Minutes of CSHL General Meeting, Sept 13 2005

Absent Programs: Canton-Akron, Cleveland Barons, Columbus Capitals, Columbus Chill, CYHA Panthers, Gilmour, Harborcreek, Ohio Flames and Tri-County

Absent Board Members: Barry Lulas and Ron Short

Motion to approve minutes of General Meeting of August 23, 2005 by Dee Trobentor. Second by BettyAnn Maulorico. All in favor, motion passed.

Initial Team Ladder Placements were distributed. Preseason opponents and team schedules are being prepared and will be handed out to coaches on Saturday, September 17. Each team in Squirt, Peewee and Bantam age groups will have 8 games, Mites will play 6 games. Midget teams will contact each other by phone or email to schedule preseason games and are not required to attend on Saturday.

Coaches will review their schedule, any corrections or changes can be made on site with the other team. A listing of unused ice being returned to the team will be included. Additional preseason games may be scheduled on Saturday as well. This is beneficial for a team that feels that their ranking may not be accurate, playing a game or two against teams in their preferred placement will help determine that. All games scheduled on Saturday will be assigned a league game number, will count towards the RPI rankings, and will have referees assigned by the league. Programs will be billed for the cost of the referees, officials do not need to be paid in cash at the game.

The entire preseason schedule will be posted on the website as soon as possible. We have worked through many of the difficulties experienced last season and expect to have the schedule online Monday, September 19. Teams will have a 10-day free change period following Saturday’s scheduling session. Coaches must contact their opponent and each team must agree to the change before it is submitted. Program Directors do not need to approve the change but coaches should inform their program director or ice scheduler so that they are aware of the change. The free change period expires at midnight on Tuesday, September 27.

For changes submitted after the expiration of the free change period: again requesting team must contact their opponent; opponent and their head of program must agree to the change; the team requesting the change will be assessed a $100 per game change fee; the head of the program of the requesting team must submit the change.

A game change form to be submitted via the league website is under construction. Details on how to submit a game change will be discussed at Saturday’s scheduling meeting.

Each program must pay a $150 per team scheduling deposit. One check covering the fee for all teams in the program is preferred. Check may be mailed to the league treasurer or can be brought to Saturday’s scheduling sessions.

Cathy Fievet, USA Hockey Associate Registrar will be accepting team application forms at Saturday’s session and will have USA Hockey Rule Books and Annual Guides for distribution. Teams playing in preseason tournaments will also need to have their official team rosters certified by Cathy prior to participation. Official certified team rosters are not required by the CSHL to participate in league preseason play, but the earlier the team can finalize their roster the better. Rosters are required for regular season league play.

Team contact information will be collected during the scheduling sessions and will be added to the website as soon as possible, should be up by Monday, September 19. The generic version of the team manager guide will be distributed to the teams via their email contact, as well as other pertinent league information throughout the season.

Committee Reports: Coach and Referee Section. John Stojak reminded programs that he is available to attend their coach meetings to address issues between coaches, referees, playing situations, etc. There is an excellent website available through a local program that describes in detail referee game preparation, professionalism, expectations from both referees and coaches for proper conduct and much more valuable information. See John after the meeting for the website address. For referee and coaching clinics times and date please refer to midamhockey.com. Referee clinic information is also available through a link on cshlhockey.org. Don Lewis expressed concern that the coaching clinics are all being held too early in the season or conflict with other tournament or league dates, coaches may not be able to attend sessions.

Joe Walkush asked program directors to remind coaches that goal differential is part of the factoring process in determining RPI ranking. While teams are not encouraged to run up scores (more than a 4-1/2 goal differential has no statistical advantage) an 8-3 loss is better than a 8-2 loss.

Motion to adjourn by Betty Ann Maulorico. Second by Dee Trobentor. All in favor, meeting adjourned.