Hawks will wait another year

The Houston hockey program will skate at least one more season at the 3A level. Earlier this month Houston High School athletic director and head hockey coach Jamie Smith submitted a proposal to the Alaska Schools Athletic Association to move the Hawks from the 3A Greatland Conference to Region III in the 4A class.

Because paperwork was not filed in time for review by the Region III board, Smith and the Hawks did not get approval to join the 4A class for next season.

"It has not been disapproved, it has been tabled until next month," Region III representative and Wasilla athletic director Doug Bean said. "(ASAA) wanted to take it back to the region to discuss."

ASAA tabled the proposal on Monday until its February meeting.

Smith and Bean each believe that Region III will welcome the Hawks with open arms, but the problem lies with timing and scheduling. The scheduling for the 2004-05 hockey season will be done early next week, long before ASAA could approve the decision in February.

Now Houston will plan to compete at the 3A level for one more season.

"We can't go into scheduling not knowing what conference we will be in," Smith said.

After previously dropping to the 3A level, Homer High School has also requested to move back into Region III. On Monday, ASAA moved that Homer honor its two-year contract with the Greatland Conference, thus making them not eligible to rejoin the 4A region for another year. It is believed that Homer and Houston may enter Region III together for the 2005-06 season.

Because Houston is retracting their bid to join 4A for next year, they will have to re-propose the move at a later date. In the meantime Smith plans to load his 2004-05 schedule with as many large-school teams as possible. This season Houston has a 6-2-1 record against large-school opponents.

In other ASAA news, the board awarded Fairbanks with the 4A hockey track and field championships. Alaska's second-largest city has earned the right to host the events for a three-year period beginning in 2003.

The 4A hockey tourney, that has called the Kenai Sports Center home for the past five years, will be played at the Big Dipper Ice Arena. The Big Dipper, one of Alaska's finest venues for high school hockey, has a capacity of 2,400 people.

West Valley High School will host the state track and field championships. The event is now held at Bartlett.

Fairbanks also lost a state event. The state cross-country skiing championships, which is now held at Birch Hill in Fairbanks, will be held at Dimond High School.

ASAA is still in search of host sites for the small school wrestling championships and the state soccer tournament. Wasilla High has been the site of the state soccer tourney.