SCAHA MEETING

JANUARY 12, 2005

LAKEWOOD MALL MEETING ROOM

 

 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE PRESENT

Commissioner – Robert Doherty, Deputy Commissioner - Sandy Blumberg, Ace Coaching Coordinator – Larry Bruyere, Parliamentarian - Dave Contis, Associate Director – Larry Brislin, Associate Director – Rosemary Voulelikas, Associate Director at Large– Charlie Knotts, Financial Treasurer – Curt Castagna, Financial Secretary – Lori Boaz, Member Services – Wendy Goldstein, Ice Convener – Chris Carcerano, Statistician – Annie Fisher.

 

MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS PRESENT

Ducks, Red Wings, Lightning, Bears, Stars, Sun Devils, Wild, Jr. Ice Dogs, Jr. Kings, Maple Leafs, Gulls, Sabers, Mariners, Wolves, Blackhawks, Express, Dragons and Wave

 

MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS ABSENT

Riptide, Tigers, Jaguars, LA Hockey Club and Eagles.

 

Commissioner Robert Doherty called the meeting to order at 7:08 p.m.

 

MINUTES

The November minutes were distributed for review.  Larry Cahn noted that the minutes under Discipline meeting should be corrected to state  “ If a player touches a referee, it will carry a recommended 90 day suspension, instead of an automatic 90 days.”  Jerry Wilhite moved to accept the minutes as amended.  MOTION WAS SECONDED AND CARRIED.

 

GUEST

Bob introduced Ernie Prukner, Group Sales, Account Executive with the Los Angeles Angels Baseball organization. He distributed a handout explaining the Angels Fundraising program. He spoke to the board regarding fundraising possibilities by having one’s organization sell tickets to generate funds. He explained the cost savings in selling/purchasing group tickets and explained possible revenues generated from up to $15.00 per ticket sold.

 

COMMISSIONER REPORT

SCAHA Pre-Select Camp:

Bob reminded the board that the SCAHA Pre-Select Camp was mandated by CAHA and that it was never a line item in this year’s budget. Bob stated that we will need a motion to include this in the budget but tabled it until the Treasurer’s report.

 

Bob stated the SCAHA Pre-Select camp that occurred on January 8th and 9th went as well as expected considering SCAHA had a short time frame from which to put it together. He extended his heartfelt thanks to Larry Cahn, Laura Ryan, Larry Brislin, LeAnn Doherty and Charlie Knotts for all of their efforts, help and considerable amount of time they donated.

 

There were 18 forwards, 12 defensemen and 3 goalies selected from each age group along with alternates. SCAHA will not be sponsoring the $90 CAHA fee for those players selected to the CAHA Select Camp as they did last season. Bob advised that if a player does not remit the $90 CAHA fee in time, the player’s spot in the CAHA Select camp would be given away.

 

Discussion followed regarding the format for the SCAHA Pre-Select camp next season. Charlie Knotts volunteered to head up the committee to oversee the execution of the Pre-Select camp for next season. Larry Cahn suggested the camp should be a one day camp with 6 evaluators throughout the day. Bob suggested next year’s committee would review all possible formats and make its recommendations.

 

Bob informed the board that invitations to the Pre-Select camp were extended to the Saints as well as the Surfs this season. He also advised everyone that any stop payments issued on checks or any NSF checks would result in immediate placement on the league wide delinquency list.

 

SCAHA Playoffs:

Bob informed the board that SCAHA is looking for volunteers to be part of the SCAHA Playoff Committee.

 

Referee Issues:

Bob stated that all issues regarding the quality of officiating should be emailed to Bob who in turn will communicate it to James Parker.  This should include positive feedback as well.

 

North Valley Tigers:

Bob explained to the board that the North Valley Tigers appealed to CAHA and CAHA ruled against them, upholding SCAHA’s decision. CAHA did advise them that they had legal rights to appeal to USA Hockey should they wish to.

 

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER REPORT

Sandy Blumberg explained the SCAHA Playoff Eligibility Rule 34.09 to the board stating that during last year’s rule committee it was proposed and voted on by the SCAHA board to change the number of regular season league games to 10 games from the 6 games of previous seasons. Wendy explained that the rule changed in order to stop the movement of players from one team onto another team late in the season. The second team was usually a playoff bound team. By changing the rule to 10 league games it was felt that it would stop the addition of ‘last minute ringers” on a team.

 

Discussions’ followed regarding this season’s shortened calendar game schedule and how there were only 9 regular season game weekends left after the close of final roster. It was noted that some divisions even had possibly only 7 regular season games left. In addition it was stated that even if a player were added before 12/31/04 this season, he would still not be able to get his 10 games in with his team and thus be playoff ineligible. In the past, when there were 22 weekends of scheduled regular season games, players would be able to get their 10 games in and qualify for post season play. Curt Castagna motioned to amend the SCAHA Playoff Rule 34.09 for this season only because of the calendar year to require players to have played 6 regular season league games and 10 overall games in order to be playoff eligible. Jerry Wilhite seconded. 15 voted in favor, two voted against and one abstained. THE MOTION CARRIED.

 

TREASURER’S REPORT

SCAHA Pre-Select Camp:

Curt reviewed current financial statements as of January 12, 2005. He pointed out that in comparison between this year and last year at this same time the balance sheet shows a difference of  -9%. Curt also stated that this year’s Pre-select camp was never budgeted. The revenues generated were about $12,400 and the expenses were about $8,400 for a net income of about $4,000. Larri Woertler motioned to accept the SCAHA Pre-Select budget as a line item into the SCAHA budget and that $3,000 from the net income of the SCAHA Pre-Select is distributed to players, in other words SCAHA is to pay $60 of the CAHA Select fee for those players who advanced to the CAHA camp. LeAnn Doherty seconded. 16 voted in favor, and two abstained. THE MOTION CARRIED.

 

D & O Insurance:

Curt reviewed the mandated USA Hockey master policy for D & O insurance. He stated that CAHA, in fact all the affiliates are contracting insurance for all the member clubs within their jurisdiction. SCAHA is responsible to pay $15 per member club to CAHA. Curt requested a motion to approve payment of $345 for D & O Insurance to CAHA. Lisa England motioned and Nick Besheer seconded. 16 voted in favor and two abstained. THE MOTION CARRIED.

 

MEMBER SERVICES REPORT

Wendy informed the board that any coach who does not have the correct coaching certification level will be removed from the bench and the roster. She is in the process of verifying coaches at the Tier II level and A level since those rosters were closed on 12/31/04 and 1/7/05 respectively. She stated that she is in the process of receiving the Final ‘B’ rosters as their deadline is soon approaching -January 15, 2005, and will be verifying those coaches as well. She will be notifying clubs who have coaching certification issues to remove their coaches from their respective rosters. And finally, Wendy reminded the board that all outstanding fees must be paid before the start of playoffs.

 

ICE CONVENER REPORT

For teams that have scheduled games during the CAHA Select camp and have conflicts with players attending the camp they are to contact Chris Carcerano for possible re-scheduling of games. Chris stated that he would update Sportability with the re-scheduled games.

 

STATISTICIAN REPORT

Annie sent the team/club accumulated penalty minutes to the respective club statisticians. It represents the first half of the season. The total penalty minutes includes pre-season games as well as the regular season games. Penalties assessed in Tournaments are not included. Nick Besheer asked if the penalty minutes assessed in the exhibition games between the Las Vegas Outlaws and Girls’ teams were included. The answer was yes as they are part of the regularly scheduled league games.

 

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS REPORT

No report this month.

 

ACE COACHING COORDINATOR REPORT

Larry Bruyere reiterated that coaches who are not certified at the proper levels would lose their coaches eligibility for playoffs.

 

NEW BUSINESS

Scholarships:

Scholarships were distributed to the respective club presidents to forward to the awardees. Bob stated that next year he proposes to add the money collected from parent fines to the scholarship fund.

 

Bob inquired about the Carmen Starr scholarship and suggested that maybe it could be awarded for aged out players going to college. Larri Woertler stated that she needed volunteers to be part of the committee. Lisa England, Laura Ryan, Rosemary Voulelikas, Curt Castagna and Larry Brislin volunteered. Larri to set up a committee meeting in the near future.

 

San Diego Ice Arena’s Petition to Join SCAHA:

Bob Doherty confirmed that there was sufficient voting club representatives present to make a quorum. In addition he stated that three of the absent club presidents had voted via email. The total number of votes will be 21 votes. For a motion to pass it would require a 2/3 vote in favor.

 

Philip Linssen, President of SDIA, and David Peterson, Peewee A coach for SDIA presented their request to the board to be accepted as new members of SCAHA. They distributed a handout outlining the club’s mission, board of directors, structure, etc. for the SCAHA board to review. Philip stated that their club has been in existence for a long time. He stated that they were members of SCAHA many years ago. They are currently members of CAHA. David stated that presently the club fields tournament teams from their in-house program. The tournament teams comprise of one Mite team, two Squirt teams, one Peewee team and one Midget team. The tournament teams are formed for their more skilled players. Their in-house program currently has four Peewee teams and five Squirt teams for a total of 150 players. Their in-house program is aimed at beginners and focuses on developmental hockey. They believe they have a lot to offer SCAHA with regards to new players and their philosophy is based on the players having fun while learning to play hockey. David stated they were aiming to field 5 or 6 teams if admitted to SCAHA.

 

Discussions followed and questions were raised regarding whether or not they knew what the numbers were for players participating with other travel clubs while participating in their in-house and/or tournament teams. They were not able to answer the question because they do not have that information available to them. David stated that he realized there was opposition to their joining but went on to explain that their program was different than that of the Jaguars in that the Jaguars have no in-house program and the Jr. Gulls’ philosophy is different from theirs.  Bob thanked them and excused them from the meeting.

 

The board continued with their discussion. Other concerns raised by the board regarded officiating. A re-occurring concern was regarding the actual amount of new players that SDIA would bring to SCAHA. Many board members felt that the actual numbers were fewer that what was presented, suggesting that many of the players enrolled in their in-house program and/or tournament teams already play travel hockey with other clubs. Bob Driffill motioned to hold a closed ballot. Curt Castagna seconded. 17 voted in favor and two abstained. THE MOTION CARRIED.

 

Bob Doherty motioned to accept SDIA’s petition for SCAHA membership for the 2005 – 2006 season. Votes were cast and ballots counted. 7 voted in favor, 13 voted against and one abstained. THE MOTION WAS SECONDED AND DID NOT CARRY.  SDIA was denied membership.

 

Next meeting is February 9th, 2005.

 

Meeting adjourned 9:08 pm.