News

EYHA Adult “D” League Meeting

Monday, May 10^th 2010 – 7:00 PM

PRESENT:

Mark Becker – Flatliners

Mike Margraves – Tools

Dan Dzurik – Penguins

Joe Londo – Medical Mechanics

Gerry Sorci – Medical Mechanics

NOTE: Last year, the Blades and Lifestar played in this division, but neither team was represented at the meeting.

All teams present (Flatliners, Tools, Penguins, Medical Mechanics) are looking to return in the “D” division for the 2010-2011 season.

Captains/ Team Representatives were asked “what went well last year” and “what would you like to see continue in 2010-2011”. Responses included:

Earlier Game Times – Teams appreciated having game start times of 5:15 PM, 6:30 PM, and 7:45 PM as opposed to the 7:15 PM, 8:30 PM, 9:45 PM slots that were offered at some rinks. Teams would look forward to having similar slots or maybe even a little earlier (4:30 PM?) start time for the “early” game of the evening.
Sunday Games – Teams liked the fact that games were generally (80%+) held on a consistent night; players were able to plan for the fact that they would be playing every Sunday evening.
Playoff Format – Teams appreciated the “2 games guaranteed” round-robin format with a single championship game that followed.

Captains/ Team Representatives were asked “what did not go well last year” and “what would you like to see improve in 2010-2011”. Responses included:

Rink Variety – Teams expressed their view that as all divisions pay the same per-game fee, they should also be afforded the opportunity to play on the larger regulation surfaces. A suggestion was offered that each division might have their own “home” facility for most of their games, but would get the opportunity to play 2-3 games at each of the other facilities in Erie.
Schedule – Teams indicated that there were many problems with the 2009-2010 schedule. Problems included:
- Short schedules – the schedule of games was only presented for a month at a time (or sometimes just a week at a time). Players thought this was often insufficient time to allow them to plan around their game schedule. As well, in past seasons the schedule was published for an entire season or ½ of the season at once – allowing 3-4 months of schedule at once.
- Communication – schedule changes were made but the changes were not communicated to the teams (i.e. captains). Many times the only way that teams knew that games were scheduled was for players that were also referees to see these games posted on the referees schedule.
- Cancelled / Made Up Games – Teams indicated that although it’s expected that a few games will be cancelled mid-season due to facility needs, etc, there were problems with getting make up games scheduled.
Officiating Consistency – Teams felt that the consistency in officiating from game to game was poor. The teams felt that some weeks the officiating was good and the on-ice officials conducted themselves professionally, while other weeks the officiating was poor and the on-ice officials did not conduct themselves in a professional manner. The teams recognized that there were many good officials over the course of the season that seemed interested and did a professional job, but that it also seemed that some officials seemed not interested in officiating adult recreational hockey and worked the games in a lackadaisical, unprofessional manner. Suggestions for improvement included a mechanism where team captains could provide feedback (evaluations?) to the EIRI board.
Player Skill Level – Teams felt that there were multiple players participating in the “D” division (which is the lowest division skill-wise in Erie adult hockey) which were clearly above and beyond what “D” level is skill-wise. Teams would like to see some additional control of what players are permitted to register and play in “D” division in 2010-2011.

The annual “Pink at the Rink” event that the division puts on each year was discussed. The division would like to hold this event around the 3^rd Sunday in October, and would like to hold the event at ICE to take advantage of the café and other provisions that the other 3 facilities would not be willing or able to provide.

There was a lengthy discussion on looking to control what players are appropriate for and permitted to play in the “D” division in the coming season. The following suggestions were agreed to by the captains in attendance:

For 2010-2011, no player who is under the age of 40 and has prior high school or above playing experience shall be permitted to play in the “D” division.
Players with prior high school or above playing experience who are 40 years of age or older may be permitted to play on a case-by-case basis.
Players from other divisions are encouraged to “sub” when needed, but any player rostered in a division that is 2 or more divisions higher (for “D”, this would be any player rostered on a “C+” or above team) would be ineligible to play as a sub in said division. Goaltenders are excepted.
Initial team rosters will be submitted no later than August 31^st, 2010 (exact date TBD) and will be published online for all division captains to review.
The schedule will be arranged so that at the beginning of the season, each team will play each division opponent once until all teams have played all opponents. At that time (early October?), a division meeting will be convened where captains will meet and discuss with the commissioner any players that they think are inappropriate for the “D” level. Captains will form a consensus as to which players are inappropriate at the “D” level, and players found to be inappropriate at the “D” level (or entire teams, if needed) will be afforded the opportunity to move to a higher division, but will not be permitted to continue playing in the “D” division.
Once the division meeting is held and any inappropriate players are moved out of the division, team rosters (including substitute players) will be published online and additions/changes will only be permitted with the approval of the commissioner until the USA Hockey mandated roster freeze (Jan 1?).

The teams expressed a significant interest in using paid timekeepers/scorekeepers at a cost of $10-$12 per game. Various options were discussed including working with the Erie Ice Referees to provide this service, and offering the opportunity to local youth hockey players and parents as a fundraiser. The commissioner will work on this item and report back to the captains at a later date.

If a paid scorekeeper is available, the division would like to use the stop-clock as is used in the ICE spring/summer league (probably 3 12 minute periods).