High school league ices national anthem at hockey games to save money

Pennsylvania high school hockey players won't be belting out the national anthem before games, thanks to the commissioner of the state's Interscholastic Hockey League. Ed Sam recommends that teams skip the anthem, claiming that, with ice time going for $300 per hour, he's just watching his pennies. "Ice is very, very hard to get and it's not cheap," he says. "It has absolutely nothing to do with patriotism at all." Not surprisingly, flag-waving citizens are all over Sam's plan. After all, our nation's young ones might suddenly think they're in Canada or develop Communist tendencies without Francis Scott Key to keep them on the straight and narrow. [Source]

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