Well, I'll leave out the Independent and Prep school league since
they do not compete with the MIAA schools (public and Catholic) in
Massachusetts, but I will give a little history on the public and
catholic schools regarding hockey in Massachusetts.
A long, long time ago...
In a galaxy far, far away...
well, actually the 60's and 70's...
In the 60's and 70's, the Catholic and Public schools used to
not only compete in the same tourneys in the state, but they
all used to be in the same leagues. Malden Catholic played
Malden, Austin Prep played Billerica and Burlington, etc.
The Catholic schools, on the whole, were slightly better than
the average public school, but were *hardly* dominant.
The premier and most feared schools in EMass hockey at that
time included schools like Arlington and Billerica. Needam
even had a run of 3 titles in 4 years in the late 60's.
From the period of 1943-1973, only Malden Catholic had won
any state titles... a total of 2.
What did the Catholic schools do that made them so dominant that,
since 1979, no public school has been the best team in the state???
nothing...
The public schools did everything to themselves.
Was it an attempt at fairness??? misguided attempt to improve
themselves???
no
$$$$$$$$$$$
You see, the Catholic schools did not (and still don't) bring in the
gate money that the public schools do. If a team like Wakefield
played a team like Burlington, they would take in a *LOT* more money
than if they hosted a school like St. John's Prep.
So slowly, one-by-one, the Catholic schools were forced out of the
public school leagues. (All except Central Catholic for some reason)
Stuck in the cold, the Catholic schools got together and formed a
large league called the "Catholic Conference." The league included
solid programs like Malden Catholic, Matignon, Austin Prep, and
St. John's Prep, along with some less successful programs like
Catholic Memorial.
At that point, the "slightly better on average" Catholic school
teams started playing each other every game. The playoff success
of the teams began to improve since their schedules were so much
tougher. Then, as they began to do better, the better players
began to go to the Catholic schools more and more. Domination
is the result.
The public schools tried to fix the problem in the mid-80's when
they forced a number of schools like Austin Prep, Matignon, and
Arlington Catholic down into div II, but that just spelled 13-1
playoff games and didn't make the div II teams very happy.
After that, the "Super 8" tourney was put into place (and those
schools were allowed back up to div I) and, although the Catholic
schools have dominated that, at least the lesser public schools
do not have to play Catholic Memorial or Matignon in the "other"
div I tourney.
What will happen next? Who knows. As a side note, the Independent
and Prep schools like St. Sebastian's and Belmont Hill seem to
have been getting better and seem to be getting even more top
talent that used to go to the Catholic schools or even stay in
the public.
Tony
PS - If you don't understand why putting the Catholic schools
together made the schedule tougher, I'll explain using some math.
PPS - If you already get it, just delete now...
I'll rate each team in an imaginary level, 10 being the best,
1 being the worst.
In the *OLD* public school leagues:
League A League B League C
10 10 9
9 9 8
8 7 8
7 7 7
6 5 5
5 4 5
4 3 4
3 2 4
2 2 3
1 1 1
The average team will have a strength of schedule of about 5.
But in the Catholic Conference, when it got going:
10
9
9
8
7
7
6
5
5
4
There were good teams, and there were some not so good, but the
*worst* you were playing was a 4, while your average strength of
opponent is now 7 instead of 5.
A public school has a few "puff" games against 1's and 2's, while
the easiest it gets here is 4.
Come the playoffs, the Catholic schools are ready, the public are
not.
Well, I think I've beat this dead horse long enough
see ya,
Tony
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