Guest Post -  Mark Madden

 Besides Dejan Kovacevic, no one has been a bigger booster of area high school hockey than myself. So I feel I'm qualified when I say, much as I did on my radio program earlier this week, that this was a farcical, shameful episode that illustrated why VERY FEW PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY IN THE MEDIA, TAKE HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY SERIOUSLY. Nor should they.

Tonight's result compounds that. Certainly gloating over it is childish and shows that few are able to look at the big picture. The WPIAL made a basketball team play twice in one day to complete its schedule and preserve the integrity of its standings and playoff seedings. That's why WPIAL sports are viewed the way they are compared to hockey, which has always been run in haphazard fashion w/plenty of deal-making behind the scenes. The excuse that ice wasn't available is absurd. I was at two rinks last week, and all I saw was empty ice.

Plum got cheated. There's no other way to describe it. Shame on USC and State College for being directly complicit; shame on the PIHL for facilitating. Had the skate been on the other foot and USC, a favored son, been victimized, you can be damn sure that a Plum-State College game would have been played.

I'm told Ben Hanus was academically ineligible but might have been eligible next week. Even more reason to say Plum got cheated. Things like that are part and parcel of the advantage achieved by earning a bye.

Apologists for what happened will say that Plum, at home, lost to a #12 seed. Nonsense. You can't lose a game you don't play. Plum should not have had to play that game.

I will not be talking about the PIHL playoffs for their duration. I usually give them ample plugs, especially when the games go to Mellon Arena. If I attend games, I will pay to get in. I will not benefit from the largesse of a crooked organization. This incident has irreversibly tainted this year's playoffs. It is shameful and deceitful; anything unfair to kids always is.

The PIHL got lucky in one respect; the fiasco got underplayed in the media BECAUSE NO ONE CARES. If the WPIAL had pulled a stunt like this in, say, basketball, it would have been on the front page of the daily sports, not buried in the suburban editions.

After all these years...and attempted guidance from those who do, legitimately, know better...high school hockey simply doesn't get it. Such long-term stupidity is literally unbelievable. Think about it...the Penguins have unleashed a hockey boom in Pittsburgh: Ice hockey, street hockey and roller hockey programs are sold out. The sport's popularity actually rivals football in one of the nation's football capitals. And yet high school hockey is still small-time. Can't figure out a way to take advantage.

Wanna know why? Consider leadership that would allow this to happen.

This will be my only post, ever, on this board.

What does the future hold and what is the price?

       It was interesting the other day watching the Inauguration of President Obama and the sheer joy of seeing a great success story for a gentleman that had a dream of change and is driving the young people in this country to believe that anything is possible. It took a great deal of courage for this man to stand up to the establishment in this country of what the preceding government did to put the greatest nation in world at peril financially and the security of the world in even worse shape. My admiration for President Obama is that this man did things peacefully and joined Black, White, Hispanic and all nationalities together and while there is plenty of work ahead of him, began on day one to change this country as he promised to do.

       I was struck by the comments of Vice President Joe Biden, who is his wisdom chose to address the Presidential Inauguration luncheon to address Senators, Congressmen, Supreme Court Judges and the media and state, that “the United States of America is the greatest country in the world and among him were the most talented people ever assembled and working together they could accomplish anything and bring the USA back to greatness”. I agree with the Vice President and you all probably wonder what this has to do with Interscholastic Hockey, so please read on.

       As the Obamas saw former President Bush, who in my opinion set this country back 50 years, into the sunset of the helicopter, I couldn’t help remind myself of the images of ex-VP Cheney sitting in a wheelchair smirking about all of the money his company Haliburton stole from sending our young men and women to Iraq and Afghanistan, with thousands who came home in body bags to supposedly defend our freedom. And how the price of gas mysteriously went from $ 1.50 a gallon when Bush took office to nearly $ 4.00 and made the Bushes Oil refineries a nice Plantinum Parachute for him to retire in Texas. None of this will ever be investigated nor will either of these people ever be tried for what I consider a crime.

       So why should any of us ever think that Interscholastic Hockey, headed by people more stale than the Bush Administration should change. Similar to Bush’s victory over Al Gore in the general election, where Gore had more votes, this guy remained in office. The PIHL administration has developed an election process that will keep people whose children have been out of hockey for over 15 years in control of over $ 1 million dollars a year and have never had an audit in 10 years and continue to hemorage the member schools into extinction.

       Programs in business for 20-30 years like Penn Hills, North Catholic, Steel Valley, Forest Hills, Butler, Indiana, Cathedral Prep and more have failed to field a Varsity team in 2008-2009 and the PIHL just keeps jacking up the price to keep their administration in command, holding a spell over a powerless and useless Board of Governors at bay with their lack of planning and shot gun approach to running the sport. To make things even worse the 22 team Open Division of Co-Op schools stretching from Altoona to West Virginia has less than 15 Developmental Teams [Junior Varsity and Freshman] to build the future and will even get worse as the years go by. Class AA, once a stronghold of the beginnings of the PIHL will more than likely lose 3-time State Champions Thomas Jefferson, last years Penguins Cup finalist Franklin Regional and long time AA power South Park over the next two years in extinction.

        If there is a Barack Obama out there ready to lead the PIHL, don’t be fooled that this organization does not discriminate. A lot of people have commented to me that I haven’t been to many games this year and there is a reason for that. For one thing I have been busy promoting developmental Grade School programs and Learn to Play Hockey initiatives and really don’t want to waste my time promoting the PIHL.

        I still maintain the Pa Hockey Websites, with scores and highlights and Post Gazette rankings and run the Pa Hockey Scholastic Showcase and National Invitational Scholastic Showcase Tournaments, but an incident at Mellon Arena last spring changed my approach. You see I was banned from the Mellon Arena by the PIHL [as part of my duties with the Post Gazette] from reporting the Penguins Cup last spring and I was threatened to be arrested by a Dick Cheney look alike who was more interested in collecting $ 5 he could divvy up later that night than promotion of their failing league.  I wrote the Penguins with my concerns and they really had nothing to do with it and as PIHL Secretary Ginna Sonnik said in the April Executive Board Minutes ‘that Jeff was singled out’ yes discriminated against by the PIHL, a 501 c 3 non-profit organization, the same PIHL that I was President of and founded from 1996 – 1999.          http://www.pihlweb.com/pgm-download_media.php?name=EC_MEETING_4-3-08.pdf

         The PIHL needs change and they need it NOW! And there is an election in April, the PIHL is hoping sweeps under the rug and re-elects themselves for another two more years of Bush and Cheney extortion. They didn’t have a January Board of Governors meeting because people are starting to ask questions, so they cancelled it!

         People, I really like hockey and as you all know I am pretty passionate about it. I am really not going waste any more of my time promoting a losing proposition. The PIHL Executive Board, Administration and Commissioner are real LOSERS and they can tell everyone all the stories they want about everything they are doing for hockey, but they aren’t doing anything but holding the sport back. Don’t ask me to get involved because I am busy working on the future of hockey through our developmental programs and hopefully in 2013 when these kids reach High School Hockey there is a league left to play in?

       I have been involved in promoting Interscholastic Hockey since it inception in 1971 at the Alpine Ice Chalet which marks the 40^th Anniversary of High School Hockey in Western Pennsylvania. The year 2010 should be a celebration of those programs, like Shaler, Upper St Clair and Mt Lebanon, who were 3 of the 6 Original High School Hockey programs.

       In addition, the Pittsburgh Penguins are moving into the state of the art Consol Energy Center and have been generous to display the Interscholastic and Amateur Hockey Organizations Jerseys and have computerization, which at some point will be linked to PointStreak and give live updates to all games in Western Pennsylvania. This is a great way of promoting the sport and after 10 years the PIHL may have gotten something right, although the Pittsburgh Penguins have a huge part in that promotion, because they understand where their future ticket base is.

        To lose storied programs like 8-time State Champions Meadville and 5-time State Champions Bishop McCort should not go unnoticed, but this has been a gradual process beginning when the PIHL was formed in 1999-2000. Under the current leadership, the PIHL has gone from well over 90 schools and 250 + teams to somewhere around 45 schools competing for the Penguins Cup. Yeah, the economy can be blamed or yeah the numbers in hockey can be blamed or travel hockey, oh yeah that’s a convenient excuse as well.

        The big number is the cost of High School Hockey and the lack of value that is given to this sport. For a child to play Freshman Hockey in the PIHL, it costs over $ 1500 for a 6^th grader to suit up for a Freshman team. Being a parent, I have a 6^th grader now eligible to play Freshman Hockey and why in the world would I pay over $ 1500 to play 16 games, when in Amateur Hockey, you can pay $ 1000 to play more games and if you want to play 3 times as many games for $ 2000. That is a huge issue for people and the PIHL is now sending surveys out to ask their membership to help them, with the question ‘Do you think all High School Teams should HAVE TO play in the PIHL?’. Folks, Monopoly is a board game and monopolies in business were banished in the 1980’s with government regulation.

        The plain and simple truth is that the Laurel Mountain Hockey League [Volunteers and Less Cost], the Lake Shore Hockey League [Volunteers and Less Cost] and the PAHL [Volunteers and Less Cost] are attractive options for potential High School Hockey Players and this is why Meadville and Bishop McCort are no longer participating in the PIHL. Not like there where not any warning signs of this happening as long time programs Indiana, Penn Hills, Seton LaSalle, North Catholic and others are amongst the refuse of 40 + ‘Teams that are not here Anymore’ Wall of Shame of the PIHL Administration.

        I walked away from the PIHL Administration in 2001 and saw at the time that it was a power and money grab at the time and it continues with the stale people who still are running the league. The original By-Laws had term limitations bccause many of the people involved felt that you always needed to have new blood coming in and as one so called hockey expert stated at the time “you need to have hockey people running hockey”. That person was involved with one of the two hockey programs that earned the 13 State Championships that left the PIHL in one year. Is it time for change to get rid of people who have overstayed their welcome in Interscholastic Hockey? No, I think you should fill out that survey and get on the Long Range Planning Committee!

          The greatest quote I heard came out of the focus groups that the Pittsburgh Penguins put together for High School, Amateur and Dek and Inline Hockey, when someone told me that one of the illustrious board members of the PIHL stated that in their meetings ‘that we told the Penguins all of these ideas, and they just don’t get it !’

          Excuse me…this was a franchise in bankruptcy and was saved by Mario Lemieux and rose from the ashes to win a Stanley Cup in 2009 and build a $ 400 Million Building, which will be a fortress for Hockey for the next 50 years. Maybe the Penguins should kick some people to the curb and take over High School Hockey and Amateur Hockey? If you think that is a stretch……Why did they form a Non-Profit Foundation? It’s around the corner folks and maybe when they get involved, they can go to the PIAA and have the sport become a part of the National High School Federation and Sanction the Sport through the schools. Then it won’t cost me the equivalent of a college education to have my son play High School Hockey?

           Nobody ever dream that Penn State would be a Division 1 Hockey Program except of course Joe Battista and it became a reality when $ 88 Million was donated to build a new arena and fund the scholarships. Don’t think for a minute the Pittsburgh Penguins and the University of Pittsburgh aren’t watching this and they already have a new arena. Times will be changing in High School Hockey and so will the administration ….stay tuned!   

Pa Hockey Facebook Link  

    With many people in Pa Hockey who would like to discuss Interscholastic, Amateur, Dek and Inline Hockey, the Pa Hockey Foundation has come up with a way to continue this great communication of Hockey People and in an innovative new way. Pa Hockey Facebook will allow everyone to post and discuss Hockey in a new way. Everyone who posts to Pa Hockey Facebook identifies themselves and joins in the discussion.

  http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=12706&post=48653&uid=190907268730#/group.php?gid=190907268730     

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