Rochester Bantam's 06-07

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bbw0506
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:19 pm

Rochester Bantam's 06-07

Post by bbw0506 »

Rumor has it, rochester is going to do just 1 Bantam A team next year, and 2 B1 teams with one being a "first year bantam" and the other being a "second year bantam" team. Any thoughts on how this will turn out or what will result? I don't know if this has been confirmed yet though.
lxhockey
Posts: 121
Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2006 5:26 pm

Rochester Bantams

Post by lxhockey »

I thought D8 only had B designations (not B1 and B2)? Either way, if
they are both equal level (both B or both B1) they are suppose to have a balance of talent also. That means one team is not suppose to be better
than the other. If D8 has B1 & B2 then you could have 1st years at
B2 and 2nd years at B1 (if your membership is OK with it), and they could
both enter B tournaments.

Somehow I think you would want your higher end 1st year kids playing
at B1 if they can, so they have an easier progression to A the 2nd year.
mrslasher
Posts: 50
Joined: Mon Mar 27, 2006 1:51 pm

Rochester Bantam's 06-07

Post by mrslasher »

It is entirely consistent with the group of coaches and board members kids moving up to Bantams from PeeWee, so I can believe it sure. Slash and burn 'for my kid' who would be lucky to otherwise make the team is the mentality unfortunatly until this crop of board 'members' moves on...
mrslasher
Posts: 50
Joined: Mon Mar 27, 2006 1:51 pm

lxhockey

Post by mrslasher »

Understand that the mentaility of certain folks with power to decide only, and I mean only, care about their kid being on a top team without the mess of having to try out and actually make it, and also of having to muddy the talent pool by having 2 equal teams. No, there must be only 1 top team for a town this size (with 4 high schools no less). Take a look at the Bantam and PeeWee A coaches for other successful programs...almost none have parent head coaches, or even assistant coaches. Then take a look at Rochester, and you can see the source of the problems and controversy the last few years...
goldy313
Posts: 3949
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2002 11:56 am

Post by goldy313 »

1 A team and 3 B teams, though I don't understand how the B teams will work whether it will be 1 per public school or what, but that would actually make sense, something RYHA lacks.

It might get the RYHA their beloved state championship but it will continue the slow killing of the high school programs. The board has it's head up its collective butt again; further alienating the high schools, which by the way generate way more interest in hockey than a bantam team ever will. This is the same group that has caused the death of a girls program and in a couple of years will likely have at least 1 boys program on life support.

Ultimately it further widens the talent gap and hurts the development of many players while allowing 16 to flourish. It's pure politics, nearly every voting board member has a kid on an A team.
pioneer
Posts: 107
Joined: Tue May 16, 2006 8:20 am

Post by pioneer »

I know nothing of Rochester's association, but:

1) every association should look to "push" their kids. If you have enough talent to run two A, B whatever teams - then do it! In general, I would say if you think you can run a .500 season then there is enough talent. If you are going to win one out of four (especially in a weaker district) then you do not have enough talent.

2) you can appease some by running two B teams of unequal talent (see Centennial) and why would this be bad? The prima donnas get their chance at winning a state championship while the (usually) younger kids get a chance to develop by playing a higher level of competition.

3) while I don't doubt the assertion that you've got a bunch of wankers on your board, what have YOU done about it? Did you run against them? Do you attend board meetings and challenge their decisions? Or do you just go around complaining about them? Bottom line... if you don't like the way your association is run - GET INVOLVED!!
lxhockey
Posts: 121
Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2006 5:26 pm

Rochester Hockey

Post by lxhockey »

Sounds like you need to get involved and get some parents on the board that can look out for the interests of ALL the players and the WHOLE program, not just their own.

In the meantime, I suggest you go to the montlhy meetings of not just your board, but the group that is making the proposal to them and have your voices heard.
If you don't take the time to get involved at the front end, don't waste
your time complaining afterwards.
cmf
Posts: 96
Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 10:05 am

Post by cmf »

It looks like Rochester is looking to win district 8 by loading the A team even though they easily can support 2 teams. :x
my2cents
Posts: 266
Joined: Wed May 31, 2006 9:54 am

roch B A

Post by my2cents »

I don't know, but I suspect that Rochester would be losing some top Bantams to HS teams since they are pretty thin at HS level. I wouldn't consider them a top 5 Bantam A team even if they stack 1 team.
goldy313
Posts: 3949
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2002 11:56 am

Re: Rochester Hockey

Post by goldy313 »

lxhockey wrote:Sounds like you need to get involved and get some parents on the board that can look out for the interests of ALL the players and the WHOLE program, not just their own.

In the meantime, I suggest you go to the montlhy meetings of not just your board, but the group that is making the proposal to them and have your voices heard.
If you don't take the time to get involved at the front end, don't waste
your time complaining afterwards.
As a matter of disclosure I have no kids in the RYHA anymore so my perspective is as a long time high school fan, my opinion is biased towards that end.

This is why what you suggest is not possible. The only way you can run for a board position is to be nominated by the nominating committee which is made up of the past president, the president elect and 3 members of the board that they jointly select. When the election is held the entire board votes on the nominations, write in votes for persons not nominated by the nominating committee will not be counted. This board also appoints those whose positions are not elected. 5 like minded people control the whole process. Basically the Soviets and Saddam Hussein had a more democratic system.

Any non member of the board who wants to submit an idea to the board for consideration must find a board member to submit it for them or it will not be considered. So any ideas not favored by the board, who appoints and elects itself, have no chance of making any headway. You can't just go to the meetings and be heard. Your only hope is to find a sympathetic ear to submit your ideas, even if that does happen it's not likely to make any progress because the board is, by its very design, made up of very like minded people.

Over the past few years people have tried to get differing opinions and views heard, but due to the rules of the RYHA they have been met with stone walls, one group went as far as to try and start their own hockey association but were met with legal action before it could get off the ground and get momentum.
HShockey2180
Posts: 279
Joined: Wed May 31, 2006 9:58 pm
Location: Rochester

A's

Post by HShockey2180 »

A few kids made the "A" cut during tryouts but opted out of playing for either A team because of the coaching staff. Both North and South A teams were coached by parent coaches.
Pucknutz69
Posts: 861
Joined: Fri Mar 12, 2004 4:09 pm

Rochester A Bantams

Post by Pucknutz69 »

I think this is BS if D-8 lets them do this. What about the smaller assc. that lose kids to high school programs? Maybe we should have CG and Woodbury join they share the same school district or maybe Hastings and CG they are both down on numbers? You have a town of 102,000 population, 3 public schools, 1 private. Not only do you have the numbers you also get any kid from the surrounding towns (Winona) that are any good to waiver in. It looks like you have a problem with getting your players to put in a solid effort rather than a numbers problem. This is nothing more than wanting to win.

Good luck in District 4 in the future and Good riddance.
lxhockey
Posts: 121
Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2006 5:26 pm

Rochester hockey

Post by lxhockey »

If RYHA is being run the way you describe, it could be in violation of its
Affiliate Agreement with MN Hockey. See MH Affiliate Agreement Section 3, Items B & C.

See Affiliate Agreement at http://www.minnesotahockey.org/handbook/handbook.asp

This Affiliate Agreement is the major reason you could not start your own association.

Now if the Affiliate Agreement is being violated, you could start a grievance process against RYHA. You should discuss this with the D8
Director first. Make sure you do your homework and have all your ducks in a row, but if your association is truly not governed democratically
(which will be the key issue in the grievance process) you can get a change forced in your election process. This would hopefully give you the door needed to put in place folks elected by the majority to look out for
ALL the members.
goldy313
Posts: 3949
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2002 11:56 am

Post by goldy313 »

I was not with the group that tried to break away, though I do think they had a good idea. Places like Lakeville and Apple Valley have split their associations with the emergence of a new high school, hopefully increasing participation. I'm in favor of each school having their own youth teams because it fosters cohesiveness, the kids get used to playing with each other. I don't think having 3 associations is the way to go, 1 could do it just fine.

Like I said I'm in favor of youth hockey working towards the benefit of high school hockey since this will be the pinnacle of most kids careers. Outside of the kids and their parents no one in the community cares who wins a Bantam state tournament let alone a Peewee one. Those accomplishments will do nothing to increase the numbers of kids playing hockey. High school teams that succeed do generate a bump in numbers. If a team stinks but has 2 kids go D1 nobody will care, but a team that wins and has nobody go D1 will draw a following. The RYHA believes in the value of the individual over the value of many. You can't build high school programs with that philosphy if the numbers aren't there. Programs like Owatonna and Rochester that were once very good at the high school level no longer are because they value the individual over the many. As soon as the many are thrown to the wayside you're in trouble, the rank and file player becomes obsolete. You need the role players to win in high school hockey; Cretin, Anoka, and Centennial all did it that way the past few year, only Holy Angels won with the most talent in that span.

I would imagine since the MAHA language states "that in absence of other criteria each family that participates......is entitled to one vote" the RYHA system is legal because there is no specification as what that criteria can be as long as each board member gets 1 vote.

You can go to www.ryha.net/operate and read for yourself, I quoted some and paraphrased some but it's there.
lxhockey
Posts: 121
Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2006 5:26 pm

Rochester

Post by lxhockey »

I read through both RYHA's bylaws and operations policies.
The Bylaws do specify that the bylaws may be amended by action of the
association members, but does not specify anywhere the specifics of how
the members could/would do that.

I also reviewed the Nominating Committee language. I don't see that this committee has any authority to screen people and not allow them to be
candidates. It also does allow for write-ins if notice is given to the board/
nominating committee after ballots have already been prepared.

The policies do specify that any item to be discussed at a meeting should
be given to the Secretary to be put on the agenda. This is proper etiquette and probably done to manage meeting time. In a smaller association, or member friendly one, the Board usually entertains new items from the audience at the meeting.

I did read the language that a new discussion item needs to have a board
member backing it before it will be discussed. Maybe that is their way of dealing with not having to keep covering the same ground constantly.
Meaning that many items have been dealt with year after year and by
talking to a board member the member could get the background on why something was decided upon or why it is or isn't the way the member thinks it should be. However, I can read between all these very well written lines and see how this good old boys club could be perpetuating itself also.

I don't see any language that could not allow someone to run for a board position, so I still say that is the best way to change things.
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