Seneca Valley Raiders

UPDATE 3-22-2005 - Penguins Cup Special Ø The 84 Lumber Penguins Cup Championships have turned in to Green Acres Ø The appropriate timing of Homer Bedloe [a/k/a Pa Hockey top 5 Fan Bob Sebastian] playing the Green Acres theme song prior to the Canon McMillan – Peters Twp, the only people who heard it were the fans and the players since the ‘rest of the world’ was under the stands at Harmarville auditioning for the next Green Acres Ø The reincarnation of Newt Kiley voting & making decisions on player eligibility issues less than an hour prior to a game to absolutely distract Canon McMillan coach Dave Fryer and Peters Township coach Mark Cooper, who did he best Hank Kimball trying to figure out whether to play Rob Madore or not, this after Madore played for the Peters team all year Ø In light of the Peters – Canon Mac fiasco, I am sure the Flyers Cup committee will be very interested in the paperwork of the Western teams and don’t think they forgot the 1998 Unionville player that was ruled ineligible the day of the State Championships at Rostraver. Ø While many thought Rob Madore was at Mr Haney’s Pixley Bizaar on Tuesday Night, he was really in the runway after being told he was ineligible or was he eligible by Hank Kimball? Young Madore entered the game with his team down 4-1 and pitched a shutout in relief and his team now moves on the Penguins Cup. Wonder if Shane Frey will start in the State Championship if Peters gets there? Oh he plays for Radnor and they were eliminated by Central Bucks West in the Flyers Cup A 4-0 in their opener. Guess young Rob will have to play, that is if he’s eligible, but don’t ask Mr. Kimball and certainly don’t involve Mr Haney, unless of course, there is an all important practice ! Ø Arnold ‘Slick’ Ziffel showed up at Harmarville on Tuesday night and was relishing in the fact that the Indians of Peters and the Indians of Indiana were playing back to back games and he also found the Peter’s Twp television crew and Power Play Productions doing television for the Peters – Canon Mac game, but Doug Heck, who was hired by the Indiana Red Line club and has filmed the past three seasons was told he could not film the game between Indiana and Pine Richland. Mr Kimball citing reasons unknown to him could not find Interscholastic Hockey or Sports for that matter in 11 states, but found it here in Green Acres, cause he knows the sport will be fully funded in 5-10 years, but didn’t bother to tell anyone he was raising the ticket prices from $ 5 to $ 7, when its clearly states in the Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championship rules that the gate is $ 5. I guess it’s for the amusement tax? Ø The decision of the PIHL not to let any cameras in the Mellon Arena due to their contract with FOX to show the games on Sunday March 27, 2005, the day after the Pennsylvania High School Hockey Championships. Would this be considered a ‘rerun’….maybe TV Land would be interested ? Oh, that would be during the 24 hours of Green Acres slot and they don’t curfew that ! Ø Ladies and Gentlemen, Interscholastic Hockey is Green Acres at the crossroads Ø So before we begin looking to replace the current commissioner and conducting interviews for a new one, maybe it should be considered to eliminate the position and re-distribute the jobs to volunteers, who will do a way better job and save the members schools $ 150,000 – 200,000 or roughly 20 % of the PIHL Budget because the sport doesn’t need Green Acres, it just needs people who are dedicated to running it and care about what they are doing and will do it for FREE ! Ø I just want to let the current PIHL President know that I found the resumes for the hiring of the commissioner, which he lost in 2000-2001, when I requested them and the Commissioner’s Review we conducted that year and the minutes from the meeting in October 2000 where the Executive Board voted 3-2 to open up the job of finding the Commissioner ….can anyone help me find the minutes from October ….they must be archived with the PIHL Discussion Forum Ø The Team Pittsburgh coaching selection less than two weeks prior to the tryouts when in my tenure for five years the applications were due by 12/31 and the coach was selected January 15th, so he could go out and get a look at potential players and maybe encourage some good ones to try out. I don’t care if Eddie Figas is Eddie Olczyk, he would have trouble putting this team together at this juncture. Ø While Homer Bedloe tried to shut down the Canonball, he should consider a new agenda and shut down the PIHL, the ‘Open Division’, the overpaid Commissioner and the Pixley Rotary Club a/k/a PIHL Executive Board and their new movie playing in Pixley ‘Backwards to the Future’ in consideration of a NEW, fresh and simple idea of Mr John Eddy, who will run and win the PIHL Presidency on April 13th Ø The new Junior Varsity / Freshman philosophy now has over 20 schools interested including four additional schools who called on their own and will continue down the tracks no matter what happens on April 13th in the PIHL Elections and will save the members schools a minimum of $ 4000 per season. Its not a vendetta, it common sense and may save a couple of hockey programs from landing in the ‘Teams that are’t there anymore’ of the Pa Hockey Team Website section Ø And for the Journalists covering Green Acres, the availability of Sam Drucker’s store phone at the top of a telephone pole, which will have better reception than the cell phones inside Harmarville BladeRunners, so some can call in the CORRECT information about the Bethel Park – Mt Lebanon game and not rely on Hank Kimball’s version of Merriam, not McLuckie and O’Brien’s wrist shot not Slapshot Ø See you all in Hershey ! Originally Posted March 1, 2005 Connellsville finally won something! The Falcons went on a torrid two game winning and three game unbeaten streak to end the season at 6-14-1 to win the PIHL Open South Division over West Mifflin [4-16-1] and Trinity [4-17-0]. West Mifflin fielded a varsity team for the first time since 1996-97 and Trinity is a program on life support as well. Connellsville entered the 2004-2005 season with an all-time record of 9-170-3, including a 4-20-0 record last year in Class AAA. The Falcons are coached by Jeff Fleck, who knows a little about hockey playing in Prep School at Hotchkiss in Massachusetts after attending Penn Hills. So they have a coach ! This years season brings the tally to 15 wins 184 losses and 4 ties. So Ralph and Alf have the South Division Championship banner completed and now where do the hang it? The Ice Mine is about to join Golden Mile and Somerset Ice Traks as abandoned rink within 45 minutes of Connellsville and it is my understanding that Rostraver is now the home of the Falcons, so they can put the Banner there. The Open Division was a bad idea from the beginning and is a patch job to a league in trouble ! Chartiers Valley and Carrick could have played Class AA and Penn Hills should have played with their rivals Gateway and Plum in Class AAA and would have made the AAA playoffs without the Open Division. The 3 Wheeling Schools and Linsly are good programs and will move on to play in Ohio and West Virginia at some point as the 1st West Virginia State Championship game is played on March 1, 2005. So where does this leave Connellsville, with 17 seniors graduating on this team, no rink within shouting distance, no developmental amateur program and no future? This program is going to die people and there is no lible in that. In fact, I predicted that of the 13 programs in the Open Division over half will not be playing in the PIHL or be folded in 5 years. Rumors have been flying abound Western Pennsylvania about a new league towards Johnstown and State College and last week it became a reality as the Allegheny Mountain High School Hockey League was founded with 12-15 schools in that area. It was also announced at the February PIHL Board of Governors meeting. The basis of this league is less travel and less cost, which was supposed to be the mission of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League when it was founded in 1999-2000. The PIHL Billing machine is strapped with League Fees and Fines and Costs, which are so exorbitant that the Erie Teams are now beginning to constitute the old Lake Shore League in Western New York and Ohio, with another 15 + schools, including Mercyhurst Prep, Ft LeBouf, Harborcreek, and Fairview from Pennsylvania. In fact, Meadville, Cathedral Prep and McDowell are also on the fence with this league as they have parked their Junior Varsity and Freshman teams in, brace yourselves, a low cost option. When I left the PIHL as President in 2001, I reported to all of you that this day would come and it hasn’t yet, but it’s around the corner. The scheduling fiasco with Junior Varsity and Freshman and the Seeding Meeting fiasco of the Penguins Cup playoffs may have been the straw that broke the camels back for a majority of people. The reality is that High School Hockey is going BANKRUPT and if it isn’t why is the PIHL trying to borrow money, which is in their December Minutes and running around telling everyone they are going to CHARGE teams for Broadcasting games, who are promoting the sport for free. The MSA Sports Network, WBVP Beaver County, Moon High School Television, WJPA Radio, Peters Twp Television, Bethel Park Television, Upper St Clair Local Access, the NA Tiger Sports Network, Family Life Television, Charter Cable in Johnstown, Shaler TV, Murrysville Cable Access FRTV, Fox Radio 970, Indiana PA TV, Butler Radio, Kittanning 1490 Radio, the Allegheny College Sports Network WMGW Radio, and of course Power Play Productions are broadcasting games on the radio, television and the internet and NONE of them have a written agreement with the PIHL. I was approached in December to do a game between Sewickley Academy and Forest Hills by Erik Hoolihan and Bx Video. I contacted Forest Hills president Alice Single to make her aware that we were doing a test game for the future of broadcasting high school hockey. It turned out great and the reviews were fantastic. Then we did the medal round of the Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase and those are still available to see. And along with Bx Video, we have come up with a plan to broadcast Interscholastic Hockey across the country including here in Pennsylvania. The plan includes help schools subsidize Hockey and affect all of you! Enter the PIHL, whose President, Commissioner and Secretary show up at the Bx Video offices not to embrace the idea, but to steal it from Pa Hockey and take it for their own. The greed is unreal and now Bx Video is sour on the idea and wants to have nothing top do with the PIHL. The greatest part of this plan is that the Pa Hockey Network would promote hockey and cost the organizations absolutely NOTHING. Our brothers from Philadelphia have embraced the idea and are willing to sell it to their 140 schools immediately, while the PIHL is more interested in lining their pockets some more. The PIHL is a 501 c 3 and their financial statements are public record under the Blue Sky laws of Pennsylvania. Attached is a copy of their budget, which I was amazed to find that has only been downloaded less than 100 times. People are starting to become aware the money involved. A couple of months ago, I was approached by a group of schools who are concerned about the viability of their hockey programs. One program I am very familiar with charges over $ 1500 for freshman hockey and has gone from 75 kids when I coached there to in the low 40’s. The ball started and now its rolling as we had a meeting last week to talk about options for the 2005-2006 season, which includes Junior Varsity and Freshman teams. The KGB agent from the PIHL showed up and asked to be included in the meeting and was asked to leave, only to say quote “the PIHL is interested”. It’s too late! PIHL officials have been burning the phone lines all last week and showing up at rinks to hand out trophies and glad handing everyone in sight with favors. Why? Because the league is in trouble! So we are going to meet again and we are going to continue to discuss better and cheaper ways to run our programs and we may decide to move forward with our plan which will be run by the schools. This is not a grand scheme to break up the PIHL, it is survival and I think a lot of schools are in the same boat. And if the PIHL administration shows up, they will be asked to leave again because they have made their statement over the past five years and they are not welcome. Since they never called me to ask about how we could ‘work together’ with the Pa Hockey Network /Bx Video plan and how it can help them get out of their mess and went behind my back to harpoon it…you can bet we are not interested in what they have to say. We have to 'work together' went out the window five years ago and I have over 80,000 reasons why I know you’re not interested because this is the Last Year of the PIHL ………as we know it !