Meadville to drop to AA in hockey

From staff reports - Erie Times News

Published: May 29. 2008 6:00AM

Meadville's storied high school hockey program is dropping to Class AA after spending 20 seasons in AAA in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League.

Meadville coach Jamie Plunkett confirmed the move Wednesday night.

The Bulldogs won a state title at the AA level in 1988 before Plunkett, who has coached for 22 seasons, decided that the program could compete in AAA.

The Bulldogs won seven AAA titles and eight Penguin Cups, the last state crown in 2002-03. But in this decade, the numbers have declined, and although the Bulldogs were competitive, the boys enrollment at the high school was 434, the lowest in the PIHL Class AAA classification.

According to the team's Web site, meadvillebulldoghockey.com, Meadville will rank ninth out of 16 AA teams in enrollment.

Meadville lost to Pine-Richland in the AAA semifinals this past season and finished with a 14-6-3 PIHL record. Pine-Richland moved to AAA from AA last season.

I think that is lousy; the big fish in the little pond! 14-6-3 in the PIHL AAA is hardly a reason to drop down to AA. I guess it's been too long since they won a state championship so they need to drop down to AA to get it!

Easy there. Meadville is only doing what is their right to do. If we go by perceived strength of team, you'd have to do it for every school. I am a bit surprised by their move, because it sounded from what I've read that they would still have a strong team next season.

If you think what Meadville has done is weak, then be a little happy in the fact that the Eastern schools and Western schools do not match up based on school population. The west schools are generally smaller than the ones out here, so many of our AA schools would normally be playing AAA out there. This is another reason to try to get statewide school sanctioning, so that there is uniformity across the board.

Whatthepuck,
I know it is in their right to do that but give me a break 14-6-3 and only 5 graduating? What about teams like Baldwin, Butler, Upper St. Clair etc. should they drop down too because they finished with a worse record and are graduating as many players if not more than Meadville? That is a bogus move....take your lumps just like every other team. We're not good enough so lets just drop down so we can be good enough.

Harks,

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying what they did is justifiable based on talent and ability. As far as I'm concerned, as long as a team plays at the level dictated by the size of their school, they should be okay. IF, they choose to play up, then I applaud them for that. Some of the other schools you mention are pretty big schools population wise (at least they were when I lived out there). Not NA big, but I'm guessing much larger than Meadville. Let me ask you this: If Meadville never moved up from AA, does this discussion ever take place?

I do have to say this about the public schools in the East vs. West PA, it seems as though the public schools out west want to play UP to the level of their ability (i.e. Pine Richland, Meadville) rather than try to stay (or sandbag if you will) at the level they are designated to play. Granted there are different dynamics involved in each region that leads to the way things are, such as the East having many more private schools involved, but as I said before, that is all the more reason to try to get statewide sanctioning so as to iron out all of the descrepancies.

I agree with what you are saying; I do commend teams for wanting to play up to the competetion. But when your team has been as dominant in a division and has established that record of dominance over the coarse of time, not to mention an established program, don't go running at the first sign of a lack of success. As you have stated and I have agreed it is well within their right to do this but give it a little time. For such a power house and a team that has had great success over a considerable period of time against top notch competition they sure run pretty quickly! I just think it is a nutless move!

I'm on both sides of the fence here....cant make up my mind.

They are a AA that is playing up by choice, so moving back down is at their descretion. BUT, on what terms? They were a Penguins Cup semi-finalist this season. If the goal is to put Meadville where they belong competetively, then they still belong at AAA. If the only goal is to win a Penguins Cup and a State championship, then I can see why they are opting for AA. (Would they move to AA if Pine Richland were still there?)

Having a bad season is one thing, but Meadville had success last season. (We don't See Germantown Academy asking to play single or double A and they didnt win a game last season.)

I just wish there were some perameters that dictated weather or not a team should move down once they have choosen to play up....not just because "we want to"

Meadville Bulldog coach Jamie Plunkett announced in an E mail this week that the Bulldogs would move from AAA to AA next year. Well, I hate to be an ”I told you so” but, back in 1988, after winning a AA State Championship, Coach Plunkett decided to move his team up to AAA. I told him he was out of his mind. Why move up to AAA when you can dominate AA for the next 2 decades? Well, it took 7 AAA state titles, 8 Penguin Cup titles, and playing in every Penguin Cup final in the 90’s, not to mention one of those State Championships, 2 finals and 4 semi finals in this decade, before he saw the error of his ways. Take that Coach.
But seriously, before you have a meltdown, understand his reasoning. Meadville’s numbers are down and have been for several years. The Bulldogs, while valiantly competing in the past few years have struggled. Last year they fielded a freshman team, not a JV team. Any way you spin it that is a sure sign of a numbers problem.
Speaking of numbers, Meadville has the fewest number of Boys enrollment in AAA. They have (by this year’s count) 416 boys. In comparison, North Allegheny has 1062 boys, State College has 1264, and Butler has 1044. The closest to Meadville is Pine-Richland. The Rams, who just moved up from AA last year, have 522. In comparison, Meadville ranks 9th out of 16 AA schools in enrollment.
When I read that the first thing that came to my mind was Meadville did pretty well for having the fewest students. The second thing was that we would be seeing some old friends in the AA bracket. Westmont Hilltop, Franklin Regional, and Thomas Jefferson will be on the schedule next year. Sadly, after dropping to AA last year, the hated Prep Ramblers will not field a varsity team next year. I will miss kicking the snot out of them.
If you expected me to rail against Jamie Plunkett for making this move, than you thought wrong. To paraphrase Michael in The Godfather, “It’s the smart move and (Plunkett) was always smarter.”

Special Report by Gary Clark

Doesnt Meadville have their own rink?

That could be a big reason why they are traditionally more competive then there enrollment numbers would suggest.

The House of Chills happens to be a city owned facility in the backyard of the high school. They have their own locker room but not their own rink.

quote:

. If the goal is to put Meadville where they belong competetively, then they still belong at AAA. If the only goal is to

Meadville High School does not have their "own arena." However, Meadville Rink the Crawford County owns a community rink that Meadville High School uses. Having attended college in the area, the local high school teams are revered by the town's people like Philadelphians follow the Flyers and Eagles. Nothing was funnier than the local news station interviewing a pimple-faced student like they were Payton Manning.

Meadville moving to Class AA is a tragedy for High School Hockey. The MAIN REASON for the Bulldogs move is that the program's numbers are way down and that the program is in jeopardy because of the increasing costs of the PIHL, which charges two teams nearly $ 1000 a game in costs [500+ for Ice, 150 for referees, 50 for EMTs, 100 for Security, 25 for League Reps, and 100 for Administrative Costs to the PIHL PER GAMES].....the totals vary from 900 to 1000

IF any program has liquid assets it is Meadville.

Yes, their numbers are down and its my understanding that some of their better underclassmen may be headed to Jrs / Full-season Midgets this year.

However, if one team can sustain rising costs in high school hockey (which aint a good thing by any means) its Meadville.