I hear some changes have been enacted in the ICSHL. Anyone care to chime in on what they heard, and how they feel about it. The big one I heard is the free movement of players for the entire season. Basically, you lock a minimum number of players on your varsity squad (they can't move down), and everyone else can be placed on lower teams. They can move up as many times as you like. Initially, I think I like this rule, but I can see the potential for real problems. Not for the league though, it absolves them now of having to keep track of one less thing. I just think it could be a real headache for coaches with club players (like Bantam AA players & lower level Midgets) that don't see the potential extra ice as an advantage any longer, but more as a nuisance. If coaches use this rule to the most extreme, you should see about 3-5 legitimate varsity players on JV rosters. As a coach (and in a utopian world), this is great because it creates competition on your JV team to get varsity playing time. And lets face it, it's usually those 1-3 bubble players that wind up creating many of the problems when selecting a team. I've also heard Shanahan to AA & the WC schools (East, Henderson & Rustin?) will be at AA. Flyers cup designation only. I heard the divisions will stay pretty much the same as last year (V-South, V-North, Central), though I haven't heard what would happen to Malvern, Salesianum.
I think this is a bad rule. What will probably end up happening is that several Varsity players will play double time on both JV and Varsity teams thus taking playing valuable playing time away from JV players who really need the playing time at the JV level.
Some borderline/developing kids will probably be prevented or discouraged from even playing at the JV level because Varsity players will be taking their game ice time.
Not all JV players are good enough or want to play Varsity. Their playing time will be cut and they will probably disappear from high school hockey.
I think the rule is in order to help smaller programs. If you have 25 kids try out for your HS team, it's really not enough for 2 teams, but it is too big for 1 team. Maybe of those 25, 10 are legit varsity and 10 are JV players, and 5 are in between. This way those 5 inbetween guys can maybe practice with the varsity team and see limited playing time with them, but still get to play regularly on JV. Keep in mind that it is all up to the coaches who plays JV and who plays varsity. This rule just gives coaches the power to choose who plays where. It also helps teams with injuries who need to bring up players.
Originally posted by HockeyGuru: I think this is a bad rule. What will probably end up happening is that several Varsity players will play double time on both JV and Varsity teams thus taking playing valuable playing time away from JV players who really need the playing time at the JV level.
Some borderline/developing kids will probably be prevented or discouraged from even playing at the JV level because Varsity players will be taking their game ice time.
Not all JV players are good enough or want to play Varsity. Their playing time will be cut and they will probably disappear from high school hockey.
What's wrong with HS hockey being like ALL HS sports. Except that in other sports there are no "locks" and no seniors on JV. Anyone can play anywhere at any time. People need to stop trying to legislate for the one or two people who will cheat. JV is for DEVELOPMENT -- not for playoffs, championships, everyone gets a trophy, etc. That's the real solution -- do away with JV playoffs and championships and there's no incentive to cheat.
The ICSHL and EHSHL are scheduling their varsity teams in a single “pool”, playing many cross-over games. The Ches-Mont and Central Leagues are “scheduling conveniences” only reporting a balanced schedule (1x games) for a published league schedule. They will work like the “AAA League” teams which play each other once for AAA seeding, but may play each other more times for the rest of their regular season games. Same thing in the Ches-Mont, where there are traditional rivalries (Downingtown schools, WC schools, Kennett-Unionville) that will play a second game with each other. The idea is to publish a Central or Ches-Mont “standings” that look like what the print media are used to seeing for the other sports.
In the Central—everybody (ICSHL members and EHSHL members) plays each other once for the “Central” championship—which like all other Central HS sports is based on regular season record only. The ICSHL Central teams will play each other a second time as a regular season game, but it will not count as a “Central Game” so the published standings are on a balanced schedule. This is strictly a paper “League”. ICSHL Central teams will also play a 20-game season, other teams an 18-game season, so that the ICSHL Central teams can have their desired second game against ICSHL-Central opponents and still play 4 games against other teams in our combined leagues.
Why the changes? 1. The Flyers Cup Selection Committee looks at the overall schedule—who you play and who you beat—so it is important to play a cross-section of teams in your Class. We want to give “competitive” teams good opponents to play, and we want to give “developmental” teams schedules they can deal with without getting hammered week after week. We’ll let the Selection Committee sort out what the season records really mean… 2. We want to maximize gate attendance by scheduling “rivalry” games in the best ice slots (shared between EHSHL and ICSHL) at the available rinks. 3. We want to eliminate the problems we had with out-of-league crossover games last year, with longer travel distances and teams not showing up. 4. We are trying to give teams more games at their “home” rink, regardless of league affiliation, to reduce travel and increase gate attendance.
The “new” teams like Twin Valley, Neumann-Goretti, Roman II, are given schedules that will allow their programs to develop competitively, while letting stronger teams play each other outside the old Divisional structures. The ICSHL is moving to a single league playoff format at the end of the regular season to prepare teams for the Flyers Cup, so Divisional standings won’t matter and overall record will. EHSHL can still have “A, AA, and AAA playoffs as they have in the past.
