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The Crease Vol #9
The 2006 Labatt Summer Sizzle is over. Lots of hurt feelings, angry teams, and Andy Setter just happy to have a beer with some friends at a hockey tournament. Yes, some of the player's behavior this weekend was shameful in my opinion! We quickly forgot the fact that adult hockey tournaments are about being with pals, drinking beer, and having a few laughs. I take responsibility for the two teams that were miss placed in the wrong divisions. It happened….and everyone needs to get past it now. Teams bailing out because of one tough team in their respective division? This is not a good sign we are remembering our hockey roots. I obviously need to sit down and make some rules changes so we don't have so many team jumpers. It's sad…the many tournaments I've been apart of, ALL the guys realize it's about the honor system. You come with one team you stay with that same team. Battling it out to the end with the same crew you start with is all part of why we still play the game. The team I play with made the championship game on Sunday. The team we faced in the championship game we beat 13-2 the first time we played them. They were short guys and they teamed up with another team and then beat us in that final game 9-4. (((SO WHAT!!!))) All weekend I heard a few teams cry it's not fair in the same situation, but we took the loss like men. It was a great game and hard fought, but nobody complained. Now I have to change that rule: ( any team can have anyone added to their roster at anytime, as long as they play one regular game before they play in the championship game ) because apparently it's not popular now even though we've had it in place for the past 5 tournaments. I don't want the spirit of the game to get out of sight for any future events we run at the JSBIA. I will adjust some rules and ways we do things to try and please everyone. Another topic, I want everyone to understand that different programs may have different skill levels. An “A” division team from Buffalo might be twice as skilled as an “A” team from Jamestown for example. This happens in every division and in programs all over the world. Again we are losing sight of why we play hockey in tournaments. Besides the beer and laughs, we are testing the new waters and making new connections with teams from different locations. I will try to research this better in the future but I'm not a scout and I do go on the captain's word what division his team should play in. Lastly, if teams want to play in our tournaments I do need a commitment sooner than a week before the event. This is how this tournament was flawed and I don't want it to happen again. I will set a deadline for final entries and if I have to cancel a division because I don't have enough teams then I will. I really feel by talking to all the players at the beer party on Saturday night we were successful in providing a good time for a lot of people. My apologies go out to the teams that were upset about the team balancing. I won't ever forget the very few people that had no class and made a scene in front of spectators. Those people, and you know who you are, will not be invited back to future events and will never understand the honor system in hockey, they are frauds!!! I want to thank everyone else for sticking by my side, both participants and JSBIA staff. This was a hard one for me. I take this very personal because hockey is a life long passion. I promise to everyone that had to suffer in a bad division I will make sure the teams are more balanced next time in the “B” and “C” and the rule changes are in place. Hey look on the bright side, our new bar is open, and we did establish a new tourney and a new reason to plan a hockey trip in the summer from now on. PLEASE, I need suggestions and comments on bettering our Summer Sizzle. E-mail me ASAP with feedback. Thanks again for reading. Remember any questions can be e-mailed to me at: sfadale@netsync.net or check the web site for updates www.jsbia.com
See you out on the ice! Shaun V. Fadale Hockey Director JSBIA (716) 484-2624 Ext. 217
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