the two hockey programs that earned the 13 State Championships that left the PIHL in one year. Is it time for change to get rid of people who have overstayed their welcome in Interscholastic Hockey? No, I think you should fill out that survey and get on the Long Range Planning Committee!

          The greatest quote I heard came out of the focus groups that the Pittsburgh Penguins put together for High School, Amateur and Dek and Inline Hockey, when someone told me that one of the illustrious board members of the PIHL stated that in their meetings ‘that we told the Penguins all of these ideas, and they just don’t get it !’

          Excuse me…this was a franchise in bankruptcy and was saved by Mario Lemieux and rose from the ashes to win a Stanley Cup in 2009 and build a $ 400 Million Building, which will be a fortress for Hockey for the next 50 years. Maybe the Penguins should kick some people to the curb and take over High School Hockey and Amateur Hockey? If you think that is a stretch……Why did they form a Non-Profit Foundation? It’s around the corner folks and maybe when they get involved, they can go to the PIAA and have the sport become a part of the National High School Federation and Sanction the Sport through the schools. Then it won’t cost me the equivalent of a college education to have my son play High School Hockey?

           Nobody ever dream that Penn State would be a Division 1 Hockey Program except of course Joe Battista and it became a reality when $ 88 Million was donated to build a new arena and fund the scholarships. Don’t think for a minute the Pittsburgh Penguins and the University of Pittsburgh aren’t watching this and they already have a new arena. Times will be changing in High School Hockey and so will the administration ….stay tuned!   

    Penn State University as been a model Ice Hockey Program at the ACHA Division 1 Level for the past 30 years and won multiple National Championships with the majority led by Penn Hills native Joe Battista. The University announced on 9/17 that the University will be building a 5000-6000 seat Arena near the Bryce Jorden Center and house NCAA  Division 1 Mens and Women's Ice Hockey Programs.

     This venture was made possible with a generous gift by Terry and Kim Pegula, who donated $ 88 Million Dollars designated for the building of the Arena, Scholarships for the Mens and Women's Ice Hockey Program. This is a great day for Pa Hockey and a testimony to the hardwork, vision and perserverence of Joe Battista to make it happen ! 

    Here is the link to an article in State College

    The Pa Hockey Developmental Clinics have their own FaceBook Page for Developmental Ice Hockey, the FRLP Inline Program and the FR Street Hockey Association. Please visit the Page today ! 

 http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=124057697607018&v=wall

Information coming Soon !

Guest Post -  Mark Madden

 Besides Dejan Kovacevic, no one has been a bigger booster of area high school hockey than myself. So I feel I'm qualified when I say, much as I did on my radio program earlier this week, that this was a farcical, shameful episode that illustrated why VERY FEW PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY IN THE MEDIA, TAKE HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY SERIOUSLY. Nor should they.

Tonight's result compounds that. Certainly gloating over it is childish and shows that few are able to look at the big picture. The WPIAL made a basketball team play twice in one day to complete its schedule and preserve the integrity of its standings and playoff seedings. That's why WPIAL sports are viewed the way they are compared to hockey, which has always been run in haphazard fashion w/plenty of deal-making behind the scenes. The excuse that ice wasn't available is absurd. I was at two rinks last week, and all I saw was empty ice.

Plum got cheated. There's no other way to describe it. Shame on USC and State College for being directly complicit; shame on the PIHL for facilitating. Had the skate been on the other foot and USC, a favored son, been victimized, you can be damn sure that a Plum-State College game would have been played.

I'm told Ben Hanus was academically ineligible but might have been eligible next week. Even more reason to say Plum got cheated. Things like that are part and parcel of the advantage achieved by earning a bye.

Apologists for what happened will say that Plum, at home, lost to a #12 seed. Nonsense. You can't lose a game you don't play. Plum should not have had to play that game.

I will not be talking about the PIHL playoffs for their duration. I usually give them ample plugs, especially when the games go to Mellon Arena. If I attend games, I will pay to get in. I will not benefit from the largesse of a crooked organization. This incident has irreversibly tainted this year's playoffs. It is shameful and deceitful; anything unfair to kids always is.

The PIHL got lucky in one respect; the fiasco got underplayed in the media BECAUSE NO ONE CARES. If the WPIAL had pulled a stunt like this in, say, basketball, it would have been on the front page of the daily sports, not buried in the suburban editions.

After all these years...and attempted guidance from those who do, legitimately, know better...high school hockey simply doesn't get it. Such long-term stupidity is literally unbelievable. Think about it...the Penguins have unleashed a hockey boom in Pittsburgh: Ice hockey, street hockey and roller hockey programs are sold out. The sport's popularity actually rivals football in one of the nation's football capitals. And yet high school hockey is still small-time. Can't figure out a way to take advantage.

Wanna know why? Consider leadership that would allow this to happen.

This will be my only post, ever, on this board.