Newsday Drops the Puck when Reporting High School Ice Hockey

It’s Sunday morning, I get up, make a cup of coffee, and settle down to read the Sunday Newsday. I start with the front headlines and work my way through to the sport’s section. After reading all about the local professional teams, I move onto the MSG/Varsity section for High School sports. There are plenty of articles reporting on various high school sports such as baseball, football, soccer, basketball, field hockey, lacrosse, gymnastics, tennis, swimming, cross country track, volleyball, bad mitten, wrestling, bowling, fencing, and archery. Oh, by the way! Did I leave anything out? Darn right, I did! Ice Hockey! Are you kidding me, Newsday? How can that be? Hockey is one of the most exciting games around! Why would you NOT cover this high school sport? Every sport gets their coverage in Newsday depending upon the time of the year: baseball in spring/ summer, football in fall/winter, basketball in fall,/winter… you get the picture. Look I have no problem with any of these sports, but when does high school ice hockey get their time in the Newsday MSG/Varsity section ? You would like to think that in the winter months of December, January, February, or even March, you would see an article or so about how the local ice hockey teams are doing. Nope. Not a line!! What about High School Hockey Standings? High School Ice Hockey Stats? Nothing! I just don’t get it. Ice hockey has been a professional sport here in New York since the 1920’s. There have been teams like the Rangers from NY City, the Ducks here on Long Island for years and the birth of the Islanders in the early seventies not to mention all the travel teams, and house leagues across the island. You can’t tell me that it’s not a popular sport. So, why doesn’t Newsday give it the press coverage it deserves. And remember, parents across the island shell out thousands of dollars every year in equipment and team fees, more than any other sport that I mentioned earlier in this article, to support their children and school programs. The point I’m trying to make is WHY wouldn’t Newsday give this sport the notoriety it warrants? Do they hate ice hockey???? I just don’t understand how they can cover all the other sports that I mentioned and not ice hockey. It’s a fast paced exciting game that shows off so many athletic skills like quickness, balance, speed, toughness, accuracy, and whole lot more. Whatever the case maybe, it’s obvious that Newsday has a problem reporting news related to High School Ice Hockey. It’s not fair to the players, the parents, the coaches, the ice rinks nor anything else associated with the game. Wake up Newsday!!!! You’re dropping the puck !

If you’re a youth ice hockey fan on Long Island you should share this piece with another !

Tony Marco

President of the RVC Ice Hockey Club