Baldwin Highlanders - 1975 & 1988 AAA

As many of you have stopped me in the rink this season and have been anxiously anticipating my annual address of the ‘State of Interscholastic Hockey in Western Pennsylvania’, I decided to pick the timing of my choosing to address the continuing sad state of affairs which plague this side of the state. Before I start and unveil my solution to the dwindling Class A Division and the Glorified JV Open Division, which contains many schools who could not compete at AAA or AA, who sandbagged this season in the name of winning games after miserable 04-05 campaigns, I want to address the Villans of Gotham City, who continue to raise the price of hockey, including their OWN salaries and keep raising FEES. The greatest part about the recent All-Star Event is that each of the Villans exited the Valley Sports Center shortly after the beginning of the Open Division All-Star game, which just proves my point that the Open Division is just a way to collect FEES and a political tool to keep the Villans in power. Mr Freeze, who did not even attend the All-Star Event, can keep busy writing 16-Page Manifestos about me to get re-elected, but has not been seen at one game this season nor did he attend the Joker’s big rally at Mellon Arena last weekend to support the Penguins, which turned out 500 people and not the 8000 predicted by the Ma Parker e-mail. Mr Freeze is worthless as a President of the misguided PIHL and all of the promises made in April were baseless and none have come to fruition. In fact, his beloved Quigley is down to 8 players and supposedly has phantom players on the roster just to field a team. Oh ‘Concerned Citizens of Gotham City’ Class A Hockey is dying as Quigley, along with some other Class A programs are near death and the flourishing Open Division is just as bad. The Class A All-Star game was such a mismatch that I considered not even attending the game because I knew the Southwest would trounce the Northeast and I was right 9-2. In Mr Freeze’s 16-page manifesto, his partner in crime False Face, who commands the Open Division made a public statement challenging me to come forward with my ideas about the PIHL. The first thought I have, which is a continuation of last springs JV-Freshman Philosiphy developed by several schools who were going to pull out of the PIHL prior to the Mafia Villans cashing in their chips and making millions of promises to the General Membership is to HELP REDUCE THE COST OF HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY as follows: 1 – Each School would be responsible for providing 16 Ice Slots for Varsity [2 Hour] and 12 for Junior Varsity and Freshman [1 ½ Hours] and negotiate their own ice costs, EMT’s, Security and League Reps. Therefore you can eliminate the $ 83 per game Admin Costs charged by the PIHL. Essentially, this would eliminate the League Scheduler, Egghead, who has created an absolute fiasco with Schedule Changes in 05-06 and has changed over 100 Varsity Games and don’t blame it on the Weather because we have had a mild winter. Any leftover ice could be used for make-up games or practice time. 2 - Eliminate the Commissioner’s Office and SAVE $ 150,000 in administrative costs and pay Stipends to a Statistician, Registrar, Bookkeeping [for Administrative Costs Only], Referee Liasion and Operations Director. You would not need anyone to schedule Games, EMT’s, Security or League Reps, because this would be the responsibility of the school. 3 – Get a real website that promotes hockey Period ! 4 – Attached is my Re-Alignment Proposal that will create a SOLID Class A, AA and AAA Division for years to come and it will be very competitive and in addition align Western Pennsylvania with Eastern Pennsylvania: CLASS A - <560 Enrollment 1 A EAST WAR MEMORIAL BISHOP MCCORT 211 2 A EAST WAR MEMORIAL CONEMAUGH VALLEY 215 3 A EAST WAR MEMORIAL FERNDALE 101 4 A EAST GALLACTIC ICE JOHNSTOWN 443 5 A EAST WAR MEMORIAL WESTMONT-HILLTOP 234 6 A F EAST GALLACTIC ICE BISHOP GUILFOYLE 153 7 A F EAST PLANET ICE FOREST HILLS 313 8 A F EAST GALLACTIC ICE HOLIDAYSBURG 558 9 A F EAST PLANET ICE RICHLAND-CAMBRIA 194 10 A F EAST PLANET ICE SOMERSET 345 11 A SOUTH ICE GARDEN ELIZABETH FORWARD 405 12 A SOUTH ICE GARDEN SERRA CATHOLIC 110 13 A SOUTH ICEOPLEX TRINITY 546 14 A SOUTH ICE CASTLE WEST MIFFLIN 465 15 A SOUTH BELMONT FREEPORT 251 16 A WEST CRANBERRY AMBRIDGE 432 17 A WEST BEAVER BEAVER 267 18 A WEST AIRPORT QUAKER VALLEY 226 19 A WEST AIRPORT QUIGLEY 97 20 A WEST ISLAND SPORTS SEWICKLEY ACADEMY 120 CLASS AA - >560 Enrollment 1 AA EAST KIRK NEVIN GREENSBURG C C 235 2 AA EAST KIRK NEVIN GREENSBURG SALEM 440 3 AA EAST CENTER ICE KISKI AREA 590 4 AA EAST VALLEY PENN HILLS 668 5 AA EAST CENTER ICE WOODLAND HILLS 754 6 AA EAST KIRK NEVIN HEMPFIELD 834 7 AA F EAST KIRK NEVIN LATROBE 541 8 AA F EAST BELMONT BUTLER 1052 9 AA F EAST BELMONT KITTANNING 313 10 AA F EAST INDIANA INDIANA 429 11 AA F EAST GALLACTIC ICE ALTOONA 970 12 AA F EAST PSU STATE COLLEGE 1053 A SOUTH BETHEL PARK SOUTH PARK 309 11 AA SOUTH ICE GARDEN THOMAS JEFFERSON 369 12 AA SOUTH AIRPORT CHARTIERS VALLEY 473 13 AA SOUTH ICE GARDEN CONNELLSVILLE 822 14 AA SOUTH ICEOPLEX CANON MCMILLAN 533 15 AA SOUTH ICE CASTLE CARRICK 581 16 AA WEST ICE CONNECTION HAMPTON 438 17 AA WEST MT. LEBANON CANEVIN 137 18 AA WEST CRANBERRY MARS 317 19 AA WEST AIRPORT MOON 363 20 AA WEST ISLAND SPORTS MONTOUR 435 21 AA WEST AIRPORT WEST ALLEGHENY 449 CLASS AAA – Open Enrollment 1 AAA SOUTH BETHEL PARK BETHEL PARK 735 2 AAA SOUTH BETHEL PARK UPPER ST. CLAIR 583 3 AAA SOUTH ICE CASTLE BALDWIN 696 4 AAA SOUTH MT LEBANON MT LEBANON 730 5 AAA SOUTH ICEOPLEX PETERS TOWNSHIP 483 1 AAA EAST CENTER ICE FRANKLIN REGIONAL 521 2 AAA EAST CENTER ICE GATEWAY 586 3 AAA EAST CENTER ICE PENN-TRAFFORD 615 4 AAA EAST CENTER ICE PLUM 568 5 AA EAST CENTER ICE NORWIN 668 1 AAA SOUTH HARMARVILLE CENTRAL CATHOLIC 657 2 AAA NORTH HARMARVILLE FOX CHAPEL 609 3 AAA NORTH HARMARVILLE SHALER 798 4 AAA NORTH ICE CONNECTION PINE-RICHLAND 458 5 AAA NORTH ISLAND SPORTS NORTH HILLS 689 1 AAA WEST ECC CATHEDRAL PREP 388 2 AAA WEST JMC ARENA MCDOWELL 977 3 AAA WEST MEADVILLE MEADVILLE 394 4 AAA NORTH CRANBERRY NORTH ALLEGHENY 1057 5 AAA NORTH CRANBERRY SENECA VALLEY 887 Please E-Mail me your comments or post them on the Roundtable under 06-07 Re-Alignment