New Drop-In Skate System

IMPORTANT – NEW RULE

Due to the 35 and older league being on Wed night we have lost about half our regulars. I’m creating a new rule. We need a minimum of 16 skaters booked by Sunday to skate on Wed. If we don’t have enough, I’ll cancel on Sunday and you get your Credit back.

The new system is in place. We have a better way to manage the teams in the back end as well as the ability to create a series of rules for the skate.

You can book skates with Credits that you purchase. This is the biggest change for the skater – paying in advance to hold your spot. You have until 24 hours prior to the skate to Unbook and get your Credit back. After that deadline you are committed and can send a sub in your place.

The pay in advance method eliminates the problem we were experiencing with the old system. Each week on the day of the skate we would have about five drops from guys who simply booked all available skates in advance. They prevented others from planning to skate and then hurt the skate on the day of. Now that isn’t possible.

By using a website instead of an App we have more control with less effort. The site plays nice on Mobile, simply bookmark it in your phone. You can create a shortcut that will show up on your screen – Google it.

The entire goal is to create the “Perfect Skate.” The right skaters, balanced teams, no drama and lots of fun.

Cancer Sucks

While I’m going through Chemo, I’m not going to be able to skate each week. I’ve been skating, but it is taking too long to recover. I will continue on my off Chemo week for now and see how that goes. Let me share again. Get your Colonoscopy when told. Don’t go through the surgery and Chemo – it sucks!

Book Skates

21/22 Season Start Info

The 2021/22 Season will begin on September 19th. The schedule is being loaded into Hockey Community. There are six teams in the 40+ Stout Conference. We have dropped the Lager Conference this season.

I’m very happy to report that the six team managers we have are solid and dependable. This gives me the confidence to move forward with the season despite my health issue. I’m going to try to play. I can’t be much slower, right?

That said, we have higher costs again this season for the ice time and refs. The cost per team will remain $5,000 if paid by the deadline of November 30th. After November 30th the fee raises by $250 and there will be penalties or loss of ice time. I’ve never collected all of the team fee money for a season since starting this league in 2015. Let’s make this a first!

The teams are:

Budtenders, manager Tom Hutchings
Gooners Dogs, manager Chris Green
Hurley Phantoms, manager Mike Mays
Lockhart Roofing, manager Greg Dufour
Frozen Wings, manager Ty Burt
Marauders – or another name to be determined, manger Eric Schauwecker

Hockey Community

Heads up for 2021/22 EHL Season

The plan remains to have 6 Teams in Lager (25+) and 6 Teams in Stout (40+).

First come, first serve for Team registration.

EHL League Board Meeting on August 22nd is proposed.

League start as soon as September 19th and we can get 25 games in by the end of February. This will give us five weeks wiggle room to get the season completed before the end of March.

Let me know your thoughts on the season start and most importantly, let me know if you are bringing a team. I know we have holes in each division to fill.

All the best,

Dave

dave@gears.beer

2020/2021 Season Wrapup

Quick update as we wrap up the 2020/2021 Season.

Board meeting 3/21 as planned.
Present: Ty Burt of Frozen Wings, Tim Jankowski of Old Fokkers, Chris Joncas of Kidd Co, Brian Hall of Hartwig, Dave Crabill of Budtenders, Jeff Rouse of BC, Steve of Wolverine.

Round robin is one game against each team. In event of tie at end, regular season record is Champ.

Staying with Lager and Stout Conferences – 25+ and 40+ for next season. Jeff Dennings will be back at registration table.

I didn’t have a chance to laser the Stanley Pints. I dug them up and I’m down to 19 in stock. I’ll have them at the rink to distribute but I’m out of town until April 7th.

Ref cost and ice cost is going up. I’m going to try to hold the cost the same. There will be penalties for late payments from teams.

Have fun and no injuries!

See you on the ice soon I hope.

Commish Dave

EHL Playoffs

Sunday Early Hockey League

This league was formed in 2015 by and for hockey players.

The reasons we formed the league were as follows:

1) Better scheduling than Polar Palace provided. We now get a schedule that rarely changes for the season.

2) Better control on eliminating problem players.

3) Consistent prizes and group buy-in on the goal for fun and exercise.

Things that went wrong this season:

Well, the schedule got wonky with COVID.

Jeff Dennings wasn’t able to help this season due to health concerns. Our league fee collection process changed and it put all the burden on managers to work with players.

We didn’t have the parity in the Conferences as we like.

The 40+ Stout Conference has one team dominating but I don’t hear too much whining. Just the normal whiners.

The 25+ Lager Conference fell apart. We lost one team for certain and I suspect three more teams are likely leaving. Way too much emotion was brought to the rink.

Next Season

I’m hoping that Jeff can help next season, but it isn’t certain yet. With or without Jeff the money collection is going to be tighter again. I plan to move up all dates and enforce the rules to remove teams from the league who can’t get it together. I hate bookkeeping and simply do not have the time or interest to collect money all season.

A new league management system will likely be selected for use next season. The finance part of Hockey Community doesn’t work for either the players or me as I would like. I’m told that Sports Engine works well for GFHA. I’ll be doing some research. Let me know if you have a solution.

We grew the league from four teams to twelve in six seasons. I’m ok with scaling back. My goal was to hit 16 so we had eight in each Conference. Playoff schedules and variety are better with that number of teams. I’m ok going backwards if it relieves stress.

Each March I get burned out on hockey drama. My goal is to have fun playing hockey with those who are in line with our goals. I’m actively removing stressful players from my hockey universe. I simply don’t have the patience anymore.

Let’s be respectful of the rink, other players and the tradition of ice hockey and finish this season in a fun and competitive way.

EHL Board Meeting

I’m calling an EHL Board meeting for either Saturday, March 20th at 4 PM or Sunday, March 21st at 4:30 pm. I expect a representative from each team to email, call or text with a preferred date and the final time will be set by majority vote.

Thank you for participating in the EHL.

See you on the ice!

Dave

Illegal Player Issue

Kidd Company player Brian Knack, #9 is under age for our league. I’m told his birthday is in April, but I’m also told that he will be 24 in April.

He is leading the league in points and has been an instigator of the trouble with his chirping.

It is the responsibility of the team manager to inform the players of the league bylaws and rules and keep them in line. Ray Markey is the Kidd Co manager. He pulled together this team for the season and it was communicated that any exceptions must be approved by the board.

A copy of Brian’s drivers license has not surfaced, so I’m assuming that he is under age. I don’t have proof one way or another yet.

Sorry guys, but let’s wrap this up with a quick motion and vote. Someone propose what we should do about this situation and lets vote on it.

Thanks,

Dave

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