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oldhockeydad

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Everything posted by oldhockeydad

  1. 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.
  2. The refs involved are sadly no surprise to anyone who has been around for a while. I know one of them personally, and he's a very nice guy that I've known for years, but he has no stomach for controversy.
  3. I have been following this thread and incident all week, and just wanted to throw my two cents in. I had two boys that played both PAHL and PIHL hockey, and as such saw many, many games at the Belmont rink over a 20 year period. Both of my guys are retired now, and we've been out of the game for 8 years. However, if anybody pulled me aside, told me of an event like this, and then asked me to guess the location, I'd have had no difficulty in naming Belmont. There have been numerous disturbing events at that rink over the years, and the extremely large majority of them involved the Kittanning high school crowd. I've certainly witnessed crude obscene chants over the years. That's nothing. I've seen old ladies spit over the balcony onto the visiting bench. I've seen vile hand gestures made to refs and to visiting players and coaches often times by the mothers of players. I've seen fights in the stands and out in that parking lot. The list of events goes on and on. There's never been adequate security there, but most importantly, there's never been any respect for fellow human beings. That place is truly a black hole for bad behavior. I will say that not every organization there has had this problem. The Freeport crowd was mild in comparison. The Armstrong youth organization was mild in comparison. It's important that not every team and organization in that region get painted with the same broad brush. But trust me, anyone who has been involved in youth or high school hockey over the last 15 years knows where the bad apples are in that area. It's distressing to see that even here people are making excuses for this behavior. No wonder the kids up there are out of control, when even some parents seem to think that this level of uncivilized behavior is acceptable.
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