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Tier 02 fan (no login)
Posted Mar 9, 2012 4:58 PM
I agree NIHL does do a great job, and is probably the main reason that Illinois travel mites are still playing full ice hockey. A few years back AHAI was definetely gulping the ADM KoolAid and seriously thinking about completely dumping mite full ice hockey in Illinois. However, at that time NIHL was instrumental in getting everyone involved to take a deep breath and not to rush into a decision that they may regret down the line. To AHAI's credit they subsequently went out on a state tour to try and sell the ADM and in that process AHAI finally learned a lot about their membership. Today many other USA Hockey affiliates are now regreting their decision which fully adopted the ADM cross ice model because their paying customers do not like it ALL THE TIME. They are damned tired of it after three years. In fact, michigan's version of AHAI saw 25 of their Mite teams bail out of USA Hockey after the higher ups in michigan mandated cross ice ADM hockey for all Mites. Now the novelty of the new ADM is wearing off, and Illinois was wise to wait and see how things progressed.
Also, NIHL does have a Mite Championship at five levels of Mite Hockey, so the previous poster is off base for ripping the League. NIHL seems to be well run, is actually run by 37+ clubs who elect officers each year, and the officers actually run the league as the clubs see fit. Imagine that! NIHL has a Mite Championship because that is what their membership wants. AHAI does not have a mite championship because the AHAI directors have decided to ignore their membership in favor of chumming up to the folks at USA Hockey.
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