May 30 - Friday night and it has been a long week so not a lot of energy for blogging tonight. My material will also be pretty weak.

If the weather is decent, I may go see our Oakville OMBA Minor Peewees play in their tournament. I think this would be the first minor baseball game I have been at since I coached Shaun on the OMBA Select Junior team (20-21 year olds) - about 8 years ago coincidentally. That was one of my best coaching experiences - not because we were big winners (we actually were not), but because I had a great group of dedicated young men who loved playing ball - I was just along for the ride and to yell at the umpires when they let me - they coached me but we had fun. I wonder if part of it was that most parents never came out to "spectate"?? With a 12 man roster we were never short for a nine man line-up. We did however have some interesting pitching challenges. A belated thanks to those guys for a lot of fun - especially David Alphabet - some stories!

For you Little League guys - I'm not playing favourites - We just have someone we promised to watch.

The hockey from is apparently relatively quiet. I suspect most are out getting their "who me"? teflon suits ready for next Tuesday's initial board meeting. I hope it's a good one.

However,  I did get some interesting calls from Tom Leathong and John Jones of the OMHA. Relax - these calls WERE NOT MOHAgate related but were "verrry interesting" as Arte Johnson would say. More on this later.

Today being May 30th - a hot tip for anyone who has not registered yet. It will cost you an extra $50 bucks next week so I would suggest you sneak it into the mail slot before then.

I hope I have not crossed my "won't have a thing to do with them " bounds but it was nice to see another association contacted me for information on how we (Oops - the former we) run our Timbits

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May 29 - Doom and Gloom - my Wings lost (and deserved to).

Moving on - Us bloggers need to stick together. It is a way to boost the hit counts on our sites, attract big bucks national advertisers and assist in inflating our already unsupportable egos. Therefore, if you want some broader scale entertainment click here to visit Gerry Arnold's site. It should be required reading as he is not nearly as narrow minded as I am.

I see we also share an interest in the literature around mountain climbing and especially Mt. Everest that has been in the news quite a bit lately with a 20 year old young lady from Barrie having become the youngest Canadian to summit. I have read the books he mentioned and they are fascinating reading, especially the commentary around what clearly was "life and death" decision making. I can relate to that as many years ago I lost a nephew in a climbing accident and it makes you ask yourself why!

As a parent when your boys go "climbing" which has been a fad, or bought a motorcycle - what do you do - been there, done that and fortunately (touch wood) have survived it.

A week has passed since MOHAgate and I have been on the receiving end of a lot of content (mostly positive and supportive and I thank you for that). Oh yea - and a job offer!

There have also been some suggesting that I am being bitter, petty, vindictive, self serving, hurtful - add whatever to list. - which is not surprising. As readers and for those of you who are MOHA members, you can make up your own mind.

 A couple of the messages that have been provided to me suggest the major dissidents are already looking to collect - pun intended. What I do or don't hear from now on will be interesting as I am clearly out of the direct loop.

I have had some suggestions that I use this space to address questions brought forward to me based on what I either know or my opinion based on my past experience.

I am happy to do this and will respond as best I can to any question asked but with a couple of rules:

1. I do not respond to anonymous notes or clever pseudonyms. That is the cowards way out.

2. I will not ID you or pass your concern on blind to someone so they can "get you".

3. If I can't respond I will try to let you know and finally

4. With a few notable exceptions, I am not into character assassination.

Send your questions to: Wayne@minorhockeyfan.com

At the risk of inciting a domestic incident I would also like to make a pre-emptive strike on a situation. As many of you may know, for several years, my wife Jane has worked part-time in the MOHA Office as assistant administrator primarily helping on the House League administration side. 3,600 players is a big number and requires a lot of care and feeding. As a Board and Executive member, I had no input in the association's decision to bring her on board, made it a point to both declare any office discussion as a conflict of interest for me and personally stayed out of office issues.

Those of you who have had any dealings with her in the office can attest to the type of job she does. She is still there doing her job and contrary to popular belief -  I AM NOT USING HER TO SPY.

Unfortunately in situations like this, collateral damage seems to be the norm, not the exception. Makes for a great environment!

For those of you who know Jane, when she sees this, besides looking for a new hobby, I will likely also be looking for a new place to live!

Time to go pack.

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May 28 – There’s a Wing’s game tonight so I will get this out of the way early so I can watch the game. It’s nice to have the time to do that but I better not let some people know or there will be a new and larger job jar appearing in the Moorehead household.

Which reminds me, I had told folks I had mixed emotions about this Stanley Cup series. As a Wings fan for the last 106 years through thick and thin it is a pleasure to watch how they play.

However, I had looked at Pittsburgh as an up and coming team with some undeniably great young talent. Having met Sidney Crosby several times via Tim Horton’s, I was impressed with his attitude and behaviour with the Timbits and wished him well.

BUT NO MORE for the Penguins.

Watching Monday’s game, my take on what I saw as the deliberate “head hunting” on Franzen was a truly classless act – not once, not twice but ?? times. For those of you not attuned to the Pro Hockey world, Franzen had just returned after missing a number of games with "concussion like" symptoms. Yes it is professional hockey, yes they make big bucks but yes they should pretend to behave in a civilized manner.

Having said that, I must apologize for my remark in yesterday’s blog about priorities.

As any good military strategist will tell you, a primary objective in any campaign is to disrupt, destroy or seize the opponent’s communication assets.  Therefore the events of the last couple of days should have been anticipated – silly me.

My beef should be with my ISP who allowed someone else to talk their way into accessing my account. And we wonder how identity theft happens!

By the way, once they realized what had happened they were all over me on a service level basis to “fix” things.

So far my “FORUM” idea has been a bust. A number of folks have checked it out or even registered but no one seems to want to break the ice and create a topic or thread I guess “sensitivity” runs deep. Maybe I’ll do what seems to be popular, go to hotmail, create an anonymous email address and use that to create some hysterically controversial topic and post inflammatory content. Naw! – that’s already been done.

Maybe I’ll just dump the forum.

Let me know what you think – Wayne@minorhockeyfan.com – and no, contrary to public comment I will not use your name or mount a reprisal against you.

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May 27 – For whatever reasons I seem to have had some web stress regarding access and uploads.
Here is where one ponders about conspiracies! – except under further investigation it turns out the new leadership was busy screwing up the internet web account I had setup and maintained for the last several years such that I could not access either my own site or arrange the turnover of MOHA’s site.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to make numerous phone calls and spend support time with the tech folks because you either a) don’t trust me or b) couldn’t wait to get your fingers in the pie - I really enjoyed the quality time
Guess this is an example of priorities.
However, after all this unnecessary aggravation, I am back up and running so my May 26 and May 27 posts are going up together – you really should read them in sequence sorta like watching West Wing episodes.
My resignation has generated some conversation and furor and that is a good thing. I hear that opposition is supposed to be positive, rumour even has it our parliamentary system and democracy is based on it.
Interestingly, in a "spanking" email what has been clearly pointed out to me is that I lost the election. Thanks for the news flash. I had almost figured that out on my own.
In very pontifical prose we have all been admonished for our behaviour and informed that it is now time for us to act like adults, put our differences behind us and remember that minor hockey is for the kids! Hmmmmm!
Let’s see if I have this right:

now we have to act like adults as apparently that was not necessary before – prior years, last season, the AGM, the election. . . .
put our differences behind us – I hope that doesn’t mean I am supposed to change my values
and now minor hockey is for the kids – it wasn't before? what a news flash!

A philosopher (I think) once said something like “he who wins the war (insert election here) gets to write the history”.
Let me tell you the scribes are very, very busy!
You guys should ask for the email, it’s a dandy.
And, by the way, here’s another older but goodie – people who live in glass houses should’nt throw stones – ricochets are dangerous.
I hate to say it but I am almost enjoying this and that’s a sad statement on the state of affairs.

Stay tuned for another exciting episode of Peyton Place.

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May 26 - So sports fans - Here is the "more later" - My resignation letter to MOHA as a "director". To quote the former vernacular "I'm done like dinner".

Text of letter:

I had delayed this letter pending the result of the “director” vote to determine the context. Interesting that I was only one vote away from being “bounced” as a director as well. That being the mind-set, let me make things clear.

This letter is directed to the Secretary of the organization (whoever that is) and pursuant to the Bylaw serves as my resignation from the Board of the Minor Oaks Hockey Association Inc. You may now reinstate Marshall without another Bylaw issue (shame on you for allowing that to happen).

Over the years I have done my best to serve our young people with integrity and impartiality, making often difficult decisions that have cost me friendships and now my position with this organization. Frankly, I deeply resent the implications otherwise and suggest they accurately reflect the character of those making the insinuations.

I am proud of and not apologetic for anything that I have done over my tenure. My decisions were always based on what I believed was right for the organization as a whole and not for personal favourites or cliques.

I have always made my position clear and been upfront with individuals whether they liked to hear it or not, or whether they liked the decision or not. I would be hypocritical if I acted any differently now.

It is unfortunate that the selfish actions of a few individuals have in my opinion jeopardized the reputation and future of this organization. Their motivation was clear and it was not to serve the best interests of our participants. 

On a go forward basis, I will not be part of, nor support their actions, nor be part of a directorate that does not share my values and where for many, personal agendas and vindictiveness have become the primary focus for participation and decision making.

While this will come across to, and offend many of you as “sour grapes” – so be it. You each know who it applies to. Time and actions will tell the tale. The losers here stand to be 4,100+ young people and the “real” volunteers. That is truly unfortunate.

I would encourage each of you to take a hard look at what is going on, let alone what I understand is in the works, and come to your own conclusions. You will be making the decisions going forward. Try to make the right ones. At this point my opinion no longer matters.

Just so there is no surprise, I will be posting my resignation on my site as once again I do not hide from or avoid issues.

I am sure this will generate discussion pro and con, but at the end of the day it is my decision made for my reasons - I think the letter makes that point. 

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May 24 - Still not ready for the "more later" May 22 comment. A number of you have called and emailed with kind words etc.., for me and about the "coup" and I thank you for that.

As the day continues, I have updated this site, stripped myself of all titles and established a new hockey email for folks to use. It is actually two. one for this site Wayne@minorhockeyfan.com that redirects to minorhockeyfan@cogeco.ca Either will reach me. I will not be using the vphl address anymore for obvious reasons.

Please update your files accordingly.

I am also phutzing around with a FORUM linked to this site with moi as the administrator / moderator / censor. Let's see how that works. Based on what I have seen and been the target of on other FORUMS, this could be short lived Entertainment.

May 22 - The election is over and I have been turfed.

For those of you kind enough to come out and support me, thank you for your efforts.

I have enjoyed the accomplishments we have managed together over the past 8 years and am proud to count many of you among my friends.

For the rest - draw your own conclusions.

While I am not much in the mood for quotes this evening, I will paraphrase -  "Be careful what you ask for because you just got it".

More later.

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May 21 -

Twas the night before voting

And all through the league

Not a parent was stirring

As they plotted intrigue.

As my last pre AGM blog there is not a lot to add, other than I have been banned from my SMTP mail server for 24 hours for having exceeded their send "limit" - wait till the rest of the family finds out!

Called Cogeco - explained the situation and they "can't" (read won't) lift it.

I guess it's OK to stream video at multiple the bandwidth instead of sending some text emails - but it is still OK to use my Web Mail with them - go figure!

Isn't technology wonderful.

In my email which may or may not have gotten through I encouraged folks to not let complacency fool them.

As I said it's easy to sit back "fat and happy" and expect everything to work out without any effort on your part

The next thing you hear is "What Happened"?

If you appreciate what my team has accomplished for Oakville Minor Hockey over the past 8 years, all I ask is that you come out tomorrow night and vote - FOR ME!

Otherwise, sit back, relax and don't ask "What Happened!

Hopefully I will see you tomorrow night.

Holy Trinity School

6th Line - beside River Oaks Arena.

7:30 PM.

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May 20 – I hear business is picking up in the proxy hunt. Hopefully it is my guys too and not just the “anti Wayne” coalition.

A couple of questions have come in that I will give a quick response here but I would be happy to discuss in more detail. The “referee issue” keeps circulating and is a very long and complicated topic. Clearly I, as well as a few others in the “clique” have been targeted as the bad guys. There is nothing I can do about that at this point except answer the question as I have below. For those of you who get the obscure reference “someday grasshopper – you will understand”. Anyway, here are the two questions (they came in signed but I am not ID'ing the source)

What direction do you feel MOHA should take in regards to the Referee situation which developed last year?

The direction MOHA should take is the one that provides us with quality referees, who are fairly paid and well managed on behalf of our members. Whether they are operated as an association or as part of our structure as in the past should not matter and I don’t care as long as “we” the members, get what we need. There has been and still is a lot of “arena gossip”, misinformation and speculation floating around about what did or did not happen, who did or did not do or say what and accusations that have created a lot of ill will throughout the community. The current Executive has been working towards a fair and equitable solution, including through OMHA third parties and have chosen not to negotiate at the rink. This is not the time and place to try to go through the “whole” thing but as per usual don’t believe everything you hear.

“How do you feel about the structure on how our house league selects teams? Do you feel this is the best way to do it”?

Yes I do until we find a better one!

I believe our current process is a good one – evaluations for the young age groups and draft for the older. However there is always room to improve. If we have good information available to all coaches in the draft ages and they all try to pick the “best” team, on an informed basis with open dialogue then we should end up fairly well balanced. A number of other ways have been suggested and considered over the years but the conclusion has been that we haven’t found a better way. One thing to keep in mind is that it really is up to the coaches to make things work and cooperate – you can’t legislate cooperation, honesty and integrity. I believe that our senior convenors and convenors try very hard to provide balanced leagues and to a large extent depend on the support and input of all coaches to make it happen.

If you have any ideas that you would like to discuss with the House League committee you should bring them forward. As an example, our plan this year is to try to get some additional “earlier” ice so that we can run a two phase white draft like the current red draft to give white and blue coaches a better on-ice opportunity to consider players.

With that out of the way back to some good stuff.

My Red Wings remembered how to play hockey, at least for two periods and that was more than enough. Now my problem is the final ‘cause I really like Pittsburgh. Having met Sidney Crosby a few times in the Timbit commercial shoots he is a nice guy and was really good with the kids. The Penguins also have an exciting young club. Should not be a problem since I can apparently talk out of both sides of my face so I should have no trouble cheering the same way.

Team Canada – I HATE THAT STUPID DELAY OF GAME PENALTY. Is that how anyone really wants to win or lose. “accidentally” clear the puck over the glass – 2 minutes – lose gold medal. Take a running start at someone from 90 feet away - drive their face through the glass – nothing. Yup – makes `sense to me (and NO - that was not a shot at the referees).

Guess as a “fan” suggested I am a dinosaur.

Tuesday night – two days to go – GET OUT AND VOTE!

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May 18 - Earlier I had suggested that you read through Keith's cr4edendials. With his withdrawal from the election, his information has been removed form MOHA's web site. For those of you who did not get a chance to read it and have an interest, I have posted it on my site on my Q&A page since I have lots of space there.

In case you have not figured it out, I supported (and continue to support) Keith and am disappointed in how things have played out.

It is always difficult for an incumbent, especially in the Town Rep role as he or she is burdened with the fallout of all the decisions they have made during their term. Decisions that are often not popular with individuals come back to haunt them as those individuals then become vocal in their support of someone else who has not "ruled against them" - YET!

Our association has just come off of the most successful season we have ever had and yet the knives were out- that's unfortunate as who knows what the situation will be going forward. Again my opinion - but I will tell you where I stand.

My interesting e-mail of the day - in response to an e-mail I sent out encouraging folks to support me I got a response suggesting that I, and fortunately all the other executive members and candidates running for executive roles were dinosaurs and should step aside to let younger people with more energy step up and take over!

Gee, I wonder where the line of younger, smarter volunteers were gathering to take over. I did not seem to see them. I guess they are afraid of us old dinosaurs.

By the way, the gentleman who sent the e-mail had the stones to sign it. Good for him as he is entitled to his opinion whether I share it or not and he did not hide behind the anonymous blind address.

Four days to go

As I write Canada and Russia are tied 2 - 2 after three and heading to overtime so I am off to be patriotic.

Hopefully Canada will do better than my Wings.

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May 16 - Too busy "campaigning" and getting my long week-end "to do" list together to work any serious "blogging" - nor was I in the mood for it.

Received an e-mail from Greg indicating Keith Murray has withdrawn as a candidate for Vice President, Town Rep. I have to think about what I want to say about that and I hope our Town Rep friends think about it as well. If you haven't already read it, you should read Kieth's election submission on MOHA's site and consider the credentials of the individual who has held this role for us, the "success" our teams have had and why he is withdrawing ? ? ?

More later.

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May 15 - It's 10:30 PM and our two Advance Polls are now closed. I forgot that we have our Timbit goalie equipment in the MOHA Convenor Room at River Oaks! - I hope it was not too crowded or smelly for anyone who showed up to vote!

It was not intentional - really!!

Imagine if it had been the older guys gear.

The balance of voting will take place at our AGM next Thursday at Holy Trinity School (beside River Oaks). I was over and voted tonight - I wonder who for! It will give me more time to talk to people next Thursday.

It was good to see a number of folks out voting and I hope we get a good turnout for the AGM.

To give you "keeners" a head start I have posted the "draft" of my AGM report for your reading pleasure.

It has once again been a busy and successful year wit "7 days to go" and then it is officially a new year.

However activity never stops as we met with Canlan this evening re 08/09 ice and finalized our initial HL uniform order.

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May 14 - Apparently according to the "Bloggers Book of Bloggery", I should have longer Blogs. Not likely to happen but thanks for sharing.

Elections in voluntary organizations are wonderful things!

They tend to bring out the best and unfortunately the worst in people - but maybe that can be a good thing.

Today was no exception. I saw an anonymous Email as probably did many of you, maligning a candidate.

Oh Well you say - but if that was not bad enough, the sender felt he/she had to drag a member of that individual's family into the "mudslinging" - very classy!

While I realize it is wishful thinking, it would be nice to approach elections similar to what we promote for our games - Cheer for someone, not against someone else.

And do it for the right reasons - Are they Committed, are they Competent and do they have the Capacity.

Gee - what a concept.

Our second advance poll is tomorrow night at River Oaks Arena from 6:00 to 9:00 PM.

Make sure and get out to vote - for the right candidate for the right reasons!

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May 13 - Missed a day! This may be more challenging than it seems. Tonight is our first Advance Poll. A number of folks are coming out to vote which is a good thing. Vote well - vote often. It is quite interesting what you see and hear and the dynamics at play! I am working on my report for next Thursday's AGM and will try to post a draft or the final here on the home page as a "sneak preview" for folks.

May 11 - I think I have finally managed to get this web setup properly on-line so that it is now "up for grabs" - I should have been a "propeller head".

Hockey is not over as I took a break to watch my Wings beat Dallas (without their leading scorer - the "Mule"). I guess the big question today is does Ribeiro get suspended for his slashing Match Penalty on Osgood?

May 10 - I have started this "blog", or what I think is a blog,  to provide a forum for me to respond (if I can) to questions or comments from members.

It may also provide an outlet for some thoughts back out to members - like, "think about what qualities and experience is important in leading our HL Program - but let's not get too contentious?

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