AIHL and PIHA 2008-2009

**minutemen** · 08-18-2008, 06:35 PM

Now that all teams are starting to have tryouts, Best of luck to all teams no matter what league you play in. It should be a great year for Inline hockey as there are over 50 organizations in the country playing in either the AIHL or PIHA.

We all have a lot of responsibility on our hands. Not just show up and play hockey but to grow the sport. In most areas the youth numbers are way down from years past. We have to make the young players want to play and promote the sport we all love playing. If most rinks do not, soon there will be a lot more rinks closing. From what I see there are a lot of 35 an older players in the adult leagues. Once these older teams start to fold, many rinks will take a hit. If the numbers are not high in the youth divisions, where will the future leagues come from. Now I am not talking about all areas but there are many that do not have the youth divisions.

Also each team should have a goal before the season on how many fans. Set your attendance goal and try to reach it. It is fun to play in front of a crowd and with a little work from all participants, each team should be able to reach its goal.

I think what could be a great event is to have a real championship. The best team from PIHA and AIHL battle it out in a 4 out of 7 series. Even though these two leagues are not on the best of terms, lets put that aside and make a huge event for a Championship. Invite some youth teams to play and make a family event out of it. Promote the hell out of it.

Just some thoughts I had. Best of luck to all.

**ARHA** · 08-18-2008, 07:28 PM

The only issue is that PIHA is USA Hockey Inline and AIHL is AAU. I dont see that game happening. I think its been brought up before.

**InlineMBA** · 08-18-2008, 08:01 PM

Is there any possibility that the PIHA championships could wait until NARCh Finals to crown their champion? I realize that NARCh isn't until July, but is it possible? NARCh and PIHA seem like a perfect fit.

Steve Inge - ROXBURY 8

**minutemen** · 08-18-2008, 08:11 PM

AJ, I hear what your saying but from what I know USA Inline does not run PIHA and AAU does not run AIHL. They are the insurance for the leagues and provide assistance when needed. I have to say AAU really did well and will have the AIHL Finals at Disney. But I think this would be great PR for both leagues. Show outsiders that even though the two leagues do not agree on things, but are willing to set that aside and make an event for all to come.

**FrankFrank** · 08-19-2008, 01:50 PM

I was gonna say, we saw a Best Of Leagues game between the PIHA Philly Growl and MLRH Boston Storm a couple years back. Not sure if was officially agreed upon by both leagues, or if it was strictly teams orginizing it.

**Lindro17** · 08-19-2008, 03:42 PM

Nice post Justin- the fact that we have 2 leagues is hurting the sport enough, we should be promoting the sport as much as we can in any way that we can. Between the two leagues, there really are a great group of owners that really want the sport to work. We are trying new things this year that I really think will bring a lot of press and fans to not only our team, but the league and the sport. Now say we have NJ or CT teams in both PIHA and the AIHL- we may not be competing on the court anymore, but now we are dividing the small enough market that comprises our fanbase up even more.

**Lindro17** · 08-19-2008, 04:46 PM

We would also like to welcome Kristin Bradshaw and Michele Robles to our organization. Kristin has been hired as our marketing manager out of Boston, and Michele is a marketing intern out of Central University hired this past Saturday. The goal is to increase awareness of the sport, the league, and our team by getting corporate sponsors, along with increasing our fanbase through advertising, increasing partnerships with local organizations such as the Hartford Wolfpack, and spicing up our entertainment and specials for each evening to more entertain our audience. We are having the CT Roller Girls compete in a mini-game between games, having the Junior Fireant Organization have mini-games, which range from ages 8-16, and are looking into other venues. We hope this will help with the problem of the sport being under-populated with fans.