Leaderboard

I don't think anyone who has been around the PIHL for a reasonable period of time really expected them to act properly here. The history of PIHL governance is spotty at best, and the usual order of business is for the people running the show to take care of their friends first, no matter what. Either that happened here, or the board is made up of cowards. This is a national story that has disgraced the league and the school, and essentially nothing was done except to not allow students to come and watch the team play for the rest of the year. I assume also that the referees received no punishment in spite of their pretending that they couldn't hear anything on the ice. So in essence, nobody is really punished. It's very likely that the shenanigans that usually happen at that rink will continue in the future, as it always has since I started going there in the mid 90s. It will all center around Armstrong/Kittanning, as usual, and nobody will ever be punished for anything, as usual. Let's not be outraged or surprised the next time something happens there.

Mars coach, Steve Meyers (Sutton), was a Slippery Rock Alumni from 2003-2006. Wasn't it YOUR class that started the hazing tradition at SRU 15-18 years ago?! I like how you deleted ALL of your posts on this thread LOL! You FAILED protecting this young lady as a COACH! As you probably did 15-18 years ago as a SRU player. Take a good look in the mirror, the blame and guild lies with YOU, Sutton, you were there! Why didn't you do anything?! My friend, who will you blame when your team ends up 0-19 this season? Armstrong or PIHL? You got your name out there. Now it is time for you to RESIGN! You should be banned from hockey! - SRU Rock Hard Pride

Mars coach, Steve Meyers (Sutton), was a Slippery Rock Alumni from 2003-2006. Wasn't it YOUR class that started the hazing tradition at SRU 15-18 years ago?! You FAILED protecting this young lady as a COACH! As you probably did 15-18 years ago as a SRU player. Take a good look in the mirror, the blame and guild lies with YOU, Sutton, you were there! Why didn't you do anything?! My friend, who will you blame when your team ends up 0-19 this season? Armstrong or PIHL? You got your name out there. Now it is time for you to RESIGN! You should be banned from hockey! - SRU Rock Hard Pride

Catching up with some folks & talking about this incident today - earlier this season Butler sent a letter to PIHL about the behavior at Belmont, so this is really strike two against armstrong this season in that rink. I also learned last year Armstrong had to forfeit a win to Moon for a roster violation, though unrelated to bad behavior, I’m not surprised. Get it together up there! Control your parents & students! PIHL should have done more knowing Mars was not the first incident this season. If PIHL would have handed out discipline for the Butler incident, this doesn’t even happen to Mars. the more you know.

OK how about we go with no elite teams in AA until the Pens Cup winner and call them Elite! Sounds like the field is pretty wide open if you all know what you are talking about. I personally have not seen any of them play.

That looks like a fantastic event. I can't believe the OTB boys were there. Also, congrats to the guy who got to "square off" with Brett Keisel on the ice. That pic would go on my mantle forever. They look like they had a blast faking that fight.

The NHL runs a campaign where they state, 'Hockey is for everyone.' With the amount of incidents the sport experiences regarding race and sex, my point is that it has a long way to go to get to the sentiment of that campaign. And yes, it is expensive, which is another barrier.

Who ever is playing against them

Did PIHL have the ability to make the team forfeit the game? People throw around a lot of things that they wanted to see happen, without considering if they were possible. I think PIHL did what they could. Was there precedent for that in the past? You have to remember that there are layers of authority there, governing different aspects of things. The students are banned. PIHL can do that. The program is on probation Also PIHL. Some of the posts indicate that students are being suspended. That is the school. Perhaps not in a timely fashion (football players able to play, some have said, and this is awful and teaches kids only that some people are more special than others...but hey, that is true in life, not that it is right, there is your lesson in life is not fair.) I think that may be all that can be done from PIHL's standpoint. The hockey organization and/or the county, whoever hired the security guard, need to address the security failure. (Maybe they did.) I am also still appalled that the refs don't seem to have faced anything. (But we may not know if they did.) But I bet that the attention and the microscope that this program (and the criticism of the refs) is not going away anytime soon. I bet everyone will have stand behavior on their radar now. Maybe more will be done to address bad behavior all around. Maybe refs hear we don't want them to ignore such blatantly bad and harmful behavior, as well as schools. I don't want to see a team punished for stand behavior beyond a bench penalty issued by a ref. (That would have been a good way to handle it... again, still looking at the refs.) For example, there are a lot of good kids trying to play with some horrible parents in the stands. That one just doesn't sit well with me. People have tried to impute the student section behavior onto the players, but that always comes across as a stretch to me. (They had to have heard it, they did nothing, they skated by and smiled at the stands, obviously they supported it!) Particularly when the goalie said she knows many of those players and didn't blame them. Kids! They are all kids. Freaking adults didn't handle this well and you all want the kids to have handled it better. Life is not an after school special. We could wish they all would have stopped play or done something....but they are still kids. Let's put all their heads up on a stake at the rink, maybe that will be enough. The adults need to be the focus. You can say you want more to be done in the future. That you want PIHL to have more teeth or control in these situations. Those require changes in rules. But to keep calling for more to be done now, misses the mark a little. The hockey team is being punished. They now have a crappier rep to deal with (on a national scale). Every Armstrong team now does. I went to PAHL games this weekend where people whispered about the Armstrong teams on the ice. Nothing to do with the high school, but now they have that stigma and guilt by association. This is going to follow Armstrong around for a long time. Rightly so. Move the conversation now to either changes you want to see happen to punishment and/or prevention in the future. Better yet...correct your kid when he says he's glad he didn't make the team with the woman coach. When he says, 'That is so gay!' When he is upset that an all girls team beat his, and that shouldn't have happened' because they are...girls. A small amount of what I have seen and overheard just in the past year. Hockey has a long way to go before it is truly for everyone. The kids are just taking their cues from the adults around them.

That’s certainly your opinion, and a valid one. I am of the opinion that is it merited based upon what happened. We will see how the season unfolds.

PIHL could have - SHOULD HAVE - made the game a forfeit and the future Mars/Armstrong game a forfeit. It’s completely ridiculous that hasn’t happened yet.

It would be interesting to see the costs of hockey vs. all the other sports the schools pay for. Including insurance, equipment, coaches, maintenance - everything.