What happened to Pacific cup?

[Gmaof2]

I went to Pacificcup.com and there was this message: OPERATIONS SUSPENDED
Due to circumstances beyond our control, the Pacific Cup has been forced to suspend operations. Does anyone know what this is about. Is this the end of Pacific cup. I have spent many years watching my son play in Koho cup the TPC and then it was just Pacific Cup. And know it is suspended. I have many happy memories of Roller hockey and all the friends and people I have met over the years. And I pray that this is jump temporary.:(

[Travel-Hockey]

I sent Pacific Cup Hockey an email concerning this announcement. It looks like the email address on the contact page is set to auto-respond... and I got the same message:

Subject: Re: Website announcement
From: <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, Nov 09, 2007 8:19 am
To: <[email protected]>
Due to circumstances beyond our control, the Pacific Cup has been forced to suspend operations.

[alex]

Yeah, it looks like Pacific Cup is done for. It has been replaced by the Western Inline Hockey Association, (www.westerninline.com) a group effort by the rink owners in southern California.

[sixpacusa]

Looks like it is going back to the original thought ~ and that is in 1995 Six rink operators got to gether and formed SIX PAC USA.

Do you question why Six Pac USA was not operated by the rinks soon afer and by 1998 was a single man operation?

Do you question that this is good or bad for the kids?

Do you question why Rink operators want to control a tournament circuit.

Good Luck to WIHC, perhaps the secound time around might be the keeper...Dianne of Six Pac USA

[WeakSauce]

Honestly, it's no small wonder that Pacific Cup went under- from the perspective of both a team manager and a player, their tournament series had gone down a slippery slope in the past few years.

[ECHOHockey]

Geographically, we never saw Pacific Cup as our competition (we are primarily on the east coast) so it is sad to read this news. Hopefully the new organization will keep things going in a positive direction and with hard work/luck, play their part to keep inline hockey strong on the west coast.

Good luck to the WIHC!

[SOCALROLLER]

The rumor out here on the west coast is that the big six remaining socal rinks formed the WIHA in order to make their rinks more profitable. It seems that they decided to cut out the middle man (Pacific Cup) and run the tournaments themselves to keep all of the profits. Apparently running an inline hockey rink is a difficult proposition as in the past few years many socal rinks have closed; Corona, Brea, La Verne, Upland, the Silo in Chino, and soon you can add San Clemente to the list. It is sad to see Pacific Cup suspend it's operations but it may be a necessary step in order to keep the few rinks we have left open. WIHA just recently held their first tournament and I must say the jury is still out on whether or not they will give us as good as a product as Pacific Cup did. The turnout for the tournament was disappointing, and the website didn't post the schedule (game times) before the tournament or post the scores after as Pacific Cup did. I will try to remain hopeful that things will get better.

[CUDangled]

It seems like it will be difficult to draw teams to "local" tournaments like the WIHA is trying to do.

From a team perspective, why would I want to play in a "local" tournament when you could go and play in a "national" tournament and qualify for a national championship event.

Regardless, I wish the WIHA luck. SOMEONE has to keep RH strong on the west coast.

[RINKRAT]

It seems like it will be difficult to draw teams to "local" tournaments like the WIHA is trying to do.

From a team perspective, why would I want to play in a "local" tournament when you could go and play in a "national" tournament and qualify for a national championship event.

I'm thinking because National Championships are a dime a dozen these days. What the hell is a "National Championship" anyway? Besides, inline hockey is not like other sports in which you actually have to "qualify" to compete at Nationals. You can simply buy your way to Nats by just writing a check to whatever tournament company is hosting the regional event that your team is competing in and you automatically "qualify" for Nats. It's all about the mighty dollar now, not the game. No roster restrictions, no limits, no boundaries...just a recruiting contest. I'm glad to see these tournament companies going out of business. I'd actually like to see all of the regions develop programs like, WIHA, SSIHA, AIHA and others where teams made up of local players from one rink compete against other teams made up of local players from another rink. They would play all teams within their own region and then qualify to compete at a "TRUE" National Championship Event against top teams from other similar organizations from other regions.

And as for drawing teams, it would be so much easier because now all the rinks are on the same page when it comes to scheduling weekends..YEAH!!! The way things are now, all the tournament companies are booking events on the same weekend within a few hours of each other and the rink owners are letting them. That translates into low attendance and a waste of time and money for everyone including the tournament companies. However, coordinating schedules results in more participation because rinks no longer have to compete against each other and teams don't have to flip a coin to decide which event they will attend each weekend...YEAH!!!

Just my opinion,

RAT

[RichardGraham]

Hi Rinkrat,

The sport needs something. Maybe this is an awkward ending, and the beginning of a new era, all at the same time.