MINUTES

In attendance:

Derek May, Cory May – Cowboys
Derek Lacroix – The Plugs
Blair Nowitsky – Shock N Awe
Brad Miller – Rockets
Don Taylor – Vice President
Doug Collins – President

Regrets:

Ken Mattice - Raiders

 

1)      Season Review and Forecast for 2019-20

a)      The RIHL welcomed the Shock and Awe to the league, restoring the league to 6 teams.  Unfortunately the longest standing team, the Blackhawks, were unable to compete effectively and had trouble getting players out. They struggled until the last month of the season before dropping out.  This is a huge loss to the RIHL and we really need to solve the ongoing problem of teams dropping out the bottom of the league. 

b)      Except for the Blackhawks issue, the League was extremely competitive and the final standings could not be tighter. With two games left in the regular season only 3 points separated 5^th place from 1^st place!

c)       As competitive as the play was, we did not have a single disciplinary item. In fact, we have not had a disciplinary hearing in the RIHL since 2015.  We should be proud of that.

d)      Having not been notified otherwise, we can assume that we will be entering the 2019-20 season with just 5 teams, however, as Ken Mattice is resigning as manager of the Raiders and with the absence of representation at the meeting there is some question.  Having fewer teams this puts pressure on the schedule and budget, but we’ve done it before without problem.

e)      The Playoff schedule will be a bit of an issue this season because Richmond is hosting the CARHA 2020 World Cup and ice time will not be available in the first week of April.  It was decided to start the season early on September 12^th and finish the first week in March. This should allow us to complete the season before the World Cup start. However, we will have to ask for some alterations to our contract to accommodate playoffs without the regular contract.

 

2)      Finances

a)      Financial Report

i)        Despite losing the Blackhawks late in the season, they had paid enough toward league fees to equal games played, so there was no real financial loss to the league in that regard.  Remaining teams played two extra games each and league fees covered the schedule.

ii)       League fees were reduced last season and we finished very close to our projections, closing the books with a small gain of $665.

iii)     The only real item of note on the financial statements is Awards Night at $1058 – nearly $800 more than usual.  This was largely due to a late season decision to partially cover the cost of the food and beer bill at the event. Awards Night was quite successful and the League can easily afford this gesture.

iv)     Also of note is an increase in cost for the website.  This was largely due to purchase of new scheduling software, however we may expect an increase in web hosting this season due to a change of hosting service.

v)       Also of interest, but not a surprise is an amount of $1400 that the Blackhawks could not pay.  But as stated earlier, this amount was covered by ice time taken back and so the team left without debt to the RIHL.

 

3)      Schedule and Fees

a)      Interrupted Schedule

i)        See 1 c) above

b)      League Fees

i)        The has been a slight increase in ice time costs this year (around 2%)

ii)       A full 28 game schedule, plus normal additional expenses would cost close to $9000 per team.  However, we have enough in contingency to take a loss and allow lower league fees.

(1)    It was approved that League Fees be set at a maximum $8000. This will likely cause a loss of over $4000, but will reduce the contingency back down to a mandated $8000 - $10,000 reserve.

(a)    Please note, in the event on any team failing, a 4 team league would cost $9500 to lose $6000.

 

 

4)      Officiating

a)      It is becoming increasing difficult to find and schedule officials for the RIHL.  We continue to lose referees due to verbal abuse – real or perceived.

b)      It may be necessary for convenience and availability to come up with a set schedule for referees. This would mean we would have 4 primary officials – a pair for Tuesdays and a pair for Thursdays, with a small roster of substitute officials as needed.

 

 

5)      Statistician

a)      The statistician is a paid position ($10 per game) and is currently (and conveniently) carried out by the president’s daughter, Danika Collins. While she is willing to continue the job, as there is a declared (but not problematic) conflict of interest.  No one has objections, so she will be asks to continue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6)      Application for Underage Players

i)        Underage applications are considered on an individual basis with league parity in the forefront.  With competition so close, there really should be no need to bring in younger players, and in fact it may be time to allow the league to age a bit.

ii)      The Rockets indicated they would like to add one underage player to there roster bythe name of Aaron Merick.  There was no opposition to this application.

 

 

7)      Playoffs & Awards Night

a)      As in the past, with 5 teams, a playoff system will be employed with the bottom two teams playing for final playoff position, with the 4^th place team granted the 1^st win in a best of three elimination series. Because the first game is awarded, a maximum of 2 games will be played.

b)      Having Awards night on the first night of Playoffs last season worked very well, so we should try to do that again.  However, it all depend on getting side by side ice times.

i)        The League agrees to subsidize the evening again.

ii)       There will be keeper trophies again.

 

8)      Rosters and Registration

a)      All players must be registered to play. Registration must include a roster listing the name, address, phone number, date of birth and optionally an email address.

b)      The online RIHL roster system is for convenience, however, we rely on the honour system when it comes to player registration and eligibility. Please refer to RIHL Rule 2 for maintaining your rosters.

 

 

9)      RIHL Rules

a)      The current RIHL rules are posted on our website.  However, it is important to note that while efforts are made to keep the rules up to date, that is not always the case.  At times, certain rules have been changed or added, but did not make it to the official RIHL Rulebook. These amendments would have been approved at a league meeting and recorded in the minutes. If at any time there is a variance in the RIHL Rule and RIHL Minutes, the minutes shall override the posted RIHL Rules.

b)      RIHL Rule 10 specifies that rules changes are best made prior to the start of the season.  There are no new rules proposed at this time.

 

10)   The was no other business and the meeting adjourned at 8:20pm