Expectations

[Somerset_GM]

Thought I would post to see what the fans and players want out of the XIHL this season. I know in the past players have posted that they wanted to get paid and full sponsorship, stuff like that. What I am looking for is if I paid to go to a game what would I expect or be satisfied with? As a player what do you look for a clean building and playing surface, good competition, fans that are into the game, a well officiated game? With the XIHL trying to better the sport all the feedback is needed and appreciated.

I am confident this will be a great start to a great league. Please feel free to post any and all responses, thanks.

[5_hole_master]

first and foremost as a player it would be nice to have all of the officials on the same page, we both know that they usually are not, also the venues are VERY important, teams need to play in arenas where they can draw a fan base, how many rinks in the PA NJ area are in an industrial park, most of them are, it's hard to build fans from a desolate area....back to the topic, from a players standpoint it should be mandatory to have showers at the rink where the games are being held, sometimes we drive for hours play a game and have to go home in our own sweat that we just played 2 hours for... teams shouldn't be allowed in the league without showers in their arena.

other then that most of the arenas in the old mlrh and piha fit the bill for hosting a team... there should be a requiered size of the rink as well, as we all know some are huge and some are tiny, this puts teams at an advantage, the playing surface should be level no?

also a fair schedule with home and away games should be determined, no offense to marple last season but their first 7 games at home?? thats half the season, doesn't raelly seem fair to the rest of the league....

[Somerset_GM]

I agree with most of your points, the one I have a problem with is the showers. Yes all the rinks should have showers but, thats a heavy burden to make a building install them. I would think that as the league grows this will become a necessary amenity but until then we will have to suck it up. I agree with your point about the buildings also not being able to fit more than 200-300 fans but this is something that I am sure will also be address in the future for now we should be happy that we have a place to play, it wasn't long ago that we were getting kicked off tennis courts for trying to have fun. The officiating is something that plagues sports at all levels and something that last season was a much improved aspect of the league. With that being said the players were better and the games were closer so you didnt have the goon aspect come into play as much as you did in the past. As the level of play improves and the parity gets better you will find that the officiating improves also, when the referees dont have to worry about cheap shots and players taking vengance they can better do their jobs. On to your last point scheduling...yes the schedule shouldnt be top or bottom loaded but rinks, such as Marple, host tournys to help pay the bills and grow the sport, these are good things. I am not attacking your replys, I agree with them 100%, we are taking strides towards bettering the league and the buildings. Extremes! was a hole until the new ownership took over and now its one of the nicer facilities around and only getting better. Thanks for the reply lets keep them coming we need all the input we can get.

[born2runPROgm]

Just a few comments. I agree with what everybody is saying and it is great to see everyone trying to work together.
I do agree with both of you about the shower situation. I understand how impossible it would be financially to force all of the rinks to install showers, however, it is even worse to ask a player (from the "Elite" level) who just played a championship game in Hartford to drive back to Pittsburgh or Buffalo without a shower. One solution could be for rinks to work with local hotels to form an agreement for teams to be able to keep 1 or 2 rooms past the checkout time so they can take showers before making the trip, without being charged extra.
I also feel that the fans would find they are putting there money into a better product if teams looked "elite". Now the old MLRH AAA made significant improvements on this last season, forcing players to have the same jerseys, pants, helmets...etc. I know in the past some spectators felt the hockey looked more like a glorified beer league because of the overall appearance of the players.
What does everyone else think?

The Gambler

[Somerset_GM]

Yes agreed, and the MLRH took proper steps last year fixing the equipment/uniform problem and this league will contiune where that one left off. The shower situation is a problem and the hotel suggestion is a viable solution, now only if they are in on it.

[yokes]

So just as easily you can say that it wasnt fair we had our first 7 games home do you think it was for the players to travel the next 7 weekends???? I played for them, and yes it was great to not have to travel the first 7 weeks of the season but the second half took a toll on people. We basically went on a road trip and staight into the playoffs. Rinks dont make sh*t of us, other rink time is more important. This is still just a business and thats the bottom line for most! Dont want to knock the suggestions just want to explain it wasnt as easy as you seem to think.

Goalies do it better with their eyes closed!!<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by yokes on 08/28/04 04:36 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

[5_hole_master]

understandable that the rinks would rather book tournaments and such instead of having a MLRH team play there on a given day ALL i meant by that was it looks fishy to a fan that a team would start a season with 7 straight at home, i agree it's hard to go from 7 away games to the playoffs, but with CJ and Brain it can not be that hard, they are the two best in the league ;) i know about the rink situations all over the place and every rink has something different... i was mearly making a suggestion to make it more appealing to the fan that's all...

[yokes]

Do take into consideration that the Mudcats have all kinds of tournaments they attend and that was leaving us without not only CJ and B Ying., but also JD, Matty and Ronny. Which made those road games even harder. Thats half our squad.

Goalies do it better with their eyes closed!!