Sept. 30 - a short post this evening partially because I rambled on yesterday, partially because I now have to prepare my hockey pool lineups in advance of the season starting tomorrow and partially because I just don't have much to report.

FHP -- I'm still amazed by the quality and technology behind the automated sports pools that are available for free from a variety of sources. For our draft last night, we had four computers on the go with one of us drafting from each one. On each screen you could see the upcoming draft order, the countdown clock on the timing left for each selection, your queue of potential drafts, the complete list of who is available, who you had already drafted onto your team and each selection as it was made by other pool members. It is funny how "panic" can set in when you think you have your choice all lined up and the individual before you snaffles it. In our setup you then hit the 1:30 countdown timer and have to figure out your new move. I think the hour and a half or so that we take to pick our teams is probably the most fun of the year. Hopefully, I can maintain my championship as I also know the hassle I will take if I end up anywhere other than first.

Jimmy B -- done like dinner. In a perhaps not surprising move desert justice was meted out in the Arizona courtroom today. While neither bid was "accepted", Jimmy B had his dismissed with prejudice meaning that he cannot resubmit (or at least that's my interpretation). On one sound clip I saw it seems that he has accepted that he has lost this battle. Conversely, the NHL has not won either. While its bid was not dismissed with prejudice and therefore can be adjusted and resubmitted, the Coyotes are clearly a sinkhole in Glendale and even if they pick up the team, the NHL will be desperately looking for a way to unload it. You have to believe that means moving somewhere else or finding an idiot owner who does not care how much money he loses. Either way there will not be a transfer to Hamilton in the foreseeable future. Their only hope is that somebody is willing to pony up huge dollars on an expansion franchise with the Leafs permission -- can't see it happening.

Clearly the old boys network is breathing a sigh of relief (sucking on their oxygen bottles) as having dodged the bullet of having a filthy rich, opinionated, strong-willed individual with his own opinion in their club. The cartel can now go back to managing their oligopoly.

Nuclear power -- while Oakville reels under the decision to go ahead with the gas generating station in my neck of the woods, the Washington Capitals (remember they are a hockey team) are endorsing nuclear power on behalf of the Nuclear Energy Institute. That's a strange one.

Hurricane Hazel -- from the political front, turmoil rules in Mississauga as the unassailable Hurricane Hazel has created her own hurricane with a situation around a possible conflict of interest situation. As per this evenings Toronto Star it seems that the elderly mayor could face a judicial probe over her actions. After her years and years of accomplishments in profile it would be really too bad to have her reputation marred by something like this.

Tomorrow night -- drop the puck, the seasons on. It's too bad the NHL is so foolish as to send teams over Europe at this time of year which I really believe puts them at a disadvantage. Just because one of the teams happens to be my Red Wings, it doesn't matter as I just think it is unfair to the team and their fans and hockey in general to create this type of situation. What do you gain by having Chicago defeated by a Swedish league team?

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Sept 29 – If I have not mentioned it and, or, you have not noticed it, summer is gone, fall is here and it is dark and depressing when I get up in the morning and just about dark when I get home at night. It is that time of year and it did not take long for the days to visibly shorten-up.

What can happen – As a new hockey season kicks off, a word of caution to parents, volunteers and administrators. Be careful to respect the rights of everyone in the game and watch what you say or do. The consequences of your actions can be horrendous. It is very easy to “destroy” a reputation. It is virtually impossible to rebuild it. While no one is ever perfect (one notable exception – moi) a lot of the “complaints” that bubble to the surface in the hockey world are typically around perceptions of a player getting “unfair” treatment on a team – usually “ice time”. Too often these issues are not resolved by reasonable discussions by reasonable people but rather blow-up in raging battles that end up in the league “discipline hearing” milieu. In those sessions, words like harassment and abuse get tossed around without people really understanding what they are saying or implying, or where those “words” can lead.

The “Speak Out” program goes a long way in terms of positive education and situation awareness, avoidance training, but unfortunately most parents have no exposure to it. Simplistically, they do not understand what the legal requirements are for ALL parties when any situation that on the surface could be suspected of being harassment or abuse is brought forward or alleged. I know we used to formally take a “TV Time-out” in any session where the “words” came up and explain the consequences to all parties – i.e., that if they truly and, or reasonably believed that there were elements of “harassment” or “abuse” involved in the situation that was being adjudicated, then the meeting was over and that the accusations must be reported to the Halton Police or Children’s Aid Society for handling and, or investigation (as required by law) – which could lead to subsequent charges. It was amazing how often the nature of the discussion changed after that. If you think I am exaggerating, read up on the rules around harassment and abuse and decide for yourself who has what obligation. You may find it informative.

My trigger for this tirade is an article in today’s Star about the story of an Orillia man who “appears” to have been wrongfully convicted in 1993 of sexual assault and his current attempt 16 years later to clear his name. The “event” has had a huge impact on his life over the years. While not a hockey story, the considerations, cast of characters and actions could be easily translated – with the same final result.

The flip side is that if something is going on that is bothering you, bring it up, discuss it and hopefully deal with it before it festers and becomes a “bigger” problem.

So a la Hill Street Blues – “Be Careful Out There”!

The Grinch who stole Christmas – or the munibots looking to kill the dream. Anyone involved with trying to get municipal employees to change a schedule can understand this one. It seems that an apparent unwillingness to chew up 20 minutes of an “under-used” two hour public skating slot could kill a new minor league that a number of parties are trying to set up in Flemington Park to support 64 6 and 9 year old under privileged kids who would otherwise never get a chance to play hockey. Kudos to the Don Mills Civitans House League (notice it was HL that stepped up) for trying to provide ice. Equal kudos to  the police for coughing up $$ and coaches, to Canadian Tire Jump Start for providing equipment and to anyone else helping out here.  Read the Star article.

Brickbats to the autocrats who may kill this by being inflexible to the needs of these kids. 20 minutes out of one two hour session on Sunday! Give me a break.

Referees – it’s a disease. With all due respect to those "good" officials out there, it is unfortunate that others have a different agenda. Just caught a tidbit on the Waterloo Minor Hockey Association and Zebra Wars KW style. Seems MOHA wasn’t / isn’t the only one that has / had Zebra issues. We know what the MOHA solution was. Let’s hope Waterloo has a better fate and comes across as Wellington (not County – no pun intended) and not Napolean. There was a great quote about why Wilfrid Laurier had stopped using the Refs Association – but I have to find it again. I found it.

The refs association also suffered a blow in January when Wilfrid Laurier University turned to OWHA refs to work the remainder of their women’s games. Laurier athletic director Peter Baxter said WHRA officials who worked a Jan. 17 game were “unprofessional and disrespectful”.

Here is a link to the Waterloo Minor Hockey Association page that has some interesting info. WMHA Here is an older clip on the story from August.

Draft Stress – The FHP completed our draft tonight and I got Mr. Crazy *. I also gambled big time on a chemistry issue in San Jose and grabbed both Heatley and Thornton. This will either be great or I am toast. The rest of the squad changed the scoring rules to try to defeat me but we will see what happens – it is now more of a rotisserie pool with more category totals – not absolute “points” totals.

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Sept 28 – Training camps are basically over. The schedule starts this week. Rumour has it the Family Hockey Pool (FHP) goes tomorrow. Coaches helping coaches is over  so. . . It is now officially hockey season. I wonder if it is just coincidence or is it an omen that Toskala let in seven goals on only twenty-four shots. Maybe because it was pre-season he was trying out a new style – but I don’t think so. Does not auger well for the boys in blue. That’s OK, my guys are in red.

Polanski – so much for trusting those neutral Swiss guys. Besides breaking down their formerly top secret banking regulations they are now scooping up foreign nationals on outstanding warrants. Polanski’s goes back to the 70s when he fled the US to escape sentencing on sex charges. His claim for fleeing was that the judge (dead) had agreed to a plea deal and then gone back on it. Polanski has not been back in the US for over 30 years, not even to pick-up his Oscar for The Pianist. I think he is 79 years old, so chances are with all the court options likely available to avoid extradition it is a toss up as to whether Uncle Sam ever gets him back anyway. For those with long memories or a trivial bent, Polanski was the husband of Sharon Tate who was murdered by the Manson crew in the Tate – La Bianca Laural Canyon murders made famous as “Helter Skelter” in the book and movie. An “interesting” life this gentleman has had!

Peewee – and you thought Minor Midget was the important draft year! Wrong again. Apparently in the GTHL it is the Peewee year – or at least it seems that way according to an article in the Star. While somewhat propaganda for the Toronto Marlies team, you have to love the Lois quote “There will be scouts and other coaches watching their every move, assessing their possible potential in growth and skills.” No wonder parents put pressure on kids and yes I know this is AAA but this is minor hockey and these kids are 12 years old. The coach gets into it to suggesting that after their seventh game in three days that the players had “rubber legs”. Guess they haven’t been driven hard enough for a pre season tournament given they plan to play 80 to 95 games.

Monday Music – given that we are kicking off the hockey season, we will digress from the real music world and head into hockey songs making the classic Stompin’ Tom song our hit of the week.

The Hockey Song is a Canadian song, written and sung originally by Stompin' Tom Connors.

The song goes back to a 1973 album, Stompin' Tom and the Hockey Song, but did not do at all well. It became popular in  1992 when it was played at the Ottawa Senators games. Pat Burns, then coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs at the time brought it to Toronto. From there it has gone almost everywhere.

The song has been covered by many bands. One cover version was used in combination with Connors' recording as the theme song for the 1990s CTV series, Power Play. Another was used to open NHL broadcasts on CTV Sportsnet in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

In 2004, Conan O'Brien taped a week's worth of shows in Canada. During one of these telecasts, they brought  Connors on  to make one of his very limited American TV appearances.

The Hockey Song – Stompin’ Tom Connors

Hello out there we're on the air it's hockey night tonite

Tension grows the whistle blows-& the puck goes down the ice.

The goalie jumps and the players bump and the fans all go insane

Someone roars "Bobby scores!" at the good ole hockey game

 

Oh the good ole hockey game is the best game you can name

And the best game you can name is the good ole hockey game

2nd period:

Where players dash with skates aflash the home team trails behind

But they grab the puck and go bursting up and they're down across the line

They storm the crease like bumble bees they travel like a burning flame

We see them slide the puck inside -It's a "1-1" hockey game!

 

Oh the good ole hockey game is the best game you can name

And the best game you can name is the good ole hockey game

 

3rd period: last game in the playoffs, too...

Oh take me where the hockey players face off down the rink-

And the Stanley Cup is all filled up for the champs who win the drink-

Now the final flick of the hockey stick and a one gigantic scream-

The puck is in! The home team wins! The good ole hockey game!

 

Oh the good ole hockey game is the best game you can name

And the best game you can name is the good ole hockey game

 

Oh the good ole hockey game is the best game you can name

And the best game you can name is the good ole hockey game

 

Oh the good ole hockey game is the best game you can name

And the best game you can name is the good ole hockey game

 

He shoots he scores

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Sept 27 - I have been a little hit and miss with the site this week as it has been a very busy few days. After Thursday's down day at the office due to power problems, I managed to get things organized for my trip to Montréal which ultimately went off without a hitch. Regardless, those day trips are not really an effective use of time. Think about the totals. Half an hour if you're lucky to get to the airport, checking in an hour early for the flight to make all the munchkins happy, go through the obligatory 20 minute delay on the tarmac for a one-hour flight to Montréal. Get organized at the airport, head downtown for the one-hour meeting, debrief over lunch, try to fit in a couple of site visits, then back to the airport for the delay and subsequent one-hour flight back and then a half-hour home. Net net, I get to leave home at 6 AM, for a one-hour meeting in Montréal (where my French is a little suspect anyway) so that I can get home at nine o'clock for your basic 15 hour day. Meanwhile, I ended getting nothing done at the office so it backs up for the weekend. This is why when people say it's such fun to travel I just shake my head.

I did however find another great smoked meat location in Montréal (downtown) on Renée Levesque Boulevard without having to head off to Schwartz's and linr-up to fight both the customers and staff. There's a place called brisket right next door to the government building we were at (500 West).

Coaches helping coaches -- today was the 12th version of Tim Hortons coaches helping coaches at the ACC. I think of the 12 the only one I had missed was when they went to Ricoh for a year which I thought was a really dumb idea. It ended up so did a lot of other people. While these events are still interesting to go to, it seems that attendance is dropping off and, or, the content is not as rich as it used to be. Maybe I am biased, because I used to be part of the content was so fun of taking some of our Timbits down to demonstrate Oakville's initiation program. I don't know who had more fun, the kids, or the instructors.

It was nice to see a number of Oakville people there. For those I saw and had a chance to speak to, it was nice to see you. For those I saw and did not get a chance to speak to, sorry I missed the opportunity and hopefully I'll see you in the rinks. For those I didn't see and therefore didn't talk to you should've said hello. We did have some interesting conversations about this season.

I think the number quoted was about 800 people in attendance. I remember when we were presenting the crowd was somewhere north of 2,500. Clearly I was a big draw!

I think the fact that the marathon was being run today, that a lot of roads were closed off and traffic was apparently a mess impacted attendance. It's too bad, as I hope Tim Hortons doesn't get the wrong idea and scrub this event.

Ron Wilson was supposed to check out the session but was a no-show. Given that it was cut down the for the Leafs roster I suspect he had other more important things on his mind. Information on the Hockey Canada clinics, the stating and goaltending demonstrations were quite good but the Leafs practice was a bit of a write off. The good news was that Chris Dennis (video analyst) came out and fielded questions on a variety of topics and did a great job. After that, it was a bit of a fill in waiting for the Buffalo practice at which point I build was I waiting to see if Brian Burke was going to make closing remarks as carded.

For those of you who were there last year, you might remember that the OMHA announced that anyone attending the clinic would receive two points towards their recertification. Recognize that you need 20 points over three years to recertify so that the two points offered did not do much. This year Greg Schell announced that 0MHA volunteers attending would receive a full 10 points, the same as you would get for a deemed a clinic or one of the Hockey Canada skills clinics. In effect, half of what you need over three years to recertify. This is a good deal and if I had known about it earlier I would have had enough credit to avoid the evening episode on Speers Road. I will have to see what I need to do to make sure I bank these 10 points towards my next recertification.

Oh yes, I did get another whistle, lanyard and water bottle - whoppee!.

As a fun day two wrap up my weekend I got to go into the office to catch up on some of the critical stuff that got missed Thursday Friday and had to be ready for tomorrow.

Time for a little veg.

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Sept 24 - along the lines of never a dull moment, I got to sit at home today after heading to the GO station this morning I checked my crackberry and found that our office building had electrical issues such that the direction was "stay home". While I don't object to that approach, these things always happen at an inopportune time as I am off to Montréal tomorrow and my presentation decks along with my E. ticket are sitting on my desk. I could access my E. ticket remotely easily enough but it's a little hard to physically transport pieces of paper over the wires. However, we got it sorted out, I am meeting someone at the plane tomorrow who will have the goodies and away we go.

Bye-bye Great One -- opportunity I to comment on Gretzky yesterday based on his announcement today that he is stepping down from the Phoenix organization. Given that he was stranded in never never land, that was probably the only thing he could do since nobody seemed to be able to decide what to do with him, who he belonged to, or what his role should be. "Failure" has not been a term in Mr. Gretzky’s vocabulary for quite a while so it will be interesting to see where and how he resurfaces after this. I am sure there are a number of teams who will be lining up to figure out how they can get him on their masthead. It looks like Jimmy B. is continuing to turn up the heat on the boys club with the maneuvering is doing for the court as well as for Glendale. Clearly, there will not be a team in Hamilton this year, the question becomes do people really think it will happen for the 2010 2011 season? I still wouldn't put a lot of money on it happening.

Sponsorship -- go big or stay home. Get ready to be inundated with LG propaganda coming out of the Air Canada center and Ricoh Coliseum as MLSE has apparently inked an exclusive sponsorship with LG electronics for those venues.(article) one of the lovely opportunities for major sports Enterprises is a can sell off for big bucks the rights to do things that they would have to do anyway. While no numbers are mentioned in the article, you can bet that LG has paid a substantial sum for the opportunity to be profiled at the venues. HD screens will be everywhere with over 700 of them being installed in the venue in a variety of places. It will be almost worth a visit just to see where they stash them all. Somehow, I don't think they'll be there in time for this weekend's Coaches helping Coaches clinic but they won't be far behind Guess what will soon be showing up in their advertising everywhere as if we don't get enough of it now.

Opportunity for someone -- one of the challenges for house league teams attending tournaments is to try to deal with "colour" conflicts on sweaters with teams from other centers who don't have "home and away jerseys" either. Typically we tried to manage a couple sets of "old" rep jerseys in either the home whites are away blues that teams could borrow. If someone wants to take the initiative the Association could annually get three or four extra sweater sets by taking advantage of an Imperial Oil/Esso program. By getting members to donate their Esso Extra points (125,000 are needed), the Association can get a check for $750 to purchase sweaters. Details are available here. While a number of associations have registered, MOHA is not one of them. Maybe this would be a good way to build up some additional Timbit” sweater sets as it is always a challenge expanding the teams for the Erindale tournament. Checking the totals so far, only the small Association in Hanover has shown the initiative to accumulate more than 125,000 points. If you take the time to sit down and figure out what Scheer points are really worth on an individual family basis, it might provide the incentive for you to donate them to something worthwhile.

Tryouts – CBC “Our Game” ran a forum on “Are Tryouts Fair?” Makes an interesting scan. While it's kind of awkward to read and some of the comments are pretty disjointed there are also some that hit pretty close to home. You can read it here -- note, I am not the Wayne contributing to the content.

Given that I'm off to Montréal tomorrow you will likely get another blank day on the calendar as far as any blog content goes. Hopefully the weather holds and people can enjoy their weekend.

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Sept 23 – Managed to put the obligatory check mark in one of the annual boxes with yesterday’s event. I always get a kick out of running into “hockey” folks at my “business” events and yesterday was no exception. I suppose turn about will be fair play as I fully expect to run into some of my “business” colleagues at a hockey event – namely, this week-ends “Coaches Helping Coaches” event at the ACC.

Born Loser – Like many businesses, we have a “Staff Association” that periodically runs “winner’s choice” draws as a fund raiser. Typically these draws have event tickets or donated merchandise as prizes and as a good corporate citizen, I usually participate – never winning. However, in our most recent event, all that changed – I was a winner – sort of. There were 11 prizes including a couple sets of Leaf tickets, Raptors tickets, FC tickets, Concert tickets, theatre tickets, spa treatments, a Wii and a pair of Marlie tickets. When they called with the good news that I was a winner, it turned out I was number 11 of 11 meaning I got what was left after everyone else chose – Oh Goody I say “I get the Marlie tickets”!! The response was Oh No – not necessarily, someone might want them! My response – “I will get the Marlie tickets” – guess what, I got the Marlie tickets – anyone interested – no – it is not for their games in Scotland.

Latin Phases – you pretend to know. Here are the answers.

1. Caveat Emptor): "Let the buyer beware"

2. Persona Non Grata: "An unacceptable person"

3. Habeas Corpus: "You have the body"

4. Cogito Ergo Sum: "I think, therefore I am"

5. E Pluribus Unum: "Out of many, one"

6. Quid Pro Quo: "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours"

7. Ad Hominem: "To attack the man"

8. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam: "All for the Greater Glory of God"

9. Sui Generis: "Of its own genus," or "Unique and unable to classify"

Here’s your chance – dust off those digital video cameras, script out the storyboards and start shooting for your chance to take your team on an expense paid trip to the upcoming world junior championship in Saskatoon.  (I’ve been to Saskatoon – several times - on purpose – so you clearly want to win this and not pay to go on your own).

The Summerland Tim-br Mart is sponsoring a video contest that will take an entire minor hockey team (38 head count) to the championship December 27 – 29, 2009 – reported value $75.000. Here’s one of the articles with additional information. The contest web site is at www.timbrtube.ca but it may be having some initial stress. Crank it up, contest deadline is November 21 for submissions.

Jimmy B – must have the Commish in a total panic. He has now promised to keep the Coyotes in the desert for this season before he drags them off to the steel mills. That is essentially what the NHL promised except they did not let anyone know where they would be going – the old a bird in the hand is better than . . . game. When the judge considers it a fairly significant move – and did I say he was the judge – the Boy’s Club better take note. Given that I think it is October 3 (10 days away) when their season opens, things need to happen soon. Remember, they apparently don’t have a head coach as “The Great One” has not come out of his lair in this period of uncertainty. With an $8 million salary (no more) and +$90k a game, I think I could handle that.

Medal of Honour – my cheapie video game. It is in at least temporary retirement. I have fought my way through the beaches and jungle to the Guadalcanal airstrip and I’m stuck. I apparently have to shoot down a certain number of enemy fighters and save a medical transport before I get “blowed up” and I CAN’T DO IT!!! My frustration level is not up to consistently getting smoked with no reward. I can’t even find a cheat to get past it. Back to Donkey Kong which is probably more my speed.

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Sept 21 – shades of a misspent youth – I took four years of Latin in high school – my only other choice was the “B” stream that was supposedly for the less academically agile.  They learned “useless” things like keyboarding known in those days as typing. Who was the dummy? Anyway, Q107 picked up on a CNN article on 9 Latin phrases you pretend to know. I got 7 – I missed on number 7 and 9. How many do you know – translations in next post (maybe).

Latin phrases you pretend to understand

1. Caveat Emptor: (KAV-ee-OT emp-TOR):

2. Persona Non Grata: (puhr-SOH-nah non GRAH-tah):

3. Habeas Corpus: (HAY-bee-as KOR-pus):

4. Cogito Ergo Sum: (CO-gee-toe ER-go SOME):

5. E Pluribus Unum: (EE PLUR-uh-buhs OOH-nuhm

6. Quid Pro Quo: (kwid proh KWOH):

7. Ad Hominem: (ad HAH-mi-nem):

8. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam: (ad-MA-yor-em DAY-ee GLOR-ee-um):

9. Sui Generis:(SOO-ee JEN-er-is):

Still Strange – I still find it strange to be “goofin’ around in September instead of trying to compress a minimum of 48 hours into 24 on a daily basis with “normal” pay the bills work and frantic “why the heck am I doing this” hockey stuff. Finalizing teams and schedules (we used to add right up until the “last” moment), confirming draft lists and squeezing in as many kids as we could – like the Price is Right” as close as we could without going over, orchestrating the drafts with some good and not so “good” participants, dealing with parents whose kids clearly ended up in the wrong spot – according to them, not the eight coaches who felt differently, checking ratings and sponsors, assessing new kids, finding coaches and convenors, pulling final rep lists, trying to schedule initial ice when teams don’t exist yet, making sure calls were made to parents to cover ”try-out” sessions, dealing with the “I am sure I registered why am I not getting a call” – when they didn’t horror shows, sorting out equipment and sweaters and so on and so on – never a dull moment. September is really the hot-bed month in minor hockey, or at least it was in Oakville. The celebration day was the night the final draft was concluded and the last “eligible” kid was gone from all the lists. That’s when you could start to breathe again. Of course there was still a lot to do, but at least you knew you had “done it” for the season and were in “clean-up” mode. It also meant that now you might actually get some time to go to a rink, watch some games and have some fun. You did it with a sense of satisfaction knowing what the “team” had pulled off – 3,500+ participants, signed, sealed, and delivered in roughly two and a half weeks. Unless you have done it, you have no idea what it is like.

NFL – watched a bit over the week-end while sorting my sock drawer and was impressed by the Pats and Jets game. Not by the play, but rather by the impact the fans made, as effectively “noise makers”. It looked to me like they really did have an effect on New England’s ability to organize and communicate at the line. They seemed to have forced a couple of delay of game penalties and may have challenged Brady’s ability to audible at the line and, or effectively communicate the snap count. In a close game (as this was), a small edge can be the difference between a W and an L and I think the fans should get partial credit for New York’s win. What you could hear on the TV was amazing, let alone what it must have been like at field level.

Monday Music – given all of the hoopla around the release of the remastered Beatles collection (in both “mono”?? and stereo formats), I feel I have to include a Beatles tune as this week’s musical interlude. I am a big Beatles fan and can remember one of my first entrepreneurial opportunities was to sell newspapers door to door in Stratford on a holiday weekend in 1964 in order to both earn money and get some free Beatles paraphernalia. The Stratford Beacon Herald did not publish on either the Sunday or holiday, can’t remember which, but the London Free Press did so they were bribing a bunch of street urchins to flog papers door to door. I think I got to keep 10 cents a paper and if I sold so many I got stuff. I ended up with my own Beatles wig which looked more like a furry bathing cap than a wig but what the heck.

Picking one song is tough but I will go with one of the lesser known oldies but one that is widely interpreted with a variety of suggested deeper meanings (and no, it is not ”Her Majesty is a very nice girl but she doesn’t have a lot to say”). I will leave you to figure out your own “meaning”, but I can pretty well assure you that more Fab Four will find its way into this space.

Yhe song is “Norwegian Wood (This Bird has Flown)” that appeared on the Rubber Soul album in 1965. This was one of the first Beatles albums I had and I thought it was one of the best. Norwegian Wood was also the first (of many) sitar appearances in the Beatles work – played by George.

Norwegian Wood (This Bird has Flown) – Beatles – Lead Vocals – John Lennon  (1965)

I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me...

She showed me her room, isn't it good, Norwegian wood?

She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere,

So I looked around and I noticed there wasn't a chair.

I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking her wine,

We talked until two and then she said, "It's time for bed"

She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh.

I told her I didn't and crawled off to sleep in the bath

And when I awoke, I was alone, this bird had flown

So I lit a fire, isn't it good, Norwegian wood.

Likely off the air tomorrow at a meet and greet with a bunch of folks – back whenever!

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Sept 19 - Today's post is not so much a post as it is a notice. As threatened, I have so far added a work in progress page that includes some links. The page includes some governing bodies, some resource or interest sites, some scores and schedules links and a variety of individual association site links.

Hew Links Page

Let me know if you think there is any value to it or if there are other items you would like to see added. You don't even have to read my blog with it's clearly one sided approach - simply bookmark the link.

Kessel mania -- a quick comment on the Leafs "blockbuster" trade with the Bruins. Coming off of their win over the Stanley Cup champions, the Leafs must be feeling pretty cocky and likely have parade plans underway. Layered on top of this is the news of the Kessel trade to really stir up the Leaf nation. To me, this trade is going to be very much a wait and see situation as it could be good, or it could be an unmitigated disaster for the Leafs. Kessel clearly can put the puck in the net -- when healthy. Given that he won't be back until sometime in November from shoulder surgery there is always a question of how that will turn out. There has also been some discussion about how well Kessel will fit "in the room" so we would just leave that one aside. The other challenge for the leafs is that with two first-round draft choices in the next two years, there is an argument to be made that they have potentially mortgaged their future with their bet on Mr. Kessel. Having beefed up the scouting organization, and having had some success in the recent drafts, you have to wonder if this is the best route to go or whether Mr. Burke has made another left turn. I guess, I am probably leaning thumbs down at the moment, the five years in big dollars doesn't help either. But as I said, we'll have to wait and see.

Plan carefully -- grant money should never be considered as a given. While Oakville has been fortunate in having a sympathetic counsel and to a large extent broadscale community support for young people, when push comes to shove you never know what will happen. The Oakville grant at 22% of pretax ice cost is well over a quarter of $1 million annually. Simplistically, that's $60 per participant. What would happen if Oakville Council chose to follow the same pattern as has hit Abbottford British Columbia (article) where the local Association has lost their $60,000 grant due to government cutbacks in a challenging economy. With roughly 1,000 members, the Abbotsford impact would be similar in scope. Just something to keep in mind.

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Sept 18 -  The Leaf faithful will be ecstatic over the Buds trouncing of Philly 4 – 0 last night in London and discount the silly rough stuff posturing. I actually had the ears on while watching the Slooooo Pitch game last night so I was multitasking and entertained by the optimism of the broadcast team – other than Jim Ralph needs to learn when to hold ‘em and when to “just be quiet”. JR talks and occasionally a hockey game creeps in. I think he is just enthused to be back on the air and still gainfully employed in the hockey world.

To do or not to do – after my critique of certain content on a “certain” site and looking at some of the “stuff”,  I have pondered providing some additional content here. Material or links that are of course “cleansed” of any association with the cabal, but hopefully of use to real hockey volunteers.

My thoughts were wandering around three areas of content:

1. Forms – Good copies of useful forms in their original or editable format so that you can actually use them. Maybe with something that tells you what they are or what you need to do with them,

2. Resources – Copies of stuff that may actually be of interest or helpful – whatever that might be (available for download and use0

3. Links – to key hockey locations and maybe even some other sites (organized in such a way that it makes sense.

I suspect the above may be inter-twined but so what. Open to suggestions or ideas as to what you would like to see or what I could provide. wayne@minorhockeyfan.com

A quick aside – Heroin addiction can save your life. Don’t know how many of you saw (or cared) but last week in the US, a convicted murderer’s lethal injection execution had to be called off / postponed as the attending folks could not get a stable IV started in his veins that were apparently collapsed from years of drug abuse. Not sure why they could not find an appropriate vein somewhere but maybe they have so restrictive protocols for these events that they just can’t “poke” anywhere. The question some lawyer is likely to pursue now is “double jeopardy”. You tried to kill him once and failed – can you do it again?

Sports go public – Hockey players may need to be a little more conscious of the consequences of their on ice action if current legal “trends” are any indication. Coming on the heels of the Southampton incident, there is now a companion conviction coming out of the QMJHL (and no, this is not the Patrick’s son incident). A 17 year old (at the time) has been convicted of “assault with a weapon” (his stick) after cross checking an opponent in the fact (article). He will be sentenced October 14. Not sure if this constitutes a criminal conviction going forward or if he gets a “pass” based on age or a “conditional discharge” potential sentence but events like this can really end up messing up a life and it is probably fair to say that if “charges” become the flavour of the month there could be an awful lot of them crop up in the heat of the moment – whether “warranted” or not.

In a way, in today’s litigious society, I am somewhat surprised that there has not been more of this than we are currently seeing – stay tuned for the Class of 2009/10!

Lying Down Game – to all you social networking impresarios, I must admit that I simply do not see the “merit” or fun in some of the stuff that catches fire on a viral basis and sweeps through the net. Apparently the “Lying down Game” is all the rage. Good luck with that. The “rush” of finding an “interesting” place to lay flat out “pretending to be standing” while mushing my face into whatever the surface is eludes me. I can think of a couple probably “pleasant” options but that does not seem to be the focus of the “game” as you can see from the sample photo. Read about it here. (Article)

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Sept 17 – Quick post tonight as we will be off to watch the super exciting Slo Pitch playoffs – think I’ll take a couple Sudoku  with me. Hope the skitters have finally given it up as I have enough chomps on me now. Between skitters and wasps this has been an interesting couple of months.

Yippee – I passed – Got my HTCP exam back today and squeaked out a pass. Managed to get 100 out of 100. Sounds pretty close to perfecto. The scary part is (and the good news is) that if nothing else it helps you to know and appreciate how little you really do know. Anyway, I should have done well, I think it is the fourth time I have had to “write” the same exam. However, I don’t think I ever got 100% before. I did add to some answers when I reviewed it. The bad news – they sent my new card and certificate 123TM0003334 – Yup – another renewal on my GTHL number. Have to cough up more dough if I want to convert to an OMHA number. Aren’t these multiple jurisdictions / numbering systems / cash grabs wonderful. Maybe the Oakville Senators need a trainer.

Leafs off to a flying start. - I hope most of you saw Coach Wilson’s quote to the effect that since fighting was banned in training camp a number of folks had things to show him in the game. Not surprisingly then – a number of stupid thugeramas broke out. I was busy sorting my sock drawer so I did not see the game so correct me if I am wrong. If that is indicative of the type of play the Leafs intend to promote through the year, then anyone staying a Leaf fan deserves what they get. That is not “hockey”. They do have some talented young players but hopefully will not burn all their roster spots on Cro Magnum meatheads.

Vaive – the story is now breaking on Vaive’s drunk driving charge and it does not paint the former Leaf captain in a very positive light. Especially after the events surrounding Rob Ramage’s  accident resulting in the death of Chicago’s Keith Magnusson. Looks like folks managed to keep things pretty well under wraps until now as the actual infraction occurred back in July. It is too bad that it seems the “one for the ditch” mentality still exists – especially with folks who a) should know better and b) have already had exposure to the horrors that can be created. No sympathy here! By the way, the “minor hockey” coaching was not in Oakville – he was not certified to be behind the bench at the time.

MLG and Ryerson – looks like there is a chance that there will be hockey in the Carlton Street Cahbox once again even if it is on yellow ice. If Ryerson (my how they have grown versus what we used to think of that place in the 60s and 70s) gets in there, some of us peasants may actually find a way to rent the ice and skate where the legends have gone before. – here’s the spot where Teeder  nearly killed Howe. Protect the same nets as Turk Broda, Johnny Bower and Terry Sawchuk. Fire a shot into the “bunker” where Harold used to hide. Sit on the bench where Maloney sat for a year and Red Kelly fired up the boys with pyramid power! You get gooseflesh just thinking about it – sign me up! Having said that, I had the big tour of all the nooks and crannies of the building after the buds left and it was a DUMP.

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Sept 16 – Well, I survived the Tuesday “presentation day” and celebration evening relatively unscathed and think I provided a few laughs along the way. You never know. As someone who does a fair number of presentations to a variety of audiences, I find myself always wondering how the audience has responded to the content and delivery. Maybe it is a sign of insecurity, but you always hope you have left people with a good impression but even as you watch and try to build off of the audience during your delivery it can be very tough to call – especially if you try to inject some “humour” into the mix. IAs an example, I used a graphic of “The Cone of Silence” to illustrate a point and the question becomes – how many people got it? Anyhow, I am still employed so I guess things went OK.

Give him credit – Although it was supposed to be off the record (like that will happen) I have to give Prez BO kudos for calling a spade, a spade (careful) or should I say calling Mr. West a “jackass”. Too often public figures get hung up on their sterilized public persona and end up as artificial robots – current examples anyone! West behaved like a “jackass” so feel free to call him that – whoever you are. Serena is probably thrilled as it took some of the heat off of her little tantrum. To the “person” who leaked the comment – turn in your creds – you’re done like dinner. My devious little mind has to ask – What this a test – both of the credibility of the press corps and of the public response to a “human” presidential pretend faux pas?

Hemp Hut Health – Is the current “Monster” problem really a minor hiccup or a “big deal”. One would hate to think the Leafs are snake-bit again in the goalie ranks. However, is this “heart” business surfacing as a more prevalent concern for high tempo pro athletes, or are we just getting more atuned to it because of both medical technology and coverage. Besides the “monster” with his fitness test ID, it brings to mind the Jiri Fischer close call in Detroit and the untimely death of Alexie Cherepanov in Russia.  Are “we” turning pro hockey players in to athletic health risks a la NFL players by pushing the game too hard to be too big, too fast ,too soon, too often? It is hard to enjoy a great lifestyle in Boot Hill, but every pro athlete seems to feel he, or she is invincible. Pass the ‘roids. Who was it that said “I’m a lover not a fighter” – he might have been a very smart man.

You’re Welcome AEs – from Mike and I for the Peewee AE Team – I could tell you who on the current cabal did not want it which might be surprising but let’s just leave it for now! I see that you also have, as others before you, found the “way around” the dreaded PTS form.

It’s Time – Now that someone is at least attempting to create a decent look on the site I will post some suggestions – not that most people care.

Feel free to use all the stuff I developed BUT, do me a favour, use the correct dates or update the versions – they are easy to update. I think that you are past the 04/05 season – check your game report.

• Learn how to format so you don’t screw things up when you try to update – e.g., Coaching Guidelines.

• Post the forms where they belong – the OMHA travel permit is NOT an MOHA form - it is already there as an OMHA form.

• If you are going to create a coach package (which is not a bad idea) you might want to include items only once.

•  It would really be helpful if you used a decent copy to create them so they are actually legible and, or made sure the pages were not screwed up.

• You might want to consider not trying to put everything in one file as it makes it more difficult for the “stuff” to be useful.

• You may want to proof it so you don’t contradict yourself – I will let you find that one on your own.

• If it is worth putting in the Coach Kit, it is probably worth putting on the site as a separate form.

It took me a five minute look to find the above – what if I really looked. If someone asked nice and apologized for spreading the crap about me password protecting files, I would be happy to send copies of the original files that someone screwed up after I was turfed. HA! – like that will happen.

Too bad – to see Patrick Swayze go down. It is important to cheer anyone on in the all too common battles with cancer. I am not a medical expert, but my understanding is that pancreatic cancer is the news you really do not want to get, so that battling it for 20 months the way he did was quite an accomplishment.  At the end of 2009, there is going to be a very impressive or depressing list of the “Who’s No Longer With Us” as we look back over the year.

May be off the net tomorrow - could be at a big Slo Pitch play-off game. It is embarrassing what I do for entertainment!

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Sept 14 - one of those back to work Mondays after a nice relaxing weekend, which leaves me sitting with not a lot of energy or interest in trying to come up with entertaining material this evening. An additional fly in the ointment is that this is one of those "meetings weeks" so that I have two presentations starting at 8:30 tomorrow morning. The suggestion being I should probably look at what I'm going to talk about tomorrow, tonight.

It's also kind of a quiet time around the local front as the "doers" have got their head down doing and everybody else is sitting around deciding what to complain about. The lull before the storm.

New website -- it appears that the cabal has finally back on under the common sense and got some help with their web presence. Everyone is probably sitting back waiting for me to slam it -- so I won't. I think a lot of work has gone into it and the new "webmaster" deserves a chance to make it work. I haven't had a chance to really take a look at it yet, but when I do, don't worry, if I have comments I will make them.

General junk -- since I don't feel like writing about anything, or perhaps I should say speaking based on my speech to text conversion, we will just play hit-and-run today.

Leafs -- stories are multiplying faster than a pair of rabbits but they still don't have any content. Talk about a desperate hockey market looking for something to write about.

Tailgate party -- not. Apparently, this Wednesday Coca-Cola in conjunction with the Toronto Maple Leafs is having a tailgate party prior to their first exhibition game. Given that this tailgate party will bear no resemblance to a tailgate party it is probably fitting as the game will likely bear no resemblance to a game.

Serena hug -- after trashing the officials and getting herself faulted out of the U.S. Open, fined and who knows what else, Ms. Williams is now trying to kiss and make up or as she says she'd love to hug the official. I'll bet that makes everything okay with the official. Does anyone smell spin doctor here. Somebody's been talking to their PR agent.

NFL -- is unfolding as it should. The Pack wins -- which will make my brother happy because I could care less, Bret Favre looks like a golden boy for the Vikings – temporarily, and the Breeze boy blows away Detroit for consecutive Lions lost number??? I must admit I have not caught football fever yet as they chose not to watch any Sunday games I'd rather started working my way through my latest DVD venture -- JAG season one. I got through my NYPD Blues -- season four, was left hanging at the conclusion, and can't find season five. Frustration, the story of my life.

Political comments -- some people think it's okay to have the local folks swarming en masse for the Liberal nomination at the expense of their council seats. I don't. I would also reinforce my earlier position that it is counterproductive for the rest of council to choose sides publicly on the issue. If only one had declared, I have no issue with them supporting that individual but with two hacks in the rain everyone else should have stated publicly neutral. That's a separate conversation from using council as a steppingstone during a first term. But I'll leave that alone for now.

Track nine -- in the continuing saga of GO Train progress, ye olde 7:03 express wandered into Union Station on its new home track -- number nine. Big deal. It has been moved farther out, probably more congested and who wants to hike to the East End simply to sneak out on the Bay Street. Must be a banker thing. The Herd also had to wait this evening in the concourse to make sure the 5:34 really was going to leave from the same spot.

Music -- having now filled the appropriate column inches, I had forgotten that today was Monday and I needed another music post. Quickly getting into my bag of tricks I decided to go with a low-key duet from another pair of vocalists who became dysfunctional as well -- Simon and Garfunkel.

The choices evening is Sound of Silence, as it was originally called Sounds of Silence - see the record jacket above. The song was written in early 1964 by Paul Simon in response to the culture and environment within the US following the assassination of Pres. John F. Kennedy. Where were you on that sunny November day? The song started out slow as essentially an album filler, was rereleased re-orchestrated as a single and slowly climbed the charts until it made number one on New Year's Day 1966.

Sound of Silence – Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

Hello darkness, my old friend,
Ive come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of
A neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence.

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.

Fools said I, you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows.
Hear my words that I might teach you,
Take my arms that I might reach you.
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed
In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon God they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning,
In the words that it was forming.
And the signs said, the words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls.
And whispered in the sounds of silence.

In one of my collections of the “Top 1,000” songs of all time, the boys came in at #189 with this one.

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Sept 12 – Had to bail last night to go watch Number 1 son and Mrs. Number 1 son in their Slo Pitch playoffs. It was not pretty. I think it has to have been the absolutely worst game I have ever seen them play. It was soooo bad – “how bad was it”? – It was so bad I would have been an asset! Because they lost, it became a double header with the same team as they were now tied 1 – 1 in a best of three. We stayed for an inning and a half of the second game but being the fickle fans that we are – we bailed – it did not look promising.

In the words of Al Michaels “Do you believe in miracles?” – a late (or early) update from Slo Pitch central – the C’s & D’s (I can’t tell you their real name as it is disgusting!!) stormed back to win 22 – 7 !! Their playoffs are still alive as they now move on. The fickle fans (us) are now probably banned from attending all future games!

NHL Boo Boos – Happened to run across an article on the 10 worst franchise decisions the NHL has made.

1. California Seals/Oakland Seals/California Golden Seals (1967-76) – Moved to Cleveland and became the Barons 1976

2. Atlanta Flames 1972-80 – moved to Calgary – doing fine so why not try again – see #10.

3. Kansas City Scouts 1974-76 – Moved to Colorado (Rockies) which was brilliant as well – see #4.

4. Colorado Rockies 1976-82 – Even “Grapes” couldn’t save them – moved to New Jersey.

5. Hartford Whalers 1979-97 – Small rink and Mr. Hockey and Co. finally retired – moved to Carolina

6. Tampa Bay Lightning 1992-present

7. Florida Panthers 1993-present

8. Phoenix Coyotes 1996-present?

9. Nashville Predators 1998-present

10. Atlanta Thrashers 1999-present

Politics – as a “defeated” Ward 3 candidate in the last municipal election, I still follow the machinations of our elected leaders. The current hullabaloo about the two counselors who are vying for the Liberal nomination in the upcoming election is a classic example of why it's probably a good thing that I did not win the election. Everyone is entitled to an opinion sooo. . . . In my opinion, neither the council members nor our illustrious mayor should be providing a public opinion on their choice of candidates between the two current council members. That's a recipe for heightened dysfunctionality on the council now, and in the future regardless of who does or doesn't win. It's also funny, that in my opinion the counselors have lined up in terms of the pro Burton clique versus the rest. People have long memories – myself included.

It is also my opinion that both of the candidates are letting their constituents down in that they are reneging on their election commitments and promises to serve their Ward. Yes, a chance to get selected and run federally is opportunistic, but that's also exactly what it is, opportunistic. I would hope neither one of them is successful in seeking reelection for council as that does not appear to be where their interests lie. Read the comments in Oakville Today.

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Sept 10 – BTS Day 3 – I managed to get a seat on the GO Train this morning and only had to trample three little old ladies to get there first. However, it was a less desirable inside seat with restricted leg room due to ducting. Whatever, it beats standing.

It's OHF and OMHA day  - with support from me for both - it must either be a full moon or I have been drinking!

Form Fees – For once I agree with the OHF and the Minor Hockey Council. They have put a stop to the escalating practice (including the local Cabal) of charging fees to provide Permission to Skate Forms or AAA Form 1 Waivers. (OMHA site). While associations may whine about the administrative burden it places on them to provide all these forms, they tend to forget about the financial and logistics burden on the family of the player needing the paperwork. Granted some of these cases are “nutbars” who are convinced they have to drag LITTLE Billy from Niagara to Toronto to play for one of the “profile” teams so he will get noticed. However, there are lots of situations where individuals need to get PTS or AAA Waivers to find an appropriate place to play because of local association issues that have left the kid without a spot in his home centre. At the “going rate” of $25 or so per form, should the parents have to fork out up a couple of hundred bucks to simply get the kid a tryout elsewhere? I think not. The AAA Form 1 waiver is a classic example as the player has to be waived through each centre linked together between his home centre and destination (or try-out) centre. Going through the OMHA “corridor” could have the parents required to get up to 10 or more individual forms from individual centres – all originals signed by the centre and the player / parent and then pay for each at $25 a pop! Bulls__t!. Think about it.

I know this decision is going to rub some of the locals the wrong way - too bad!

DST -- I have sat back on this one waiting for it to be brought forward by those people who should care. However, that doesn't seem to be happening, or at least I haven't heard about it so here goes. DST is the slang acronym that has been applied to what is being called Dalton's Sales Tax -- the harmonization of PST and GST into one combined tax that is due to hit the streets next July. Full marks to the OMHA for trying to bring this to people's attention but in some areas they seem to be falling on deaf or insensitive ears. Using a little marketing math, and for those of you who don't know what the term means don't worry about it.

MOHA purchases somewhere north of probably $1.2 million of ice that is currently only taxed with GST. My understanding is that ice rental will be liable for the new harmonized tax with the incremental 8% PST simply added in. At roughly a $100,000 incremental cost from the extra tax only, in a 4,000 member Association, get ready to fork out a direct $25 incremental per kid next year to simply cover the tax increased ice cost. This is aside from any other ice rate increases or other cost increases.

The OMHA has had a petition opportunity posted on their site since August, encouraging members to sign up as “opposed” to this tax change. I have linked a copy of the PDF form on my site that can be downloaded by anyone interested in taking any action in support of this initiative. I am not a big harmonized tax fan as we will all be paying a lot more for a lot of things. In my selfish world and coincidentally the lead point on the OMHA petition is that items like gas will get hit with the incremental 8% as well.

One would have thought that last night volunteer meeting would have been a good place to promote support of the anti-DST faction both by gaining signatures and by sending volunteers off to get more. There is still the opportunity to get this form out to volunteers through the draft meeting process and hence get them to have parents on their teams sign as well. With 4000 kids it's not beyond the realm of credibility that the association could easily round up 10,000 signatures.

Given that that is not likely to happen, I would be more than willing to have any teams that complete the petition forwarded to me and I'll ensure that it gets into the hands of the OMHA or to Tim Hudak has identified on the OMHA site. Click on the link above or here to access a copy of the petition. Use as many as you need. The more the better.

Phoenix – not going to mention other than mention I am not going to mention! Time for a TV time-out.

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Sept 9 – Back to school – GO Transit – Day 2 was not impressive. While my 7:03 express was essentially on target – accommodations were not. After enjoying after enjoying the "privilege" of sitting on the GO Train all summer, it was back to SRO as SOP for this morning's trip. I guess a large number of students catch this train at the Oakville station as it is full by the time of it hits Clarkson. Maybe a bunch of kids will drop out of school so that I can have my seat back.

Jimmy B -- and then there were two. Just in time for tomorrow's auction the "filler group" decided to pull the plug on their bid, probably at least partially in view of Jimmy B's $30 million sweetener. It is now down to the two prime protagonists, both of whom have essentially said they're leaving town. It will be interesting to see if Glendale jumps in to Jimmy B's corner as his bid at least provides them with a $50 million exit. Who wants to bet that nothing will get really resolved tomorrow and this will drag on anyway. The judge has to be getting back into a corner where at least on the surface Jimmy B. should win hands down unless the Commish shows up with a new big bag of money. Tomorrow should be an interesting day. (article)

Gumbley update -- for those of you interested in the latest news regarding Mr. Gumbley, he ended up with one months of house arrest and 11 months of restricted activity and sentencing in a Mississauga court today. More details here. Personal opinion -- he got off easy. Yes he paid the money back in this case, but he caused a lot of folks a lot of grief. I suspect he didn't voluntarily come forward and refund the dough either.

Leafs new digs -- the days of playing casually at the Lakeshore Lions arena are gone. The facility has been erased by the leafs new practice palace and sports complex -- which is a good thing. They have replaced the old rink with a 4 Plex so contrary to the brilliant reporting they have not added for rapes they have added three. But who's counting? My pickup guys had Shinny ice there for one or two years in the old barn had great ice and horrible dressing rooms. I also shot one Tim Horton's commercial there and remember shoehorning the kids into the miniscule dressing rooms and trying to keep them under control. However, it is nice to see a new facility like this added to the community and it is supposed to be used for a wide range of activities. (article)

Non-contact Hockey -- the merits of noncontact hockey, i.e., no body checking has been a source of debate in many associations over the years, including Oakville. I have always been a proponent of the appropriate level of contact hockey, particularly if a noncontact option is always readily available to any player who does not wish to play with body checking. Without going through the debates again in this forum, it was interesting to note that the new "noncontact, high-level hockey league" that they were trying to establish in the GTHL has just not caught on with players and, or their parents. In my own mind, I also draw a distinction between now or noncontact hockey in body checking. With all due respect to the purists, there is no such thing as noncontact hockey. There is no body checking hockey. (article)

Octogenarians -- I hope everyone saw the article or coverage on the over 80 hockey game that was played out West a couple of days ago. Every player on the ice on both teams was over 80 years old. While they were and are attempting to get this game recognized as a Guinness book of records "record", it was great to see the level of enthusiasm and commitment these guys brought to the game and remind some of us older codgers that you can enjoy hockey for a long, long time. (article)

Beatles 9-9-9 - I will have to see how I can rationalize coming up with a couple of hundred bucks to buy the stereo version of the Beatles catalog that was released today. There was a lot of pre-launch hype associated with these collections both mono and stereo that have been remastered, include additional content etc. etc. etc. Regardless, it sounds like the music has been very well read on and when you consider the absolute content you end up spending somewhere around a buck a song for some really good music. Artistically, I don't think the Beatles had any really bad tracks in all the work they did.

Volunteers meeting space -- tonight is the "big" MOHA volunteer meeting. Have to sit back and wait to see what exciting developments, if any, come out of that.

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Sept 8 – Back to school day so GO Transit presented is harbinger of fall line-up. Cancel trains / late trains / full platforms even at 6:45 AM. Based on the “uncertainty” of the schedules, I grabbed the first train through which was a late earlier milk run train that ended up dropping us off at Union on the shores of Lake Ontario. After the Sherpas lead us on the hike back through the Via terminal to the Go concourse, I finally got through the herd and on to the subway. Not a great start but likely the shape of things to come. A part of this morning’s disruption was due to the tragic death of a woman at Fourth line and Speers. I do not mean to belittle that event as it is a terrible accident, but I also have notice from GO that there will be ongoing disruptions due to track construction. Hopefully this will be complete before my planned retirement in 2025 (modified Zager and Evans).

First Day – The first day or first day back at school is always fun. It is interesting that it is still a day that I can remember as a kid. Growing up in “Rostock”, there was no “K” let alone “JK” or “SK”. We went to a one room school with one teacher for all eight grades (actually it was a modern two room schoolhouse but we only used one and it was not a log cabin but rather red brick) - good old Ellice Township S. S. #9. The new student introduction to school in those days consisted of attending grade one for a half day on the first day and then you were there day in, day out for the next eight years – hopefully not grade one repeatedly but grades 1 – 8. The reason that I think I recall my first day so clearly was that part way through the morning when we were “let-out” for recess, I figured that it was all over and snuck off home. Even back then I was a non-conformist! Fortunately, that was not a “strapping” offense – I saved those until later.

Jimmy B sweetens the pot – What’s another $30 million among friends. Will 242 be enough to tip the scales to Steeltown versus 212? Just when you figure that the cards are on the table and we are going to see how it plays out, someone reaches up their sleeve and pulls out another ace. This is better than watching Texas Hold’em. We are less than two weeks away from the “auction” and not much farther from the season starting so events are likely now going to pile up fast and furious. The major challenge as I see it is that Jimmy B has demonstrably the best offer, but is absolute poison to the NHL old boys club. So whether you are tired of it or not, this is a major event to watch, especially in view of its “anti-trust” and professional sports league franchise control. I am sure that the Eli’s are busy writing their business case for Harvard Law review discussion.

Don't forget Del Biaggio - With all the fuss and bother from the NHL Boy's Club and the merits or lack of them around Jimmy B, let's not forget that one of their own is going up the river (article). Now he does get to wait until January before reporting to the slammer (after all RHIP) but he can start work on his 8 year cross off calendar. Remember all the fun around Nashville? Who's next?

Volunteers – looks like the hunt for volunteers is a problem in many centres as voted here in the Orillia Packet and Times (article). Interesting that Orillia – a much smaller centre than Oakville is willing to pay the full shot for volunteer certification programs because they value their volunteers.

Truth or Rumour ??? – I have heard “a nasty rumour” that MOHA is no longer reimbursing any portion of volunteer certification fees. This is only a rumour but I would be interested in verification one way or the other. If I was to “volunteer” on a team this season, I would like to know how much of my Coach and Trainer recertification fees I can get back – including 100% of the out-of-town rip-off up-charge. We finally got the board to support paying half – up to specified amounts so it would have to be a board decision to STOP that program of financial support for volunteers. Enquiring minds want to know.

David Alphabet – Many of you will have seen the info on David Visschedyk in the local paper (article). Hopefully many of you know him or his mother, Carol, who recently addressed the local Kinsman Club BBQ in support of the Terry Fox run when David could not make it. In my sojourn coaching in the OMBA, If the other team was not aware of David’s “bionic” parts, it was always fun to watch the crowd reaction if he got “plincked” in his artificial leg. For whatever reason – likely the spelling of his last name, we started calling him David “Alphabet” and it stuck. Absolutely politically incorrect now but just part of the game back then. I had the opportunity to coach David on a couple teams – most recently his final stint on my Junior Select squad (20 – 21 year old young men). A team, which I have previously mentioned as some of the most fun I have had coaching, We may not have won the championships, but that team really enjoyed playing ball and as I have said before- they coached me, I did not coach them.

A “team” David story on the Junior team was the one year we played Hornby for the first time in an “away” game. Hornby’s ball park was charitably a cross between a cow pasture and hay field so anything on the ground in the infield need a rocket assist to get past the bases. David would typically pitch, play first or occasionally third and on this day I had him at third base. You could see in the warm-up that the Hornby guys had “twigged” to David’s mobility so in the home half of the first inning the lead-off batter drops a bunt to the third base side. He gets on, big cheers from his buddies – disgusted looks from my guys. Next batter up drops another bunt to third and everyone is safe. More high fives and snickers from the home side. Neither David (nor any of my guys) say a word. My pitcher that day (let’s call him Billy), had a pretty good fastball, reasonable control and is wired off the chart on the competitive scale. He looks in to me and smiles, I smile back and the next Hornsby batter gets some serious heat and a big, two seam Rawling’s tattoo on the rib cage. The ump never said a word, the opposing coach never said a word and that was the last bunt to third. I can still see that play clear as day, but I could not tell you who won or lost that game (I think we did) – but like I said, we did have fun and David was a big part of the team. I never figured on him ending up a lawyer. Hope I haven’t slagged him! Way to go David (and Carol).

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Sept 7 -- sometimes I amaze even myself. Going into the long weekend with the promising weather forecast, I figured I would be lucky to post anything. Amazingly, I have managed to "pen" something each day. Note that I am not making any comment on the quality of the postings. Either that suggests there is more going on for me to comment on or I have more time on my hands than I know what to do with. Maybe it's a little of both. More likely, it is a way of keeping from doing some of the stuff around the house that I probably should be.

The clock is running -- with the "big" MOHA volunteers meeting this Wednesday and the "drafts" starting Friday it seems there is a fair amount of angst floating around about "the lists". Over the years, coaches have got used to having a fair amount of information about eligible players going into the draft meetings. Rumor has it, that the original lists floating around had none of that. Here's the name, and a rating (doesn't say if it was a red, white or blue rating -- but it is a rating) -- go wild. Apparently there are also a significant number of errors in the information, not the least of which players being registered two or three times or more. I hear that a number of volunteers are busily digging through files to try to provide something a little more useful prior to draft day. This creates a really ugly problem as coaches within the division who have experience with the kids can probably draft okay and get a "super" team, whereas the rookies are at the mercy of the room. Not a good situation.

Music -- if nothing else, I needed to post today simply because it is Monday which makes it music day. At the risk of being predictable today's choice is another "blast from the past"

"The House of the Rising Sun" -- The Animals version from 1964. While no one really knows the origin of this song it was not an Animal's original but rather their adaptation of an American song that had been around for years. An early version had been recorded in 1933 by Ashley and Foster. It had also been recorded in 1961 by Bob Dylan and was a popular song for him. The Animals version transposed from a woman's to a man's point of view is often considered as the first folk rock hit. It reached number one in England, Sweden, Canada and the United States. The full version was a popular DJ choice when they needed a bio break.

"The House of the Rising Sun" – The Animals – lyrics

There is a house in New Orleans

They call the Rising Sun

And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy

And God I know I'm one

 

My mother was a tailor

She sewed my new bluejeans

My father was a gamblin' man

Down in New Orleans

 

Now the only thing a gambler needs

Is a suitcase and trunk

And the only time he's satisfied

Is when he's on a drunk

 

------ organ solo ------

 

Oh mother tell your children

Not to do what I have done

Spend your lives in sin and misery

In the House of the Rising Sun

 

Well, I got one foot on the platform

The other foot on the train

I'm goin' back to New Orleans

To wear that ball and chain

 

Well, there is a house in New Orleans

They call the Rising Sun

And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy

And God I know I'm one

Now since it is a Holiday Monday and especially a “Labour Day” on it is time to go relax. I might even watch one of those horrendous Blue Jays games like the couple they had with the Yankees this week. Four hours for a ball game. No wonder they have a hard time drawing flies let alone spectators.

10:30 in the morning and I am done! Unbelievable!

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Sept 6 – Hockey season marches onward – for some. Read through to the end to get some important information on some additional "scrutiny" that the 0MHA is bringing to the trainers program as a quality assurance initiative.

Scarborough Hockey Association – (article) if you remember the litigation situation that Scarborough was faced with earlier this year, and lost, it looks like we are seeing the fallout from that event. The Scarborough Hockey Association has announced that they will be closing their doors after the current season. They simply can't get enough players in Scarborough to sustain a league, particularly with the exit of West Hill. An interesting comment in the article is that it is not simply a question of new Canadians not picking up the game, but rather, it has become an expensive pastime for kids and their parents. People have to remember that hockey is not simply for the rep elite, but has its strengths in the grassroots house league programs which should be kept as low cost and flexible as possible to support the sport on an ongoing basis. Letting fees escalate, incurring costs for nonessentials and assuming everybody has lots of money to pay for the program will create similar difficulties regardless of geography. Oakville is no exception.

Charter Airlines - I jumped all over this story as soon as I saw it, recognizing the implications it would have for professional sports teams that travel across the US/Canada border. Apparently, the "real" media is now picking up on it as well, as it features prominently in today's online papers and I would presume the paper versions also. Globe & Mail , The Star . Petty bureaucracy and protectionism strikes again. Perhaps some of these silly servants should pull their heads out of their lower back and recognize what they are really doing. As per the Globe story, Miami Air has already lost 60 pre-season NHL flights which I would suspect is a substantial chunk of business the entire airline industry is in such wonderful shape he can really handle additional disruption. Keep an eye on this one as it has the potential to create interesting face time for Obama and Harper. Would love to have an opportunity in Question Period on this one. Maybe I should apply for press credentials as it seems the working media was behind the curve on this one.

NHL versus Jimmy B. -- while of people are getting tired of the whole Phoenix situation, I find it quite interesting as both sides either keep throwing up roadblocks for the opposition or "pretend" to come to the table with concessions to make themselves look better. Today, the one upmanship from the NHL was to table a relocation value to Hamilton. While clearly not wanting anything to do with that franchise move, particularly if orchestrated by Jimmy B., the NHL has now placed a value on that transfer of between 101 and $195 million. Some of these values just don't make any sense, especially when you look at the NHL's bid in total for the team of around 150 million. However, September marches on, the auction date approaches as does the 2009/10 season. What some people tend to forget in the whole kerfuffle about Phoenix is that in the scheme of things the Coyotes were not the team and the most financial difficulty. There's financial trouble and a lot of the franchises.

OMHA and trainers -- according to correspondence forwarded to all of their centers, the 0MHA is increasing their focus on player safety and trainer performance. One of the areas they are concerned about is trainers with a less than neutral viewpoint during the game that ends up getting them suspended. There is now a new reporting requirement for centers every time a trainer is suspended, information on the infraction must be provided to the 0MHA. See the note.

Basically, this initiative is (I think) to remind Trainers that their role is to watch the game and their players and deal with injury situations from a risk management - safety standpoint and not spend time yapping at officials - that's the coach's job! Don't think I would want to be the "bad example" poster boy trainer who makes the OMHA cross hairs on this one.

They are also introducing center visits where OMHA representatives will be attending a center and observing trainer performance at the rink. Again, all of this falls under the category of risk management and is a good thing. However, I am wondering how well it will be received at the center level. Recognizing that the review is to cover all levels -- house league through rep with coaching and counseling support, it will be interesting to determine exactly how many house league games get reviewed. I would hope that everyone is aware of the challenge of having certified trainer's available on the bench for all teams for all games. It just doesn't happen. In those high pressure, high intensity Tyke Blue games I would suggest that it would be an exception to have one trainer on either bench. Given that there is not supposed to be a game played without a trainer in attendance this is clearly an issue. It is also why we encouraged and paid for conveners to take their level one trainer certification so that they could be the trainer on duty to sign the game sheet and support both teams. I would like to think that that development and risk management focus has continued, but I don't know -- I have my suspicions. Here's a copy of the memo from the 0MHA that outlines the quality assurance program. All members should be aware of the requirements and expectations that the 0MHA has for centers and overall operation of the minor hockey program to support and protect the players.

Certification -- as a public service, and because I don't think this information is made readily available anywhere else to most folks I have posted the 2009/10 certification requirements as required by the 0MHA and Hockey Canada. Remember, any team wishing to play exhibition games or tournaments outside of the local Association must be able to meet these requirements to receive an official roster.

AGE LEVEL	COACHES		TRAINERS	MANAGERS
	HOUSE / LOCAL LEAGUE / SELECT	REP LEVEL (AAA-E)	ALL LEVELS	ALL LEVELS
BELOW NOVICE (INITIATION/TYKE)	Initiation (CHIP) ONLY* & Speak Out	N/A	HTCP Level 1 & Speak Out	Speak Out
NOVICE	Initiation (CHIP) ONLY* & Speak Out	NCCP Coach Stream & Speak Out	HTCP Level 1 & Speak Out	Speak Out!
MINOR ATOM/ ATOM	Initiation (CHIP) or NCCP Coach Stream & Speak Out	NCCP Coach Stream & Speak Out	HTCP Level 1 & Speak Out	Speak Out!
MINOR PEE WEE/ PEE WEE	NCCP Coach Stream & Speak Out	NCCP Development 1 & Speak Out	HTCP Level 1 & Speak Out	Speak Out!
MINOR BANTAM/ BANTAM	NCCP Coach Stream & Speak Out	NCCP Development 1 & Speak Out	HTCP Level 1 & Speak Out	Speak Out!
MINOR MIDGET/ MIDGET	NCCP Coach Stream & Speak Out	NCCP Development 1 & Speak Out	HTCP Level 1 & Speak Out	Speak Out!
JUVENILE	NCCP Coach Stream & Speak Out	NCCP Development 1 & Speak Out	HTCP Level 1 & Speak Out	Speak Out!

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Sept 5 - Saturday, and the gorgeous weather continues. Where was this all summer. If it stays like this for the rest of September however, you won't get any complaints from me. Today an afternoon weekend post with some editorial comment.

Ontario Lottery Corporation -- having slagged this organization on one occasion I would suggest people should simply back off and be reasonable. OLC, public company or not, is a major business entity. Like it or not, their mandate is to sell lottery tickets. In effect, convince us to gamble or gamble more. In any business there are reasonable expectations about money that is spent to promote customer relations and sales with key customers. While there needs to be a level of control over the reasonableness of this spending, it is hypocritical and two-faced for the media to hammer on some of the details they are chastising the OLC for in public. While I'm not going to dig backwards and find the specific examples, I know that one of them included a comment about a MACs dinner that included beer and liquor. Someone may want to consider how many convenience stores MACs operates in Ontario, how many lottery sales go through those stores and how important MACs is as a customer. Under the circumstances, the expenditure was probably well within what would be reasonable for that level of accoun to foster and support a productive relationshipt. For those of you turning up your nose at the idea, if you're in business yourselves, think about whether your expense accounts would stand up to the same level of scrutiny that is being directed towards the employees at OLC and would you survive the same level of self-serving finger-pointing.

Charter flights -- you would think the government or whoever is responsible would have better things to do than create a major brouhaha over charter flights. Apparently there is a regulation that says a charter flight cannot have more than one destination stop in a country other than where it originated -- or something like that. In effect for sports teams and major entertainment there had been an exception granted that allowed their charter flights to move from city to city as part of their travel schedule. Apparently some rocket scientist in Canada decided to withdraw that privilege (one would hope acting with the advice and consent of the government) and his equally brilliant counterpart in the United States decided to match the decision. While it may not sound like much, it is another classic example of some petty civil servant trying to put his signature on something without having any consideration of the impact. If it stands, a team like Toronto when chartering for a Western swing would not be able to use the same aircraft or charter to go from an initial stop in San Diego to Los Angeles or Denver or any stop beyond their initial landing. They would either have to arrange a series of charters and send the initial aircraft back empty or try to arrange to fly commercial which is not really practical. You have to ask yourself in an economic environment that is less than stellar, where did this come from. From a sports perspective this will impact the NHL, and the NBA. We can now add this to another one of those idiot sports stories that are cluttering up the airwaves and newspapers.

Continuing education -- with all the spare time I have on my hands, I'm always looking for more trouble to get into. Heading over to Sheridan the other day with Andrew I decided to look into the options available for taking some type of continuing education course where I have an interest. Never mind that it was already September, I blithely assumed that I could just pick up the continuing education calendar, identify a course or courses that interested me and sign up. Given the Dreamweaver stress that I haven't reported on lately since I have quietly shelved the software in the short-term, I thought that maybe I could take an introductory Dreamweaver course to get a better handle on learning how to use it. Failing that, since it is heavily HTML-based I figured I could take in introductory HTML course. If all else fails I was sure that I could find something in either digital photography, graphical software or whatever. Logging on this morning to check out the courses and times that might interest me in the fall session I ended up batting 1000 - or more correctly ZERO!

“0 seats available”

Every course I checked at Sheridan came up as full. So much for plan A. the other aspect of it that I was not too sure about was that a lot of them were classified as "distance learning" offered by Ontario Learn. Not really sure I want to head back into the education world by sitting at home in front of my computer. I can do that enough on my own.

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Sept 4 -- one of my all time favorite broadcasters as a kid was Ernie Harwell. Growing up just outside of Stratford, I was a Tigers fan through and through. At that time there were very few televised games let alone any including my Detroiters. Many's the night I would sit by the radio either up in my room or on the front porch listening to and scoring the game based on the unmistakable voice of Mr.  Harwell supporting his beloved Tigers. WJR Detroit was the station and I don't ever remember Ernie missing a game. He always had a story, and gave the impression that he knew everything and everyone about the game. Today's news items about his diagnosis of inoperable cancer means that we will likely be shortly losing one of the true icons of the game. At 91 years of age I guess it must be expected but it will still be a loss for all of those people who grew up listening to Ernie's call of: Kaline, Colavito, Cash as the heart of the Tigers lineup. I remember as a kid making the CN excursion trip by train to Detroit for a ballgame and having to take my "bulky" transistor radio to make sure I could listen to Ernie. While I know he has received a number of accolades over the years I hope he continues to receive everyone's best wishes and the appropriate recognition for whatever time he has left. (article)

 

FRANK GUNN/CP PHOTO

Detroit Tigers radio announcer Ernie Harwell smiles after finishing the final broadcast of his 55-year career as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Tigers 1-0 in Toronto on Sunday Sept. 29, 2002.

 Unfortunate politics -- an interesting but unfortunate story has surfaced from the NHLPA debacle. Apparently plans were underway to rename the Lester B. Pearson award (good, because I'm not a liberal) which honors the NHL's most outstanding player to the Ted Lindsay award. When you consider the history, you have to be absolutely onside with this change as Terrible Ted was one of the prime drivers behind the current players Association and paid a severe career price with that support as the Original Six owners had absolutely no tolerance or support for players’ rights. If I recall correctly, once identified as a player union agitator, Terrible Ted was banished to the cellar dwelling Blackhawks as his reward. Given that this was a Paul Kelly and Glenn Healy initiative bets are that it will be dumped to the back burner. You can read about it here.

Coaches Helping Coaches -- for what should be fairly obvious reasons I have not spent a lot of time looking at the Toronto Maple Leafs website. However, the interesting wrongful dismissal suit that hit the press today reminded me that this is the time of year people need to keep the Tim Horton's MLSE annual Coaches Helping Coaches clinic in mind. This year the event is on Sunday, September 27, starting at 8:30 AM. Despite the fact that they will not have yours truly as a starring attraction this year I would suggest based on their preliminary lineup that the program is well worth attending. If nothing else, Hockey Canada is apparently demonstrating one of their skills clinics -- shooting and scoring. You also get to hear both Brian Burke and Ron Wilson provide some blue-and-white propaganda. I am however quite upset with the Leafs as they have not listed me as one of the past guest speakers. What an oversight. Check it out here.

Congrats -- nice to see one of my former players do well even if it's not in hockey. Congratulations to Doug Csima in winning a silver medal with the Canadian men's eight in the world championships. Doug wasn't MOHA hockey player -- a goalie in fact and help our team to the Bantam championship. Way to go Doug!

The benefits of taking Friday off is that I can throw together an early post and have the rest of the evening to enjoy what is shaping up to be wonderful weekend weather. Let's hope it stays that way. The downside is that I did a quick “crackberry” check and found I had over 70 emails today despite the fact that I let folks know I would be off.

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Sept 3 -- trying to "burn" vacation days by taking off Fridays can be a good thing. For example, by taking tomorrow off I end up with your basic four day weekend courtesy of Labor Day Monday. The bad news is that I will have done this for the past three weeks and may now get to expect that the work week is and should only be four days. Once the colder weather comes removing the incentive to book off on Fridays I'm not sure I'm prepared to manage the five day Monday to Friday grind.

Suspensions? -- it's interesting what you run across in trying to review a number of articles. Some of you may remember the assault situation from last winter arising from a game in Southampton. The now 17-year-old player from Walkerton was given a conditional discharge with a bunch of other interesting add-ons - like firearm restrictions (was he packin' at the time?). CD are a popular sentence among the younger set. However, a line at the end of the article caught my attention “Bill Hutton of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association says a new policy calls for an indefinite suspension in cases where criminal charges are laid or are possible”. The idea of indefinite suspensions catches everyone attention. I don't think anyone would argue the merits of this type of action where criminal charges are actually laid. The "or are possible" comment however does lead to some interesting speculation. Who decides on the possibility, when do they decide and how long does that judgment apply if charges do not appear forthcoming. I can see this when getting challenged and real messy in a hurry when someone determines that an on ice incident fits the bill but that assessment is not shared by all. Is this where you get to have a judge and jury when there is no judge and jury? I smell a lawsuit! Here's a longer version of the story from the London Free Press.

Given that this is described as a "new policy", I will have to see what I can find out about it. Stay tuned.

Hockey issues -- it's too bad we can't just get on with playing the game and deal with whether so-and-so is playing well or not or what are the chances for team X. versus team Y. I may have mentioned this earlier but the number of hockey and non-hockey stories that are clogging the newspapers and other media seem to be more prevalent now than in prior years. While not an all inclusive list to include all 34 or five sites of the Phoenix coyotes battle, the lead to further sniping about NHL issues, the leadership mess with the NHLPA, the position the Leafs do or do not have in the franchise/territorial battles, the lots going on with Heatley debates, the brouhaha surrounding the Citizen Kane escapade, the European vacation scandal and on and on and on. You get the idea. Clearly in many of these cases it's a situation where good news is no news but bad news is headlines. It's too bad, but I guess sports is no different than any other category or field. Nobody watches the news to see the good Samaritan story - it is who did what to who and is there a scandal one can latch onto involved.

Blue Jays -- in most cases I try to stay away from talking about other sports here, but the absolutely abysmal play of the Blue Jays lately has created an exception. I just happened to be watching the other night when they went in to the bottom of the fifth leading 11 to 0, came out of the inning at 11 -- 7, apparently subsequently got to an 11 -- 10 score and then finally blew it out for a win in the ninth. Almost every other game they have come out on the losing end of the stick simply because either the pitching fell apart, the batting fell apart, or the fielding fell apart or some combination of all three. How JP still has his job in an industry that is a hire them to fire them business and where management is always looking for somebody to take the fall amazes me. People talk about hockey stick forecasts in business -- that is to say the optimistic expectation that a severe decline is miraculously going to turn around and show positive numbers. The way the Blue Jays started this season they have presented a classic example of the reverse hockey stick. The glorious positive results early on have just plummeted. Time to count the days until the big shakeup because it's coming.

Just for fun -- you have to ask why the MOHA has not updated (for their members), information on their "current" board members to accurately reflect what is going on. Do they actually think it's a secret? Ostrich 101 - a far cry from communication and transparency..

Oh Well - it is week-end for me - time to "write" my trainer's exam! :<)

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Sept 2 – Told you I would miss yesterday. I hope you did not come back looking too often.

Family BBQ - For once the weather gods smiled on us and last night was a great evening for the “family BBQ”. I got to stand out in the sun and slave over a scorching BBQ while everyone else got to sit around in comfy chairs in shaded or air conditioned areas with nice cold drinks. Complaints received zero sympathy as per usual. This was of course after I snuck out early to get home in time to meet and greet and walked in only to get told to start the BBQ and not interrupt all the games in progress.

Timbits – I see on my ??’s blog (I am not sure how I should refer to him), that he and Dave Santangeli will be running the Timbit program under Adele’s “senior convening” leadership. Fully expecting that my comments will be taken the wrong way here goes anyway.

I am pleased to see that two volunteers have stepped-up to take on this role. I hope that their mindset and philosophy mirrors my own in that this is the single most important role in minor hockey and specifically within the MOHA. Very few people have ever given John Butler his dues for what he contributed over the years from the “re-engineering”, implementation and support of MOHA’s Timbit program, to the operation which became the “gold standard” within the OMHA and a reference resource for other centres and organizations. This is not me “boasting” but a fact – ask around (and check the player development / results over the years). Unfortunately that was no longer the focus or status under the cabal last year. Watching it self-destruct was painful and commented on here, and by a number of external hockey folks.

The Timbit (Initiation) program is fundamental to minor hockey in that it represents the entry point for players and in many cases coaches and trainers as well into the minor hockey world. A truism is that you “never get a second chance to make a first impression”. The Timbit program is the ultimate first impression opportunity for minor hockey. Creating a positive environment, maximizing the development opportunity (players and volunteers alike) and having fun are an easy prerequisite 1, 2, 3 on this one. The whole Oakville program and all its components were built around this premise. This is a huge responsibility, requires a lot of time and effort to achieve and maintain, but is a very rewarding contribution. It is not a “show up and check the boxes” role. It is a hands on, week in, week out help to grow and develop responsibility. Build whatever list you want – coach “mentoring”, player support, curriculum management, practice supervision, coach and counsel, suggest and correct, equipment guru, parent resource, program expert and on and on and on! You have to be the “champion(s)” of this program to make it special and an experience the kids (and volunteers) will never forget. It “ain’t” easy and it’s not for everyone BUT . . .

I can honestly say that this program and its achievements was the single most satisfying (and important) contribution we made in my years with MOHA.

I wish the “new guys” well and put them on notice as to my opinion.

Jimmy B – Today is a big day for Jimmy B as the court ruling may dictate whether he can stay in the “auction” process or get turfed from it and left with no other real option than launching an anti-trust suit. A suit would be long term, put him out of the current running and cost a whack of dough (if he cares). It seems a current Jimmy B argument suggests that the NHL may be running scaird of a Leaf lawsuit and that lead to the character and integrity conversation and the 0 – 26 pasting. See Leafs

 Espo – it seems like everyone wants to get into the Phoenix act as good old Phil Esposito joined the Commish’s let’s bash Jimmy B contingent. Espo is known for speaking his mind with probably the best known instance being the post game rant in Vancouver in 1972 when Team Canada was getting handed their head by the Ruskies and Canucks (in general) were getting down on Team Canada. Espo decided to tune up the fans and did. Not surprising “Mr. Tampa Bay” is in support of GB and lambasting the 0 – 26 underdog. At the end of the day, there will be some interesting relationships if Jimmy B ever makes the “boys club” - See Espo

JB vs GB – is becoming a whole lot of fun to watch / listen to and becoming a whole cottage industry for cartoonists, caricaturists, art directors and various other pundits. I liked the illustration in today’s Star.

Sigg Bottles – So you dumped all those BPA chemical laced, cheap plastic water bottles to keep from turning into a girl and plunked out the big dough on the “safe” Sigg premium priced metal status symbols” They also fit so well in the pockets of your trendy little back packs and impressed everyone with how “cool” you were. Uh – Oh! Somebody “mis-spoke”? Seems that there are / were traces of the dreaded BPA in the Swiss masterpieces as they are now using a new liner that is 100% BPA free! Seems like the old one wasn’t. But, be reassured, they are saying that a) very low – non harmful levels of BPA were in the old liner and b) the BPA did not leach anyway. Boy, do I ever feel reassured. Truth in advertising. What a concept! See BPA

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