Since the start of the 2016-2017 Blackhawk Hockey season, there has been talk between the players and the coaches about the possibility of the team going pure in the next two years. Going pure would mean that the Blackhawk School District would no longer accept players from other schools as a part of their hockey team. For Freedom, this would mean the loss of a team for the students interested in playing hockey.
In order for a team to be considered pure, the team has to have 12 or more players from their home school accepted on the team with no players from other schools per the rule set by the PIHL. For example, as soon as the number hits 12 from Blackhawk, they will close their doors to outside schools and will become a pure team.
Blackhawk currently allows players from Freedom and New Brighton to try out for the team. Both Freedom and New Brighton have three players playing for Blackhawk, meaning six of the 18 players on the team aren’t students from the home school.
By discontinuing the four-year cooperative agreement between Freedom and Blackhawk, they would have to replace the players they are losing.
“All of the Freedom kids are good hockey players. It will hurt if we lose them. It is always hard to lose upperclassmen on a team. If we do have to go pure, it will be hard to replace the six kids that we will lose,” coach Doug Schaefer said about the mentality of the team if they go pure.
Through the first five games, Blackhawk scored a total of 19 points. Freedom players scored 12 out of these 19 points.
“I think that the Freedom players are a big part of the Blackhawk team,” sophomore Sam Romutis said.
If the team does go pure, the Freedom players will have to look for other schools willing to commit to a cooperative agreement. Other school options would include Avonworth and OLSH, only if they don’t have enough players to complete a pure team.
According to Athletic Director John Rosa, the next step in finding a new team would be to see if any school contacts them first. After that, Freedom will check with other schools to see if they’re willing to accept our players.
Also, Schaefer and the rest of the coaching team plan on petitioning to PIHL, or the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League, to keep the Freedom and New Brighton players on the team for the rest of their careers.
If Freedom’s players switch teams, that will mean new people, schedules and strategies.
“I don’t believe it will be difficult to go from Blackhawk to another team because that’s part of the game. New teams and teammates happen all the time,” junior Jimmy Kelly said when asked about the adjustment necessary if they were to join a different team.
Kelly currently leads the team with 11 points while sophomore Riley Adams places third on the leaderboard with 1 point. They have contributed to over half of the total points for Blackhawk.
“We are very thankful that kids from Freedom and New Brighton are willing to play hockey for Blackhawk. They are key to our success and without them, we would not be able to have a hockey team,” Schaefer said.