Increasing at an alarming rate are decisions that seem to be driven to benefit the smallest of minorities. We see it daily where political correctness tries to serve every minority opinion irregardless of common sense. Never has the squeaky wheel been so well greased and never has the minority been so significant.

High school hockey in Wisconsin is governed by the WIAA, advised by the Wisconsin Hockey Coaches Association (WHCA) and supplemented by the Wisconsin Amateur Hockey Association (WAHA). There was a time when the relationship between this trio was virtually non-existent. The growth of WIAA hockey, the coinciding decline of WAHA high school hockey and the emergence of Team Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Elite Hockey League have put all of these players into the same game.

Athletes can now play hockey year-round due to the WAHA development programs for the state’s elite players and AAA programs across the state. As the elite leagues grow in popularity so has the tendency for them to dictate policies that affect the majority. Moving players on to the next level through these teams has become the “unofficial” measure of success for many in the hockey hierarchy. Enormous time and resources are dedicated to these teams.

There is no denying that Team Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Elite Hockey League (WEHL) has been a great complement to the WIAA high school program. Their track record of keeping many of the state’s best players home and providing them with invaluable exposure is undeniable.

Communication and cooperation between WAHA and the WHCA is tenuous at best. Recently this came to a flash point when WAHA lobbied against a proposal that would have extended the WIAA season by one week. This intrusion came after the WHCA had spent considerable time and effort to support this change. WAHA asked the WIAA board of control “to soundly defeat this proposal.”

The extended season would have benefited all of the WIAA teams by allowing an additional week to spread out games and move the state tournament to a weekend that would open the door for the Resch Center as a possible venue. Moving the state tournament out of the Alliant Energy Center has clearly been identified by the majority of the state coaches as their number one priority. WAHA wanted it defeated because it would cause a conflict with the Tier I & II playoffs for their elite teams.

The board of control defeated the WHCA proposal. Financial considerations of adding a week of ice time was the main reason cited, but the WAHA influence was considerable. Interestingly enough the football season was extended, moving a week deeper into the summer. Apparently a week of ice time is more valuable than five days of a kid’s summer. I would argue that finding money for a week of ice is easier than creating more days in the summer.

WAHA’s reluctance to put their full support behind the WIAA product is curious because in turn they expect high school coaches to coach their elite teams, work their development camps and speak at their coaching clinics. Change I have discovered comes equally slow within the WAHA machine. The street only seems to run one way with WAHA offering little support for changes that could benefit the WIAA program. Changes like eliminating youth state tournaments from the weekend of the WIAA tournament or putting AAA programs on hold during the WIAA season.

The rift between the WHCA and WAHA has a history going back to the days when WAHA high school hockey was bigger than the WIAA. I fear some still believe that high school hockey was better served in those days. While change within the WIAA’s dense bureaucracy is difficult and painstakingly slow, there is no question in my mind that high school hockey is in a better place. The structure WIAA hockey provides by being directly connected to the school has been a key to the steady growth of high school hockey.

It is difficult for me to argue against the WIAA system that provides a sound academic standard and encourages players to stay involved in their high school experience. Too many players have been “encouraged” to shut down their high school athletic careers under the guise that they are part of the 2% that will make it to the next level in hockey. When that dream falls short, there is no getting back those high school days. The WIAA provides a perspective and sanity to the sport that we don’t often find in youth organizations.

On the other hand, moderation in youth hockey is about as common as honesty in politics. If pure grain hockey people could be trusted to do the right thing we wouldn’t have bantam teams playing eighty games or mite teams playing full ice and trying to win a state tournament. And if high octane hockey minds had some perspective the youth hockey season wouldn’t be six months long and registration fees wouldn’t be equivalent to a monthly house payment. Those are issues that scare off more people than they entice.

“Hockey is life,” may be a clever t-shirt slogan, but an incomplete strategy for guiding your real life.

Last year over 2,500 players participated in WIAA boy’s hockey, the forty members of Team Wisconsin represents less than 2% of that number. While each group varies greatly in numbers, their value to high school hockey in Wisconsin is equally important. We can no longer afford to have a split personality within the ranks that govern and influence hockey. There must be a cooperative strategy that serves all of the state’s hockey players, with minimal preferential treatment for the 2%.

Because the reality is, without the 98%, the 2% would not exist.

And that is the 98% solution.