LOWELL, Mass. — Wednesday night was another chance for the MIAA to shine on the big stage. The four best high school hockey teams in the state were playing at the Tsongas Center in front of a half dozen Hockey East coaches and several more from Atlantic Hockey and Division III.
Instead, it was another display of the complete ineptitude of the governing body that controls high school sports in the Commonwealth.
While the four teams gave it their all on the ice, the rest of the product was nothing short of disgraceful.
There were no rosters or program books for anyone — fans, coaches, nor scouts. It was a second straight night at the Super 8 where there were no rosters or program books. How can the MIAA not have rosters available in order to promote the players it claims to care so deeply about?
The officiating was subpar, including one call for a good goal when a player from the offensive team had been on top of the goalie for a good five seconds. Fortunately, the other referee about 100 feet away in the neutral zone had better sense and overruled the referee that was standing closer to the action.
Fifteen minute periods go by far too fast. Even if the MIAA refuses to extend the game by a few minutes during the regular season, make the Super 8 games into legit hockey games and move periods up to 17 minutes as Minnesota high school hockey does for its entire season.
Implement hybrid icing as the NEPSAC has done for prep school games. It’s safe. Players aren’t going to collide into the end boards. If the team that iced the puck gets to the face-off circle first, wave off the icing. That simple.
The ticket prices are out of control. It’s one thing to charge adults $13, but charging high school students $8 when they already have to pay $10 to park is nothing short of lunacy. Many Division I colleges allow students to watch games for free.
Maybe if the MIAA cut its staff in half for these tournament games, they wouldn’t have to charge students $8 for a ticket. You don’t have to look too far to see all of the MIAA representatives walking around the arena. They all have suits on and are doing absolutely nothing for the most part. Last night, most of them were hiding in a luxury box next to the press box.
It should be noted that there are good people who work for the MIAA, but some in attendance last night should have paid $13 like the rest of the adults entering Tsongas Center.
Coaches aren’t entirely off the hook for mistakes that could make high school hockey better in the state of Massachusetts. While some coaches do play their best players regardless of age, many others refuse to play talented underclassmen over lesser upperclassmen. Then, they act surprised when those underclassmen bolt for prep or midget hockey.
The entire state of hockey in Massachusetts is also to blame. The over-saturation of midget and junior programs have led to parents seeing opportunities for their child elsewhere. Massachusetts Hockey, the arm of USA Hockey in this state, should do all in its power to put a cap on the number of midget and junior teams. While there are programs such as Boston Advantage and Junior Bruins that do a solid job at moving kids on to college and pro hockey, there are far too many organizations and leagues where kids have zero chance to do so. Why not eliminate those and have kids playing high school hockey in front of their friends?
I want high school hockey in Massachusetts to flourish as much as anyone, outside of the many coaches who give endless amounts of time and energy to help their teams succeed. I’ve been fortunate enough to see many NHL, college, junior, prep, midget and bantam games in my travels this year, but some of the best atmospheres come at high school games.
These state tournament games should be about the players and their peers in the crowd. These players have worked hard to earn a coveted spot in the state tournament. Let them enjoy it and give them the best possible environment to play in for what could be the last organized games for the seniors.
