HHS hockey to play at 3A

HOUSTON — Since the Alaska Schools Activities Association released its major reclassification plan late in 2010, Houston High School officials have known the majority of the Hawks athletic teams will be dropping from the 4A to 3A level starting in the 2012-13 school year.

ASAA’s plan allows for specific programs from a school to petition to compete at the higher level. While the Houston High administration believed 3A was the best place for most of its teams, administrators considered allowing the hockey program to petition to remain a 4A team.

After serious consideration, Houston High activities director Norm Bouchard said school officials believe the best fit for the Hawks hockey program is the 3A level.

“We think this is a good thing for us,” Bouchard said of the decision, which was finalized earlier this year.

Bouchard did seek the opinion of Houston head coach Mike Styers and parents of players in the program, and the opinion varied.

“As coaches, we told Norm what we saw as pros and cons. A couple of the parents would have liked to stay a large school,” Styers said.

Styers said he can see both sides. After Houston High was bumped by ASAA to 4A, the Hawks hockey program left the 3A level as the four-time defending state champions. Houston was the dominant small schools hockey program, winning the majority of its games by lopsided totals. But despite the school’s overall success at the 3A level, Houston hockey players see much better competition as a 4A team.

“As a small school we’ll obviously be in the position to be a contender for the state tournament every year. On the other hand, when you’re playing teams that are less talented, it’s harder to get motivated,” Styers said.

In four years as a MAC program, the Hawks advanced to the conference tournament in each of the last two years. Houston finished with only a handful of wins in its four years in the MAC, and never beat conference powers West Valley and Lathrop.

Bouchard said the decision was made to give the school’s athletes a better opportunity to have success in their sport.

“We want to build some confidence,” Bouchard said.

Schools have an opportunity to petition to make a move to a different class every two years, but ASAA will most likely frown against schools wanting to consistently bounce up and down between levels.

While the move to 3A may improve participation in some sports, Styers said he feels like the majority of the veterans of his sport who attend Houston High are already part of the program. Houston will graduate only two senior hockey players this year, and the bulk of the talent is expected to return next year. Styers said the Hawks are also expected to have potentially as many as six new players.

It is hard to judge what future freshmen classes will produce, but Styers said there is currently a promising group of sixth graders in the Houston area, which should provide a boost for the program in the future.

Overall, Bouchard said Houston High wants all of its athletes to have an opportunity to see success, and the 3A level is a better place for that.

“If we play hard, play well, we have a legitimate shot at going to state,” Bouchard said of the Houston teams at the 3A level. “Right now, we don’t have a legitimate shot at going to state at the 4A level.”

With its return to 3A, the Houston hockey program will once again be part of the Greatland Conference. Most of the other teams will compete in the Region III-3A Southcentral Conference.

Exceptions are the soccer teams, which will continue to be part of the Northern Lights Conference, and the baseball team, which is in the Southcentral Conference. Soccer and baseball are unclassified sports.

Bouchard said there are currently less than 400 students who attend Houston High. The school started the 2011-12 year with 415 students.

The Houston hockey team had been a member of 4A Mid-Alaska Conference. The four remaining schools in the conference — Lathrop, West Valley, North Pole and Juneau-Douglas — range in student body numbers from about 800 to more than 1,200.