Trimback, I agree with you. More practice means better players. That is what USA Hockey and Canada Hockey are trying to promote.

Matt

Great to hear this news ! I will warn all of you to make sure the administration is still volunteer and you will keep the right people involved in carrying out the mission of Interscholastic Hockey. The most important goal is to improve the game and not pad the pocket books of interested properties and Eastern Pa does not have to look far to see examples of this.

The Number one reason a merger of those leagues would work well is a standard playoff system based upon the Regular Season records of the teams within the new League. The CPIHL, LVIHL and South Jersey can be slotted based upon their records and continue the process established with the Flyers Cup committee in the Preliminary Rounds [i.e. CPIHL # 1 LVIHL # 1 South Jersey # 1 could play a lower seed in Class AA and A].

Also this will shorten the season with NO League playoffs and make the Flyers Cup playoffs the pinnacle of Interscholastic Hockey.
Then Eastern Pennsylvania can have their Flyers Cup over by mid March and the State Playoffs over as well like other States, so there is less conflict with Regionals and Nationals for USA Hockey.

Good Luck to Eastern Pa Hockey in the new venture. I cannot root for the Flyers against the Pens, but I will be rooting for RJ Umberger, who is a great kid and doing some great stuff for Philly !

appreciate pahockeys input. only concern is that as power is centralized the opportunity for tryanny is increased.

I believe that each league president will stay on as a vice-pres and a board will be elected from within.

Matt,

Having corresponded with Carl, from what I'm gathering, the governing body makeup it still somewhat unclear. For the time being, it will be made up of a board of presidents from each league. However, I think that when they finally come to draft the actual makeup of the Board of Directors of the newly formed league, term limits (like 2 years/term with no more than 2 terms) need to be part of that (and I'm sure they will be), in order to prevent the tyranny that Jeff points out. Additionally, IF or ANY monitary gain is part of these positions, it should be modest (< 10K) so that you prevent some of the situations that are being faced with out west in the PIHL. Greed is bad, contrary to what Gordon Gekko (there's a good handle name for someone out west there Jeff) says.

The West is considered Gotham City......we have all or a majority of the Villans accounted for

I understand what WhatThePuck is saying about not having people not be on the board for more than 2 terms. However believe it or not it’s hard to find volunteers to do this kind of a job, and do it well. Sure tons of people would be willing to help and may even sign their name up for the election, but when it comes down to it they would lack the dedication or knowledge of actually doing the job well, which would then hurt the entire league itself.

I personally know 3 of the 4 league president’s (with the exception of the Lower Bucks league president but I have not heard a bad thing about him) and think that they are a great group of guys who all have the growth of high school hockey in mind, and I would hope they continue their involvement in the sport.

P.S.) If the east becomes like Gothom does that mean we can all start calling Richie Kerns the joker?

i think one of the barriers to developing more3 volunteers is the lacke of information on how to get involved. i know plenty of parents who have been involved in the sport as parents who may want to get involved but have no real understanding as to how to take the first step. (if they are not coaches) for a neophyte, how can one start on the path to be a volunteer?

Honestly I have made met many of the people I know involved with high school hockey, through or because of this very message board. But for a parent they could be come their team rep, the leagues always hold meetings with all the team reps, so that gives you a chance to see first hand the types of things discussed at league meetings.

One problem is I think many parents would be eager to be involved but what happens after four years and their son or daughter graduates? They might lose some interest or some enthusiasm. That is not true in all cases but I think it may end up being a problem.

I just don’t think there has been any major problem with any of the league officials yet. Yes there have been people that have had an ax to grind but it doesn’t seem like a large parentage of people have expressed distaste for any of the 4 head officials. Since they already have the experience and clearly are developing a working relationship with each other, why change anything just yet.


PS) Pre game for the Flyer’s Coatse mentioned that even at the high school level the teams from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh hate each other! Ha-ha, thought that was funny.

The Bottom Line to the whole thing is Money. I had a conversation with a prominent Flyers Cup official who said to me that Eastern Pa pays 'about the same' as Western Pa. The Western Pa teams are paying 7000-11000 for a Varsity Team and my understanding from Eastern Pa is 5 - 6 K. Greed cannot be a part of it or it will be runined, plain and simple.

You get the WRONG people involved and the pendulum will swing and knock alot of good volunteers out of hockey. The Eastern and Western Pennsylvania teams do not dislike each other nor the Eastern Pa administration. The people who have the State Championship trophies hostage are the people everyone is talking about and this is the same people led by the Joker making over 80000 for a part time job and the other ones who make up the additional totalling nearly 150k - 175 K in adminstrative costs hemorraging Western Pa Hockey.

Seton LaSalle 1998 Pa A State Champions were the first casualty of these people and now Cathedral Prep 1997 Pa State AA Champs and Indiana 2003 & 2004 Penguins Cup Finalist will have NO Varsity in 2008-2009. There is a reason hockey in Western Pa is in trouble.....and I am not sure Crosby and Malkin nor a new arena can save it......$ 4.00 a gallon of gas will add to the woes!

quote:

Originally posted by Matt Sacks:
Pez,
The idea is to align divisions like you see in other sports, Central, Ches-Mont, Suburban One, Pioneer, etc.

Don't mean to complain but wouldn't that put us (Sun Valley) as the only Iceworks team in ches-mont

Also to comment on the debate I don't think a permant solution will come up untill the conflicts with club teams go away (split season but thats my opinion). As the only person who I know to quit club to play for school (didn't like going to pocono only to get hammered with 76 shots anyways) I would have to say that club has a lot more incentive for players to choose it, in this area (unless you play for La Salle, Malvern, or WC._______).

Looking at my school's program and what is happening to it I would have to say it is best to work from the bottom up by teaching the elementary kids how to skate and other essential skills and someone will have to dedicate their own time, money, and effort to do it. Maybe some areas can do what they did here when I was In elem. Find local buisnises to sponsor the teams to relieve some of the cost so more people can play. (Unfortunetlly we don't do that anymore)

EDIT: spelling error. I take AP english and still I don't know how to spell hahaha

This message has been edited. Last edited by: pez35,

Pez,

I think at the ICSHL League meeting they had your team slated to play in the Central. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure. That would solve the Aston issue.

Sun Valley wasa to be in the Central if Haverford, Marple Newtown and Ridley were not going to play the other teamas twice. Since they are going to do this, Sun Valley Ice Hockey will most likely end up in the ChesMont like the rest of Sun Valley sports.

It's still to be worked out though and could change. Interboro has to be slotted somewhere as well.

Here is a snipit of why the PIHL is in the trouble it is heading towards

Did all the Eastern PA hockey leagues merge in to one league?
ANSWER: The LBCSHL, ICSHL, SHSHL and EHSHL are working on an agreement to having a Varsity Division with each Team in the respective League remaining a member of that league. The Flyers Cup and the Eastern Leagues are working toward common rules for eligibility and other areas. No Formal Agreement has been reached

PIHL Commissioner Ed Sam is telling rink staffs across that the Leagues have merged and that the PIHL is going to take over Eastern PA as well.

Not true according to at least three people from Eastern Pa I spoke with today and a 'gross misstatement' according to one source.

A leader that does not tell the truth is why the PIHL has gone from 76 Varsities to 62 in one year..........maybe its time people start a NEW LEAGUE in Western Pa and save people alot of money starting with $ 80000 less in admnistrative costs !

My response was "Not Happening", but "gross misstatement" is good too.