Fellow hockey enthusiasts

We are just over two weeks away from the start of the 2022 season.

This week has brought some surprises and caused some sleepless nights making tough decisions.

Our struggle began when Hurley backed out to skate Wednesday nights. Lockhart then decided to back out because they didn’t want to skate against Frozen Wings.

Work began to recruit teams into the league or form a new team from free agents.

The challenge with the free agent team is the talent pool to create a competitive team. As I’ve learned in running the weekly skates the weakest skaters have as much effect on the teams’ competitiveness as the best skaters. The free agent team was going to struggle to win a game.

Michelle from the rink was wanting one of my sheets back and the pressure was on. Would we have four or five teams?

Also, the 40 A league was at five teams and she suggested that we might bring a team from there to our league to balance things out. I didn’t see that as a good plan.

Just this week Tim Jankowski approached me to bring much of the Old Fokkers team back into the league. Their roster is strong and should compete well with the rest of the teams.

That changed things. All of the teams’ rosters looked competitive. Even the Marauder’s lineup looked good and they had great confidence in their goalie.

As most of you know, Jeff Rouse has helped over the years with my weekly skate. He approached me to come back into the league with a revised roster to better suit the 40 B league. He has a few skaters who have been off the ice for over a decade. They still have a strong lineup and we now have six teams ready to compete in the fall.

The challenge is that we have about eight players left out in the wind and team rosters are full to over full.

Should a seventh team appear we could build the eight, but I’d have a tough time finding the ice time as the rink is quite busy.

I apologize to the free agents for not finding a place for them. Big thanks to Rich Jolly and Michael Williams for offering to run the new team. Unfortunately, we don’t have a spot now.

That is the update.

The team managers’ meeting will be at 3 pm on Sunday 18^th in Skaters Bar. We will review rosters and discuss options.

One option would be to go to seven teams which creates a bye-week and extends the season duration to get the 25 games in.

Let me know what you think. This is going to be some competitive hockey this season.

Keep your head up and stick on the ice.

Fellow hockey enthusiast

It is my pleasure to introduce the 2022 through 2023 Eclectic Hockey League Season.

Our first games will be held on September 25^th. We have game times of 10 am, 11:15, and 12:30 pm.

Teams committed are Budtenders, Gooners Dogs, Marauders, and Frozen Wings. A fifth team is being built and we are considering dropping the age to 35 to bring in the sixth team.

Frozen Wings won’t be as dominant as the last few years due to changes in their roster to adapt to our league.

Should we not get to six teams we will drop a sheet and have a by-week with five teams on the schedule.

Jeff Dennings is back at the registration table. We are sourcing some performance-enhancing products at the table – nothing too scary like Russian gas?  Some electrolyte hydration and topical pain relief.

Since the start of the EHL in 2015, the costs have gone up over 20%. The team fee this season is $5,350 with a $100 back if paid before the mid-December deadline.

We will be registered through USA Hockey this season. You will need to get your USA Hockey number for the fall season. You can register now.

Please visit Gears dot Beer forward slash EHL to make a payment and to get any updates.

I’ve rented the ice from 1 to 2 pm on Sunday the 18^th with a meeting and networking afterward. Come join the fun. Those who make an initial ice time payment will skate free.

A big thanks to Cooper Goalie – Charles Partridge for printing some cool EHL decals for our cars. They will be available on the 25^th.

Last item. I’m ordering a few jerseys and socks from Just Hockey Jerseys. If you want some cool hemp socks or a jersey, order on Gears.beer.

Looking forward to seeing you on the ice!

Keep your head up!

Sponsorship Help

Just Hockey Jerseys is offering fully sublimated jerseys for only $35 each. Add sponsor logos to your design and offset the cost of new jerseys. Socks are fully sublimated also for just $12.50 each with team jersey order.

Visit JustHockeyJerseys.com for details. Early orders are entered in a chance to get a 50% discount on their order!

A sponsorship form for use to help raise funds for your team is linked below.

Highlights of the Season

Thanks to Frozen Wings, we had an even six teams in this season. Ideally, we would have eight teams. Help get the word out for next season.

A big thanks to the team managers. It takes time, patience and money to run a hockey team. Ty Burt, Chris Green, Greg Dufour, Tom Hutchings, Mike Mays and Eric Schauwecker. The league fees were paid on time this season and all was paid for the first time since inception in 2015. Great work guys!

The play wasn’t always in parity. If I had a magic wand, I’d remix Frozen Wings, Marauders and Hurly Phantom into three new teams. Then we would have six with parity. What do you think?

Some suggest that we switch to a draft league so we build parity into all teams.

Something for the board to discuss, again. 

Frozen Wings will be the 21/22 champs. If Gooners Dogs beats Frozen and Budtenders loses the goals point spread could move Gooners into second place. The rankings are points, goal difference (GF – GA), and goals for in that order.

The EHL Prizes

St Paulie Girl Prize: Drawing on March 27th for $50. Over 40 players are eligble to draw a card due to no penalty minutes during the regular season.

The Guzzler Prize: Congratulations Kevin Byrne of Frozen Wings with 46 points (23 goals, 23 assists). Mark Vansaw won the 20/21 season Guzzler Prize with 71 points (40 goals, 31 assists) for the season. 

Tallboy Prize: The goalie with the most shutouts was Rick Erickson of Frozen Wings. He wins $50.

Stanley Pints: The Stanley Pints will be at the rink to hand to the league champs!

See you in Skaters Bar after the games on Sunday!

Dave