Little or No Press Time for Long Island High School Hockey

To all High School/Middle School Ice Hockey fans,

Maybe it’s a little to early in the season,but every Sunday morning I sit down with my cup of coffee and the MSG Varsity Sports section of the Newsday.The 16 page insert seems to cover football,field hockey,basketball,lacrosse,soccer,cross country,swimming,wrestling,baseball,and volleyball. Did I leave anything out? Of course I did! High School and Middle School Ice Hockey! Like I said earlier is it a little to early in the season? Well the Middle School Ice Hockey League is 2 weeks shy of being half over and the High School Hockey League is in it’s 3 rd week. I guess I can’t expect Newsday to cover all Middle School sports it would have to increase it’s page count and that probably would through off their budget. But if I remember well there is no High School Ice Hockey coverage until football season and their playoffs are over. It’s like ice hockey doesn’t even exist on Long Island,and that it definitely takes  a back seat to most other High School sports.I don’t remember ever seeing the posting of any game scores,standings,or scoring stats.How much room could that take up in the paper? Every once and a while I remember seeing  maybe a 1/3 of a page article on a playoff game(if that large) with a small picture of a player in action. Come on Newsday are you kidding me!  The only significant article I remember about High School Ice Hockey was about a young lady playing goal for the Massapequa Chiefs back in February of this year.

    It’s obvious that High School Ice Hockey isn’t as popular as some of these other sports, but it has been played in the United States under the NHL since 1924. What are the roots of wrestling,field hockey,soccer,lacrosse,and volleyball in this country? Why do they command more press time than High School Ice Hockey? Our season runs for 5 month’s ! Besides most of these sports are school supported and even though many sports budgets have been cut,High School Ice Hockey surpports it self through tuition and fundraisers.Look I have no problem with these other sports,every kid has his own sports niche and it’s all good for them. All I’m saying is that Newsday needs to give High School Ice Hockey more presstime.The player’s,parents,coaches,managers and their leagues deserve it!   

Tony Marco/Coach,Manager/RVC Spartans Ice Hockey Team