Hockey Semi Annual Minor Council Meeting

January 17 - 18, 2020 Canad Inns Polo Park

Minor Hockey Council

MINUTES

Friday January 17, 2020 (8:00 pm – 9:30 pm) and Saturday January 18, 2020 (8:30 am to 12:00 pm)

Attendance: Glen Parker(Hockey Brandon), John Ferg (Central Plains), Ken Kutzak (Eastman), Dave Underwood (Interlake), Ron Larocque (Norman), Phil Fafard (Parkland), Guy Williams, Westman South -Saturday only), Dan Johnson, (Yellowhead Saturday only), Chris Hall (Chair of Minor Hockey - ), Guy Jeanson (Hockey Winnipeg), Greg Thompson (U18 AAA), Ken Gladden (Chair of Minor Hockey - Rural), Lauren Osborne ().

1. Call to Order

Opening Remarks, Introductions and confirmation of Credentials – review voting structure

2. Adoption of Agenda

Motion: Guy Jeanson/Dave Underwood

Moved to approve the agenda as circulated. CARRIED

3. Approval of 2019 Fall Minor Council Minutes

Motion: Phil Fafard/Dave Underwood

Moved to approve the September 29, 2019 Fall Council Minor minutes as circulated. CARRIED

4. Business Arising

No specific business arising, topics have been included in agenda for discussion.

5. Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League

 Suspensions have decreased, quality of coaches increasing which has led to better control of players on and off the ice.

 Hosting Western Regional Cup in Virden 2  U18 now official across , will be changing website an email at the end of the season to reflect the change.  All Star weekend planned against AAA league. Still need to figure out costs and scheduling.

6. High School Hockey - No update

7. 2020 Regional Playoffs

 Review  There was some confusion on team placements and affiliation. Since some team placement is different from regular season, can you affiliate laterally? Concessions in that case would go to Ken who would handle them on an individual basis.  Trevor will be sending out emails to host advising them of rosters/affiliations.  U15 - AAA Pools

8. Notices of Motions

Pembina Valley and High School Athletics did not have a representative which brings total possible votes down to 37 total.

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 Motion 4 - Discussion around web training and any consequences to those who do not attend. Vote 37 for 0 against CARRIED

 Motion 9 Dave Underwood/Dan Johnson Moved to amend any team after February 15th that pulls out, 50% of the fine goes to the host. Vote 37 for 0 against CARRIED as amended

 Motion 11 3 Guy Jeanson/Ken Kutzak Move to insert the highlighted term Any teams excluding Hockey Winnipeg with less than 10 players…… Vote 37 for 0 against CARRIED as amended

 Motion 12 Dave Underwood/Ron LaRocque Moved to remove paragraph F. Vote 37 for 0 against CARRIED as amended

9. U15 AAA

 Hockey Winnipeg is very open to putting a new plan in place to make changes. A suggestion that was brought up was changing the playoff format to make it a more positive experience for the kids. Another idea was development changes, ice time, reducing amount of games, etc.  It seems like coaches have been the ones attending the AAA meetings to vote on behalf of their regions.  A discussion that came up was who is going to do the development and go around to the teams? There should be a model that starts program development at the younger age groups instead of just jumping right to AAA Bantam. Start the program from the bottom and work your way up.  John Ferg mentioned parents were unhappy at a parent meeting that coaches weren’t shortening the benches.  Phil suggested Hockey Manitoba should be promoting the coaching guidelines to make it more accessible for volunteers who may not go to the website to use this information. If the information gets pushed out it may be used a lot more.

10. New Business

High School, Junior and U18- players with no team to play on following cut down dates etc.

 Winnipeg does not have as much of an issue as rural teams because there are lots of places to play.  Central Plains has been leaving roster spots open to guarantee kids that get cut a place to play.  Dan started a discussion about a possible disconnect between high school teams who are unwilling to bring in other kids to play.

Regional Discussion on new initiatives to grow the game – what does your region require? What are the concerns from your region- options/solutions?

 Dave brought up the rise in rec hockey and how the league in Winnipeg Beach has around 170 kids playing. Rec league is maybe once a week and reduces travel. Maybe start separating kids at Peewee and introducing a Rising Stars type model that will go all year round. He suggested pushing the peewee program for those kids wanting to take it to the next level.  Travel time is a concern. Interlake is finding teams are opting out of playing because they don’t want to travel sometimes 3+ hours to go play a game.  Guy Jeanson suggested loosening up regulations for coaches. River Heights has a rec program that attracts hundreds of kids that get to play once a week and have “coaches” opening up gates. We want to attract youth and promote the game of hockey.  More discussion about rec hockey and it taking kids away from our programs.

 Rec hockey is currently excelling in . As long as kids are playing hockey that’s the important part. 4  Some questions thrown around: How do you come up with a program that reduces costs and gets more kids to play hockey. Is it the programs, costs, time commitment, coaching? How do you attract more players? Maybe we should be asking players directly why they aren’t playing.

Hockey Canada AGM - Hosted by Hockey Manitoba

 Hockey Manitoba Awards  Hockey Canada Awards

Ken will be sending out an email to get some nominations within Manitoba for the Hockey Canada Awards.

11. 2020 AGM

 Agenda Items  2020 Board Elections – President, Chair HDC, Chair Senior, Chair Rural

12. Other Business

Bantam AAA Officials:

 Harvey and Bernie came into the meeting to discuss officials.  It will be a group of ‘supervisors’ choosing officials for provincials. This way they will be able to decide who gets the reward of the final games and ensuring we have the highest level of officials for that game as well.  Regions would sponsor referees from their region that are chosen. This would include gas, hotel, etc. Hockey Manitoba rates would be consistent across the board for travel, km’s, hotels, etc.  Minor Council was in favour. Need to check with Matt Bestland as he was missing.

Discussion on mouthguards:

 The elimination of mouthguards had been formally submitted. It was discussed with Hockey Canada but no follow up. There was a discussion that stats don’t support mouth guards for prevention of concussions. There have been games where kids are sharing mouthguards, putting tape on their teeth, etc. Other provinces are moving away from them, but Ken will discuss with Peter.

Travel Permits:

 Lauren will be copying the regional directors on emails when sending travel permits.

Roster approvals:

 Reminder that once rosters are submitted through the HCR, they are considered OK.

Parkland Motion:

Motion was defeated as there was not enough time to discuss and vote on. Directors are instructed to discuss with their regions so it can be brought back up at the annual meeting.

 A concern is that the regulations don’t say anything about APs. This could be something that may be 5 handled at the league level and not with Hockey Manitoba.  A discussion that maybe teams need to demonstrate that they have exhausted all other options first and do their due diligence before approaching the AAA league.  Should there be a ruling that states it is under the approval of the director, and if so, maybe it should include ‘emergency situation only’.

Norman:

 Ron brought up associations fundraising for a bus but by laws stating you can’t use it.  Ken mentioned if you are fundraising for a team you can make an appeal so the money stays with the team and does not go to the association.

13. Motion to Adjourn:

John Ferg/Glen Parker 11:55 am

CARRIED