District 742 shed a little more light on a possible merger of Apollo and Tech hockey with a release Wednesday afternoon.

Apollo and Cathedral had discussions "a while back," about combining programs according to Cathedral Activities Director Emmett Keenan. The discussions hit a snag because it would have forced Cathedral to move up to Class AA. Keenan adds that it "would have caused Cathedral kids to be cut, due to the sheer number of players already on the team."

The district sent out a power point presentation that will be elaborated on at Wednesday night's board meeting.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Apollo is projected to have nine players in 2016-17, 17 players in 2017-18, 19 players in 2018-2019 and 26 players in 2019-20.

On a slide titled "Why Tech and Apollo?"
- We are ONE school district
- Many of the boys have played together since they were young
- Whoever co-ops with Apollo, it would move that co-op into Class AA. Schools in this area don't want to play in Class AA.

"Rationale"
- We must look at the safety and emotional maturity of the athletes.
Pulling freshmen up to play JV or Varsity is not an idea situation for any activity.
Most freshmen are not physically/emotionally mature enough.

"Tech/Apollo Co-Op"
- A co-op must be formed for at least two years per MSHSL
- Conference and Section approval has already been granted

More From AM 1240 WJON