PIHA Gateway Division

[Dave Garland]

Hey Guys,

Although I'm not sure how many from people St. Louis and surrounding areas are reading this board, I wanted to announce the official dates, times, and locations of PIHA Gateway Tryouts.

Our division will feature 5 teams. 4 from St. Louis and 1 from Cincinnati.

The Cinc team is set and the St. Louis tryouts are as follows:
Friday, October 27th Midwest Sport Hockey 7 PM-10 PM
Saturday October 28th Matteson Triplex 11 AM-2 PM
Sunday October 29th All American Sportsmall 10 AM- 1 PM
Monday October 30th Omni Sports 7 PM- 10 PM

Following the tryouts there will be the first annual PIHA Gateway Draft and Draft party in St. Louis at Midwest Sport Hockey in November. The night will feature the PIHA Gateway draft, a casino night, drinks, food, and other surprises.

Registration for tryouts is $50 and includes all tryouts. You can register at any of the rinks starting tomorrow.

Check out the Hockey Stop newspaper in St. Louis this weekend as PIHA Gateway will be featured and be on the cover!

Questions? Need more information? Email [email protected] ([email protected]) also visit our Myspace page at http://profile.myspace.com/pihagateway (http://profile.myspace.com/pihagateway) which is very new.

Anyway, I wanted to introduce myself and the Gateway Division. We are hoping for a GREAT turnout at all the tryouts and a successful draft party. I would love to hear any advice ideas that any of you may have as well. PIHA Gateway is just getting its feet wet and we hope to build on the successful divisions up east and in Colorado.

As far as the other members of our executive board, the commissioner is Ron Beilsten who is a legend in St. Louis roller hockey. He is currently coach of the 5-in-a-row Division 1 National Champion Lindenwood Lions college roller hockey team. He also coaches and runs Team Tour and in the past has been an assistant coach with the RHI’s St. Louis Vipers. Additionally, former St. Louis Blue Perry Turnbull joins the executive board. Perry played in the NHL and RHI and brings a wealth of experience and knowledge.

[whodere]

Has the cincinnati roster been posted yet?

[Dave Garland]

Not that I know of...but they are the Flying Monkey's and the their contact information can be found on the PIHA website. I believe they have already completed tryouts and are all set but check with them.

[CoachClipboard]

Welcome aboard Gateway division of PIHA!

The leagues expansion to the West has been incredible this past year. With your division and the new Canadian division, I believe this will give the league a total of 31 Pro teams nationwide and somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 some odd Pro and minor teams combined. Signifigant considering last year between East and West combined there were just 12 pro clubs.

I hope that you enjoy the league as much as we have (Harrisburg Lunatics) over the past 5 or so years. It keeps getting better each season, and the people involved are outstanding from players, to management. The names you mentioned are some big league names in the game and should prove to be a huge asset to making the Gateway division a formidable addition to PIHA.

You mentioned possible advice in your post, and I can assure you that any team that has played will gladly help you out with whatever you need, just contact them and ask. PIHA teams and players from team to team are always on the same page and very considerate to making this league work together.

Once again,
Welcome
Todd Wiley
Harrisburg Lunatics Head Coach

[alex]

Until recently, I knew very little about PIHA, as I live on the west coast and it was a predominantly east coast thing. After all we had the IHA (what a failure that was).
But with the expansion to Colorado, I grew more interested. And now with the news of expansions to the Midwest (St. Louis/Cincinnati) and to Western Canada, I'm becoming very interested. It all sounds very exciting, but I hope PIHA hasn't bitten of more than it can chew? I really do hope the expansions all work out well, because I'd like to see it expand to the west coast one day. It seems like PIHA is the one true hope for pro roller hockey around (yes, I'm aware of MLRH).
Anyone have thoughts on when they think PIHA might expand to the west coast, or if they won't, then why?

-Alex

[TheSnake22]

You're in luck alex, that day will be sooner than you think... There's a good chance there will be a PIHA team somewhere close to you next season, as a California division is just one of the planned expansions for next season...

I can understand why it may look to some like the league is expanding a little too far and too fast, but the purpose of the expansion is to not only get more teams and players, but to increase the popularity of the league... If you're a fan, you pay a little more attention if there are 5 teams in your general area that can play each other as well as travel, as opposed to just 1 team that has to travel to play anyone...

[born2runPROgm]

Snake makes a good point. The PIHA does several things that helps to ensure the new divisions transition smoothly. Charlie is extremely cautious when adding a new team or division and travels to meet rink owners, team directors, etc. before considering bringing them on board. This is often done many months (or even a year) before the expansion actually takes place. What snake said about the local divisions is key. The fact that teams don't have to travel beyond there local division really cuts down on the costs and helps to make sure that teams don't "no show" the way they have in other past leagues.

[alex]

Yeah, I was just curious about the number of teams because I thought it may dilute the talent pool, spreading it around so much. But that makes perfect sense, cutting down on travel.
I'm excited to see how all the expansions pan out.

[Dave Garland]

Guys here is an article that will go up on the PIHA site soon...just wanted to share. Hope everyone is doing well.



PIHA- Gateway Division Tryouts Set To Begin Under The Arch



League already receiving press as the buzz spreads around St. Louis!



By David Garland

Director of Marketing/Public Relations Gateway Division





The rumors have finally come to life: There will be a Gateway Division for the Professional Inline Hockey Association this year! Joining the Cincinnati Flying Monkey?s will be four teams from St. Louis and the surrounding area. Each of the four major rinks in St. Louis will have their own PIHA organization and based on the successes of their other inline hockey programs, PIHA will blow up! The Southside Snipers based out of All American in South County are bred from a history of success as owner Rob Ferrara already has a proven track record with his St. Louis Blast youth program who have earned too many national titles to count. Moving out west, the Midwest Tornadoes are being organized by a familiar St. Louis name: Perry Turnbull. A former power forward with the St. Louis Blues and a big name with the St. Louis Vipers, Perry brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the organization. Perhaps one of the biggest natural rivalries will be between the two St. Charles-based organizations which round out the PIHA Gateway Division. Rick Matteson, of the Matteson Triplex, has the largest facility in St. Louis and one of the best facilities in the country which features two full-sized rinks plus a mini-rink in the middle. His organization (St. Louis Rattlers Pro Team and St. Louis Pythons Minor Team) will continue the strides made by his youth program: The St. Louis Cobras. Head east just a few miles from the Triplex and owner Joe Weber and manager Ian Mackie are building a program of their own at the Omni Sportsplex. The River City Whalers (Pro) and River City Stingray (Minor) will make their home at the Sportsplex.
Tryouts for the PIHA Gateway Division begin this weekend. On October 27th, Midwest will be hosting the first tryout from 7PM-10PM CST. October 28th features a tryout at the Matteson Triplex from 11AM-2PM. Sunday morning, October 29th, includes a tryout skate at All American from 10AM-1PM. The final tryout is scheduled for Monday October 30th from 7PM to 10 PM at Omni. The tryout fee is $50 which includes all four tryouts and players can sign up at any of the four rinks. Each of these tryouts is treated as a general tryout for all players interested in the league. Following the tryouts, the innovative Gateway Division will offer a PIHA first: A Draft Party. Free to all drafted players that are selected for one of the four pro and four minor teams, a November 17th party at Midwest will feature appetizers, casino games, and an NHL-style draft.
As the tryout dates edge closer, members of the St. Louis press have already investigated the buzz that is PIHA Gateway. Hockey Stop Magazine, an extremely popular and informative hockey magazine in St. Louis, put PIHA Gateway on the cover of their last issue. In addition, a two-page article featuring Commissioner Ron Beilsten and Perry Turnbull highlighted the issue.
The PIHA Gateway division is ready to take off. Will you be along for the ride?
Questions? Contact [email protected] ([email protected])

[GROWL]

tremendous stuff! Looking forward to thisyear... welcome to all!