Youth Travel League

[NAYRHLPRES]

The NAYRHL is a new youth travel hockey league put together
by the local rink's in the Pa, NJ area. THe season will start in March of 2006. Any clubs that are directly affiliated with a rink in the PA., De., Nj., NY. ,MD. , Va. area can join if qualified. go to www.NAYRHL.com for more info
It is a non profit league

[jamie20]

This is going to be great. So far JR Gladiators, Susquehana, Downingtown, are all in. Pottstown, Cougars, Feasterville, Typhoon are all seriously interested.

[MDE3]

Hat's off to the organizers of this league...good forward thinking, and a very necessary venue to continue the growth of the sport.....well done guys....hope it all goes well.

[NJRHA]

Is there someone I can contact directly. I sent an email and it got returned. I currently run the NJ Hyper Assault and we would interested in playing.

Chris Gosha

[NAYRHLPRES]

E-mail should be working now sorry about that.

[jamie20]

Pottstown , Fox Chase, Downingtown , Susquehanna, Gladiators are all in. Seriously interested is Tab Ramos , Cougars, Milford Mystics , Typhoon and York Storm

[cougarcoach14]

Sent you an email but it keeps returning. Used [email protected] Thanks

[kpreds24]

can random teams just join...if yes than how can me and my team sign up, and what charges

[cougarsrh]

Good thought, but the Cougar Board members and rink owner will have many discussions regarding our entry into this league before we commit our club and our rink. We've seen this tried in the past and hope it works out to everyones' benefit. Some things to ponder while you are waiting for March 2006 to roll around:

- Referees should be required to be USA In-Line certified.

- Score keepers need to be paid and over the age of 10. They can't be in-house kids sleeping, drunk, eating pizza and not committed. Been there, done that. Anyone who is aware of what happened at TORHS Nationals understands that point.

-Rink owners must somehow figure out how to get more help than just themselves. A league will require a certain number of dedicated individuals to be successful.

- Rosters should be fixed for the period of the league play. Any alterations should be approved by the elected board.

- You may want to be on the phone to Feasterville....

- All money collected up front ensures committment and doesn't leave parents, players, rink owners, and organizers hung out to dry.

- Are the committed clubs sure their players are willing to travel up to 2 hours to play one game? Just asking, since we will be asking our parents....

Rink owners can't afford to screw this up. For the sake of salvaging roller hockey in the area, I hope it is a great success.

[jamie20]

As long as you have a home rink that will support your team or club and your team can fully commit, than yes. Plus you meet all the financial needs.

[kpreds24]

so how much does it cost and how do you sign up.....and who do i play
PS. IM me at AWBlackhawk67

[jamie20]

Everyone shares your concerns, and they should. A lot of these points have already come up in our initial meetings and have been addressed. I'm sure we are going to have some bugs to work out. Check out the amendments page on the rules tab on the web site, it shows some of your concerns were already previously inserted. We are going to call a meeting next month and your club board members are all welcome. This League may not be for everyone and will not be able to accommodate just any club. Strict territorial rules will apply. We want any and all possible feedback, so feel free to express any good ideas. We are open to anything that will make this league run better and will openly accept any help.

[jamie20]

call the nuber on the website

[cougarcoach14]

Cheese, guess you got my email. It did not go through to the NAYRHL site though. Most of what was in there you said, thanks. Anybody else think March is too late. Fourteen weeks plus playoffs takes the league well into June. Might create problems/conflicts with the existing tournament play format. Folks are not going to immediately abandon that idea until this league establishes itself. I understand the logic, that ice hockey will be done by March, but for most teams league play is done by mid February. Good luck, keep us in the loop.

[jamie20]

We did not get any e-mails but I am told from the web site guy that it is now definitely working right now. However regarding the schedule some weekends a team may bang out two possibly three games. SO that?s how we figure we will be wrapped up in mid June. However if everyone collectively agrees to extend it or we can start earlier than we can explore those options. Some teams and some players are going to have to make some tough decisions about what they want to do. Again this league might not fit into everyone?s plans. Full commitment will be required from teams.

[cougarcoach14]

With 2/week, maybe 3 games some weeks, the league would be done by Memorial Day, then you could do whatever you wanted for Nationals, sounds better. We have a meeting tomorrow specifically about this. I have some questions that I'll email to you, the idea definitely has momentum

[cougarsrh]

What does " Home rink determines fees at their discretion" mean? Play a league game at Marple Pay X, play a league game at Skaters Choice, pay Y?

You need a set price by rink. No surprises.

I'n not ripping your effort, I would like for you to succeed. But we've been running stuff in the area for 6 years, and running a league like this is more than just throwing a website together and cutting/pasting USAHIL Rules
into it.
I'd suggest that the league provide the USA refs/scorekeepers and incorprate it into the league fee.
Otherwise, its wide open for a rink owner to put his son/daughter/vending machine guy out on the floor to save coin.

Roller is competing straight up with ice, and anything less of a product will draw nobody.

Rich Nardiello
Cougars Roller Hockey Club

[jamie20]

Your way off brother, if you put an effort to call me I could explain how it works. Sounds like you have scorekeeper issues where the cougars play. I'm not going to try to explain it over a message board .

[cougarcoach14]

Jamie,

Actually Rich is not way off. I would say that we've played in every rink that is currently in operation and some that are no longer in operation. We've seen the issues that are out there and that's why we don't have scorekeeper/timekeeper issues, or ref issues. This roller league has to have the air of legitimacy in order to compete and have people wanting to come back year after year, that's really all we're saying. Ask the Tour Breakaway AA Squirt team how important a scorekeepers' attitude is. I'm sure we'll talk directly soon, in the mean time if you have any detailed printed material send it to Cougars RHC c/o Skater's Choice 150 Hollydell Dr Sewell, NJ 08080. Pardon us for sticking our toes in to test the water before we "sign on", but with 60 or so kids involved on our end, this league completely changes the complexion of what we've done over the last 6-7 years. Just trying to make the right call. Thanks.

Steve Lyons
Cougars Roller Hockey

[DblJ44]

Has anyone considered doing a festival type of thing where you would have 3 or more teams from an age group playing at one rink. This way a team that travels an hour or more can play more then one game.... a little more bang for they're travel buck. I know I just played this past MLRH season and couldn't stand driving to D.C. playing and driving home... at least if you could get 2 or 3 games in it might seem more worth it. Doing it this way you could even shorten the games to a more usual roller hockey time. Just a thought!

Im fat, bald, and slow.

[jamie20]

What I meant was he was off on how the pricing structure works. We can't set other rink's fee,s. It's going to be a non profit league the $200 is maintenance, awards, clerical ect.. Skaters Choice would need to charge the Cougars for your seven home game dates that you would provide to the league. There is no hidden charge for away games because the home team paid for that time. As our rules state, Each home team will have to provide 2 league approved USAINLINE certified refs. I've never personally had a problem with a score keeper at Marple but if it's an important issue we can address the possibility of league appointed score keeping. If your interested somewhat, then help us pave the road.

[ShowNoMercy]

Since most facilities have only one rink, will Marple be using the small rink, the large rink, or both rinks for this league? Also, is the Flyers Skatezone one of the rinks involved in the league? Reason I ask is, they also have a mini-rink. Everyone of our players hates, and I mean HATES, playing on the small rink at Marple.

[jamie20]

Flyers Skate Zone is not involved. We at Marple will use the bigger rink most of the time. However there may be some other smaller rinks invoved around the league.

[cougarsrh]

My man, I'm trying to explain the pitfalls of running tournaments. If you can't take a little helpful advice, you won't make it past your first parent reaming. Fact is, we have more teams coming in for our CougarManias then the last bunch of tournaments Marple has had combined. TopCat, Narch, and others have been either poorly attended or canceled. We made a decision after running our first tournament five years ago to employ the best we can get. Even our scorekeepers are USA-InLine certified refs, which is probably more than any other local tournament has reffing, including yours.
I wish you the best of luck, but I'd advise you lose the attitude, since, quite frankly, you need us and our revenue a lot more than we need any rink owner. We used to have a full six team contingent coming from Marple to our tournaments, and we would return the favor by sending as many as we could down to you. It wasn't until recently that Marple pretty much fell off the map. We would give our right arms to have had 2 rinks, because we could have probably doubled our tournaments. The secret to us is that we are four adults (The key word here is "adults" not kids)who volunteer our time and run tournaments with the main goal of supporting our club. There is NOBODY else in our area that does this.

We'll let you know of our decision.

[DblJ44]

What some people may not realize is that other then the fact that the rink owners son plays for the club, there is no other connection. The Cougars rent their time from Skater's Choice. We are happy to have them, we are glad that they consult us in these matters, but they call all the shots as far as their club is concerned. Arguing with them Via a message board isn't going to help your cause, Skater's Choice isn't going to tell them they have to enter a team into any leagues or tournaments, if they chose to they would just have to buy more time to host such events. The rink owner really doesn't have much of a say in what the cougar kids do except for his own son.

Im fat, bald, and slow.

[KingKong]

No offense to anyone just an observation but how are you going to prevent people from taking all the best players from the deleware valley and nj and forming a team. In my opinion it is what has ruined roller hockey in the south jersey, philadelphia area. You know who you are.

[DblJ44]

Hahahah! I think everyone knows who you're talking about.

Im fat, bald, and slow.

[jamie20]

If I had an attitude it's from some of your statements in your original post, you know "I just threw a web site up and think I can run a league" or something like that. My first parent reaming, do you have any clue who you are talking to? I own a rink! One that is well stocked with fresh hockey teams season after season. I would love for you to participate but I need these arguments from someone who makes judgement on less than half the facts like I need a hole in the head. Carry on and Have A nice day!

[minutemen]

there is only one way to stop it, you set up districts, where ever your district is you have to play in that organization. i THINK THAT IS THE ONLY WAY IT CAN BE DONE.

Morristown Minutemen Pro Minor Hockey Organization.

[NAYRHLPRES]

Thats exactly what we did. It's by territory. You have to play at the rink closest to your house or you don't play.

[cougarsrh]

Jamie,

Educate me. How many Marple teams participated in Narch in June, TORHS in May, Topcat etc all held at your own rink? How many local tournaments did you hold this year? I'm familar with Marple becuase I'm the one turning over checks
from our club to play in 3 team divisions and getting crap from parents about what ever happened to all the teams at Marple. If there are freshly stocked hockey teams, which is great for you guys, I'm just wondering why they are not participating in droves in travel hockey at their own rink. I don't think we've had a full contingent of the Marple clubs at our tournaments for 2 years. If they are not traveling during the same time as the proposed league, how are you proposing to change that?

There were times that Marple had tons of kids in their travel program, and if you had anything to do with that, much congrats to you. But it doesn't seem to be that way anymore.

Rich Nardiello
Cougars Roller Hockey Club

[jamie20]

Rich, my involvement in the Jr Gladiators program over the past three years was Exactly like Mike Stovers. They were a private club who rented practice time and did what ever they wanted. I supported them and sponsored them on occasion but that was it. They had their own way of doing things and it worked great for a while. All the BS just simply burned out the director who is a great guy. When the clubs best players started getting recruited by you guess whom, it didn't take long for it to fall apart. I have thousands of kids in my in house programs that I personally didn't let get involved. The former Jr Gladiator non-profit organization is done. Dan Devine my youth hockey director, assembled a 14u and a 12b team independent of the old club. These teams were not around the previous year and therefore insulated from most of the drama. I didn't agree with a lot of the things the old club did in the past but it wasn't my call. I will be the first to admit that some of those parents are everything that?s wrong in youth sports. My in house leagues are so successful right now because I don't let the inmates run the asylum. You probably wont see many of those former players. As for tournaments it's not our job and our responsibility to get the teams for Topcat and Narch if it was, we might just as well run them ourselves, and I don't particular care or need the aggravation. You know how much work it takes, it's not worth it. I?ve heard great things about your tournaments, but I need to run In house league to survive. Travel hockey income represented less than 2% of our annual income. The only reason I care enough to get involved with the league is because our in house players need to take the next step and keep them from going to ice. I didn't mean to get testy with you earlier but I was having a bad day, my wife! Hopefully you see what we are trying to accomplish and join forces.

[cougarsrh]

Jamie,
No prob. Understand completely.
Just hope your wife doesn't read this stuff!

Rich Nardiello
Cougars Roller hockey Club

[minutemen]

well happy to hear that. I figured that you were going to do that, i just wanted to answer the question that was brought up, best of luck with the league.

Morristown Minutemen Pro Minor Hockey Organization.

[cougarcoach14]

Jamie, I think we're(You and the Cougar folks)all on the same page as far as this league being good for the sport. Some of what was stated here is really just out of concern for the kids(just look at who all posts are from). It comes from the frustration of the past. In your last post you certainly cleared up a lot of my questions as to where all of the players from your rink were coming from. The player/rink territory idea is a good one.

We can only make an assessment based on our experience, and if it weren't for teams out of the area (NY, VA, MD) our Cougarmanias would have been hurting for teams. Some teams/rinks that have signed on are unknowns, some are reliable with a track record, others I think, have never seen the Philadelphia skyline from 76 East or 95 South. That may be a jab at some people, but it's a reality, we see those names and immediately we get cautious.

In one of your posts you mentioned that teams will have to make tough choices, and this league may not be for everyone, and that may be true. But as I said before teams/clubs are going to be reluctant to abandon the current structure of roller hockey. So I think there has to be room made for the tournament style, at least in the beginning until the league catches on. For instance if some of the bigger names(TORHS, NARCH) are holding events in the area, you should think about scheduling league games around those events. You know how the qualifying at a Regional for Nationals is set up. Those schedules will be out way in advance of the NAYRHL start date. It gives teams options, and gives them a comfort level aside from the "all in" or "not at all" mind set.

But you said it before and you're right, it shouldn't be hashed out here where words get misunderstood. Skater's Choice has good ideas, the Cougars have ideas, and obviously you do. Set something up, if you haven't already.

[GoalieYoa]

Hey guys, i just wanted to say that in playing in this league, it is the best league i have ever played in...Dont forget to mention the induction of the Philly Storm! 1st drop of puck in a traveling roller hockey league in the region-philly storm 10 Jr. Gladiators 2

[GROWL]

Such a great plan. Districts would solve everything. I can only imagine the controversy that would go on in the meeting to draw district lines and the complaints afterwards.

Quack quack quack Mr Ducksworth

[NJhockeyGUY]

What is the break down in each division? Number of teams an what teams?