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By Chris Harlan

Published: Thursday, November 15, 2012, 10:26 p.m.
Updated: Thursday, November 15, 2012

It might not happen before dawn's early light, but the National Anthem soon will become part of every PIHL game.

Commissioner Ed Sam said Thursday that some of the area's ice rinks are not equipped to play the Star-Spangled Banner during pregame ceremonies, but the PIHL was working with those arenas to make it possible.

“We're dealing with rinks that might not be used to stuff like this,” Sam said. “We'll be having it at every game.”

The anthem was not played before Thursday's Quaker Valley/Mars game at Airport Ice Arena in Moon.

“It could be that they didn't have the facilities to do it,” Sam said, “but it's coming. It's just taking us time to get everything together.”

The PIHL created a stir this week when Sam encouraged teams to eliminate the anthem for extra ice time, a finite commodity for the scholastic ice hockey league. The move was intended to allow games to end within their designated time slots.

However, the league reversed course Tuesday with a plan to standardize the playing of the anthem before every game.

“We're developing the mechanics to get it all taken care of,” Sam said.

Chris Harlan is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at charlan@tribweb.com.

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