St Joseph's Prep Hawks

I have talked to many of you in the rinks about the potential for change in the PIHL and in April there will be a slate of people who run for the office of the Executive Board. I will NOT be one of those people nor am I interested in being in any paid position, but I am consulting with this group of people as to what needs to happen to FIX the 7-year mess created by the Villans. People who say I use Pa Hockey as a forum to bash the PIHL are very misinformed and those who characterize anything I write as a rant, don’t really understand either. I will not go into a long dissertation about what’s wrong because everyone knows it, everyone complains about it and now its time to do something about it. I will not be releasing Part 2 of the Solution as that will be in the hands of the people who run for office and it has to do with one thing and that is saving people a lot of money and simplifying hockey to allow more kids to participate in hockey and potentially saving some of the programs that are dying in Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey. Remember one thing, there are NO promises and the people who are currently running the PIHL have had 7 years and have done a mediocre job at best because they are all about the money and NOT about providing a service to the member teams; The Alignment Philosiphy is simple. 1) Return Interscholastic Hockey to Class AAA, AA and A + 2) create a long term solution to allow ALL pure scholastic programs to compete for the Penguins Cup and Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championship and 3) simplify the scheduling process and reduce travel. Class AAA will be an Open Classification with the top 16 schools and schools must commit for a two (2) year period. Class AA and A will be classified by enrollment and have a cut-off of 400 using PIAA Enrollment Numbers. Below is the proposed alignment for the 2007-2008 season (Please keep in mind this scenario takes into account Solution – Part 2): PENNSYLVANIA INTERSCHOLASTIC HOCKEY LEAGUE - CLASS 'AAA' STANDINGS- ALIGNMENT PROPOSAL NORTHEAST CONFERENCE PIHL AAA EAST CENTRAL CATHOLIC 634 PIHL AAA EAST FOX CHAPEL 651 PIHL AAA EAST GATEWAY 610 PIHL AAA EAST NORTH HILLS 705 PIHL AAA EAST PENN-TRAFFORD 630 PIHL AAA EAST PINE-RICHLAND 522 PIHL AAA EAST PLUM 606 PIHL AAA EAST SHALER 798 SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE PIHL AAA WEST BALDWIN 622 PIHL AAA WEST BETHEL PARK 810 PIHL AAA WEST MCDOWELL 945 PIHL AAA WEST MEADVILLE 416 PIHL AAA WEST MT LEBANON 729 PIHL AAA WEST NORTH ALLEGHENY 1044 PIHL AAA WEST SENECA VALLEY 938 PIHL AAA WEST UPPER ST. CLAIR 571 Schedule would be 22 Games including 14 Divisional (7x2) and 8 Inter-Conference & Schools would be required to obtain 15 Ice Slots Top 8 Schools by Winning Percentage would be in the Penguins Cup Playoffs. PENNSYLVANIA INTERSCHOLASTIC HOCKEY LEAGUE - CLASS 'AA' STANDINGS- ALIGNMENT PROPOSAL NORTHEAST CONFERENCE PIHL AA LAUREL ALTOONA 974 PIHL AA LAUREL GREENSBURG C C 214 PIHL AA LAUREL GREENSBURG SALEM 475 PIHL AA LAUREL HEMPFIELD 812 PIHL AA LAUREL HOLIDAYSBURG 532 PIHL AA LAUREL INDIANA 422 PIHL AA LAUREL LATROBE 555 PIHL AA LAUREL STATE COLLEGE 1264 PIHL AA EAST BUTLER 1044 PIHL AA EAST CONNELLSVILLE 757 PIHL AA EAST FRANKLIN REGIONAL 514 PIHL AA EAST HAMPTON 399 PIHL AA EAST KISKI AREA 588 PIHL AA EAST KITTANNING 311 PIHL AA EAST NORWIN 653 PIHL AA EAST WOODLAND HILLS 779 SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE PIHL AA SOUTH ALLDERDICE 709 PIHL AA SOUTH CANON MCMILLAN 581 PIHL AA SOUTH CARRICK 551 PIHL AA SOUTH ELIZABETH FORWARD 389 PIHL AA SOUTH PETERS TOWNSHIP 534 PIHL AA SOUTH RINGGOLD 468 PIHL AA SOUTH SOUTH PARK 332 PIHL AA SOUTH THOMAS JEFFERSON 401 PIHL AA WEST AMBRIDGE 424 PIHL AA WEST CANEVIN 168 PIHL AA WEST CATHEDRAL PREP 440 PIHL AA WEST CHARTIERS VALLEY 467 PIHL AA WEST MONTOUR 436 PIHL AA WEST MOON 488 PIHL AA WEST TRINITY 467 PIHL AA WEST WEST ALLEGHENY 415 Schedule would be 22 Games including 14 Divisional (7x2) and 8 Conference & Schools would be required to obtain 15 Ice Slots Top 16 Schools (8 in each conference and play cross bracket by winning percentage) by Winning Percentage would be in the Penguins Cup Playoffs. STANDINGS- ALIGNMENT PROPOSAL 2007-2008 SEASON NORTHEAST CONFERENCE PIHL A EAST BISHOP MCCORT 189 PIHL A EAST CONEMAUGH VALLEY 107 PIHL A EAST FERNDALE 85 PIHL A EAST JOHNSTOWN 391 PIHL A EAST WESTMONT-HILLTOP 268 PIHL A EAST WINDBER ?? PIHL A LAUREL BISHOP GUILFOYLE 135 PIHL A LAUREL DERRY 366 PIHL A LAUREL FOREST HILLS 337 PIHL A LAUREL LIGONIER VALLEY 376 PIHL A LAUREL RICHLAND-CAMBRIA 209 PIHL A LAUREL SOMERSET 376 SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE PIHL A SOUTH DEER LAKES 257 PIHL A SOUTH FREEPORT 260 PIHL A SOUTH KNOCH 384 PIHL A SOUTH MARS 319 PIHL A SOUTH SERRA CATHOLIC 103 PIHL A SOUTH VALLEY 277 PIHL A WEST BEAVER 285 PIHL A WEST CENTER 267 PIHL A WEST QUAKER VALLEY 224 PIHL A WEST QUIGLEY 58 PIHL A WEST SEWICKLEY ACADEMY 115 PIHL A WEST STEEL VALLEY 316 Schedule would be 21 Games including 15 Divisional (5x3) and 6 Conference & Schools would be required to obtain 15 Ice Slots Top 12 Schools (6 in each conference and play cross bracket by winning percentage) by Winning Percentage would be in the Penguins Cup Playoffs. Division Winners would receive a bye and be re-seeded by Winning Percentage in Round 2