MINUTES

August 29, 2016

In attendance:

Derek May – Cowboys
Ken Mattice – Raiders
Ryan Dyck – Blackhawks
Brad Miller – Rockets
Mike Sznadel – Plugs
Don Taylor – Vice President
Doug Collins - President

 

1. Finances

·         The 2015-2016 RIHL season ended at close to breakeven.  While a profit may have been expected with the league fees charged, additional ice times and a longer 30 game season negated that possibility. However, the RIHL remains in good financial health and no league fee increase is necessary and in fact a reduction of team fees could be considered.

·         League Fees for the 2015-2016 season will remain unchanged this season, at $8500. Because we currently only have 5 teams, and likely a longer than normal schedule, it is expected that the RIHL will lose money this season.  That is easily manageable, and in fact preferred as we are currently exceeding our necessary reserves.

 

2. A Look at the 2016-2017 Season

·         5 teams are committed to return this season, but only one team have paid the required deposit.  $500 is required immediately.

·         We will continue to look for a 6^th team, but in the meantime, will go ahead with a 5 team schedule.

·         The Saturday ice time has been dropped due to poor attendance and difficulty in attracting referees in that slot.

·         Monday night has been dropped in favour of an 8:00pm Tuesday night ice time, granting us the long sort after back to back ice times.

·         Ice times will be Tuesday 8:00pm and 9:30pm and Thursday at 9:30pm.

3. Officiating

·         The move to coordinate our own officials in order to have more control over the quality of officials has proven to be a administrative burden. However, feedback indicates that officiating has improved significantly.

·         Dropping Saturday and adding back to back time slots should help with scheduling.

·         The League President expressed concern over the fact that some officials refuse to ref RIHL games, due to verbal abuse.  The high calibre of play is a challenge for some officials, but some players have demonstrated a lack disciplined and respect for the officials. There seems to be a culture of disrespect of officials among certain RIHL teams and this needs to change.  It is just a handful of players causing the problem, but we all contribute to it if we allow it to happen.  Leadership is required in this area.

 

 

4.       Cowboys Application for Underage Players

 

·         The Cowboys struggled all last season getting players out and the players that are showing up are becoming very discouraged.  To help alleviate the situation, they have made application for 3 new underage age players:

1.       David Savage, age 27

2.       Adam Basford, age 28

3.       Trevor Kutny, age 29

These players are brothers to players already on the team and will make the Cowboys unique with four sets of brothers on their team, in keeping with a very long history of being a family team.

 

This application, if successful, will give the Cowboys 6 underage players and is currently the only RIHL with players under age.

 

While all the teams expressed interest in helping with the survival of the Cowboys, there is concern that the Raiders (now the oldest team) will have trouble competing.

The application was approved, with the Raiders indicating that they too will be seeking new younger players in order to survive.  All other teams are encouraged to recruit older as we move toward aging the league back toward over 35.

 

5.       RIHL Rules

 

·         From time to time it is necessary to review and update the RIHL special rules as posted on our website: http://www.rihl.ca/Rules2012.html  Rule 10 specifies that rules changes are best made prior to the start of the season.  Please review our current rules and consider any necessary changes. 

o   Rule 5 (b): We need to add verbiage to ensure that the 4^th place finishing team plays 2 meaningful games. Last season the 6^th place team secured the series in the first two games, making the 3^rd game of the round robin unnecessary. The scenario should favour the 4^th place team, therefore in a round robin, the 4^th place team should play the 1^st two games.

This rule was approved, however, with only 5 teams the play-off format will be different (likely a best of 3 for the bottom two teams).

 

o   Rule 9 (m): We currently do not have a suspension rule for a Gross Misconduct. 

A Gross Misconduct will carry an automatic 1 game suspension and a disciplinary hearing.

 

 

6. Other Business

·         Doug Collins announced that this would be his final season as President of the RIHL. He indicated that he is more than willing to continue to help out, but felt it would be in the best interest of the league if someone closer to the game play take over.

·         It is recommended that a 3 year term for presidency be established.

 

9. Adjournment               

·         Approximately 8:30pm