Damm....i wish i would have known about all the BS
behind HS varsity hockey, and "billeting" players.

Before the season started i would have hired some ringers of my own to get my team (ridley) better we could have used some out of state stars.

I am one of the coaches for Downingtown East Varsity. Someone asked about the billeted player for our team, so I thought I could help explain the circumstances. The coaching staff for the varsity team is completely new this year. The player in question was brought in from out of state last year by the previous Downingtown East Head Coach to play for his Jr. B team. The kid was set up with a billet family in the D'Town East school district and subsequently, played for the varsity team as well. This year the player chose not to play junior hockey but wanted to graduate from D'Town East with his friends. He is currently playing for the varsity team but is not playing junior hockey at all. How would the "governing body" deal with this situation? Yes, he came here from out of state to play junior hockey, but now he just wants to gradute with his buddies and play one last year of hockey. Should he not be allowed to play High School hockey even though he no longer plays junior hockey? Does he have to move home where there are little to no options for hockey? I am not submitting any opinion - just wanted to explain the facts of the situation and throw out an uncommon situation that any new ruling would have to address.

Wow Powerplay that sure does throw a different spin on the discussion. Thanks for contributing.

Maybe I think to much in Black and White, but it seems so simple to me. It appears kids attend different schools for different reasons. Regardless if it is for educational, exchange students, or jr hockey, if a minor child is legally living in a school district and leagally attending the school district, he should be able to play like any other student.

ok...this is along the lines of ineligable players.....

Ridley a mediocre team with a catalyst SR goalie and a few solid players depend 100% on these 3-4 kids to pull out wins every game for the team.

People who are around the DELCO area may remember a very good player named bill leach who was on varsity as a freshmen in 05 and played quakers club. Billy fell around the wrong crowd and got in trouble with the law ending his Jr season early last year.

Bill came back to ridley high school late november and was interested in coming back to the team (witch would be a HUGE plus for Ridley) but never got ahold of the coaches. when it was x mas break i told my coach he had finaly got the money to play and was interseted but....suposivly the deadline for players was JAN 1 08 and i was just a little late.

i thought sense bill played 9th , 10th, 11th grade for ridley it would not be a big deal letting this player re join the squad that he had been with the past 4 years.

I think Powerplay and his associates have made the right decision. The kid should be playing if he wishes to play, if that's what he wishes to do...like any other student.
Furthermore, I completely agree with SpeedKills. His position has been mine since the first utterance on this subject.
In terms of future years, I think that what was done THROUGHOUT at Downingtown should be within the rules, however they are created. With respect to SpeedKills' position, I think any rules change does need to limit a player from moving from one district to a NEIGHBORING district "for purely athletic reasons". Otherwise, there will be chaos!

Just for the sake of complete disclosure, I am a Jr. B coach and a high school coach. So, I have to deal with both sides of this issue. I am 100% for giving every kid the opportunity to play hockey as much as possible. Kids that play athletics (or any other extra-curricular activity, for that matter) are less likely to get into trouble. Not that it doesn't happen, but a kid that is on the ice is not hanging out on a street corner. With that said, I fully support a rule change that prohibits billeted players that move here to play junior hockey from playing on a public school hockey team. Whether intentional or not, it makes the playing field uneven and gives some schools an unfair advantage. If a billeted player really wants to be involved in High School hockey while also playing junior hockey then he should have two options:

1.) Enroll in a private school that has open enrollment and therefore plays at the AAA level.
2.) Be allowed to practice with a closed-enrollment high school (is that even the correct terminology), but not be eligible for games. He can still be involved with all other aspects of the team - attend games (as a spectator, of course), team functions, serve as the student team manager, etc.

Lastly, if a team chooses to use a billeted player in games, then that team forfeits its playoff and Flyers Cup eligibility. While that isn't ideal for every kid and/or team, this is high school athletics, and that's they way it has to be.

The bigger issue is obviously that the various high school hockey leagues in eastern PA have to come together and be governed by one body. That way you avoid conflicts between different leagues operating with different rules. But that is a much bigger issue for another time.

Actually what Powerplay describes is not difficult at all under the rules. If everyone would read the PIAA rules about transfers.

quote:

ARTICLE VI
TRANSFERS, RESIDENCE, AND RECRUITING
Preamble

The intent of this ARTICLE is to (1) deter transfers that are, either in whole or in part, for any athletic purpose and (2) deter
recruiting that is, either in whole or in part, for an athletic purpose.

A transfer occurs in any situation in which a student enrolls at or attends a school after having been previously homeschooled,
enrolled at or attending any other school, without regard to the time interval between the student’s departure from the one school and the student’s arrival at the other.

The student/athlete would not be eligible to play any sport in the new school that he/she previously played unless the PIAA District approves the player or the student qualifies under an automatic eligibility rule. If the student/athlete returns to the school in the second year he/she would be eligible to play. This rule prevents athletes and schools from recruiting players for a sport. If the transfer is truly not for athletics then the student/athlete will attend the school more than 1 year. If the rule is good enough for all of the PIAA sports then it should be good for PA hockey.

just an FYI for Hockey4U. If you are 18 and younger, you are eligible to play club travel ice hockey in the area and play for your college team as long as it is not Div 1 or Div III NCAA. There are no rules in the Atlantic District advising that these kids can not play. Check the rules before you open your mouth and insert your foot.

Hawk ---
Here's why I don't think it is (or should be) that cut and dried. That rule was written in contemplation of sports like football, basketball, baseball, and every other sport, including hockey, in an era when ALL of these sports fed directly into college programs for those who wished and had the skills to play them at the next level. That era is, unhappily, over for ice hockey, making hockey UNIQUE among high school athletics in that respect. The colleges, prep schools and Junior leagues have seen to that. For that reason, in my view, high school hockey organizations should be wary of the rule, as it has implications for hockey that were unintended when the rule was crafted. They were unintended because today's situation did not exist at the time.
I don't have the answer, but trying to compete with Junior leagues for 11th and 12th grade players might not be as good an answer as finding a way to co-exist might be.

Let the kids play, they are kids. They are just as talented as all the other local kids who play Juniors or Midget.

If the kids were any better they would be playing Jr B or Jr A elsewhere.

You should be encouraging more kids to play hockey in this area and make it better and teams more even with more depth.

Rhockey,

I believe the deadline is a USA Hockey rule not a local rule for final rosters on 12/31/xx.

quote:

Originally posted by hockey4u:
Regarding Billeting players, there is a strong rumor that the Junior Flyers are going to field a Jr. A and keep their Jr. B team. As players come from other states to play on this Jr. A and they are also age approaiate to play high school hockey. I would assume that the the 3 West Chester schools will go after these players to play for their high school teams. And find local WC homes for these players if needed. If this is an issue then the ICSHL needs to set down some rules regarding this issue. This past season a DVHL team had a an out of state college player rostered on their team so when he came home he played in league DVHL games, age approaiate yes play approaiate no. Some rules need to be laid down.

Hey Hockey4u you dont have to worry about the kids moving here playing for the West Chester teams. As in any real juniors Gorman said the new team will not allow there players to play anywhere else due to injury concerns.

If you didnt know, Gorman is the coach of the new team.

NJ Rockets Junior A & B coach doesn't allow players to play high school. A bunch of players from the NJ Colonials U18 AAA play there for that reason.

quote:

Originally posted by hhfan Hawk ---
Here's why I don't think it is (or should be) that cut and dried. That rule was written in contemplation of sports like football, basketball, baseball, and every other sport, including hockey, in an era when ALL of these sports fed directly into college programs for those who wished and had the skills to play them at the next level. That era is, unhappily, over for ice hockey, making hockey UNIQUE among high school athletics in that respect. The colleges, prep schools and Junior leagues have seen to that. For that reason, in my view, high school hockey organizations should be wary of the rule, as it has implications for hockey that were unintended when the rule was crafted. They were unintended because today's situation did not exist at the time.
I don't have the answer, but trying to compete with Junior leagues for 11th and 12th grade players might not be as good an answer as finding a way to co-exist might be.

The transfer rule had nothing to do with college sports or the progression of athletes from HS to college. It had everything to do with competition. It was put in place to prevent schools like Berwick, Ridley, Strath Haven, CB East/West (I don't remember which) that had athletes transfer because of the coach or the reputation of the school in a certain sport from continuing their dynasties by bringing in "students" for their athletic abilities. For those schools it was football. Other schools it was basketball/ soccer... It took a long time for the Catholic schools to join the PIAA because of the transfer rule which has been changed to accomodate. It was never about movement to college.

The reality is there are very few HS athletes in the Philadelphia area that will see a scholarship to play any sport in college. No Philly HS hockey player will get a scholarship for playing on their HS team. Anyone player coming to this area to play hockey in not coming here to play HS hockey. It can and does shift the balance of competition if we continute to allow billeted players to play HS hockey. I go back to my original comment, if the ultimate goal for PA hockey is to be recognized as a varsity sport it must adopt the rules of the organization that oversees PA sports and that is the PIAA. If not then stop the pretense that there is a goal to bring hockey in as a varisty sport. Trim-, I am all for allowing the kids to play hockey but not those who chose to leave home to play Juniors. This does not include the majority of junior players in the area who live at home.

Hawk --- I know why the rule was written. What I said was that, at the time it was written, hockey players with the desire and skill could go from HS directly to college to play. I went on to say that, since that is no longer the case, we should be aware of the unintended consequences of enbracing a rule written in a different era in the development of hockey as a sport. Particularly since in ONLY THE CASE OF HOCKEY, the path to playing in college has changed since the time the rule was written. That's what I said.
I wasn't referring to scholarships or anything else. My point was and is: Beware of the unintended consequences of applying a rule written IN A DIFFERENT TIME TO A HS SPORT ASPECTS OF WHICH HAS FUNDEMENTALLY CHANGED SINCE THE RULE WAS CRAFTED. If you will read what I wrote carefully, you will understand that that was my point.