Games this w/e!!

[SpiderRat]

So, what gives XIHL? Are there any games getting played this weekend? Why only 4 teams so far. Any news would be helpful. Will there be a season this fall? So many questions, so few answers. Somebody pick up a phone!

Blah Blah Blah, Shoot the puck already

[XIHL]

This is exactly why we only say anything publicly when it's written in stone. It was a mistake to even post anything on our web site when we didn't have things completely finalized. We won't make that mistake again.

Here's what's going on. Under our compressed timetable, with so many changes going on, some teams that had verbally committed to playing in XIHL this Fall requested an extension on the agreement deadline in order to get their teams in order. Now you may ask, if these teams played last season, why would they need more time? Well, XIHL is a new and different league and we have new and different standards by which teams need to operate. Some teams which have played in the past do not even come close to meeting the raised standards that XIHL has set and will not be playing in our league anytime soon. Some teams needed to make some minor changes to meet our qualifications and needed more time. Because this is our first season, and because we want those who can, an opportunity to play this Fall, we're trying to be flexible with our deadlines and schedules. This isn't the most ideal situation, but under the circumstances, we want to accomodate as many parties as possible.

Now we have four teams officially signed on to play this Fall (the fourth team will be officially announced when we receive some additional information including a final team logo). This is enough to operate our Festival season so there will be games played this Fall. We hope to have up to four more teams submit signed aggreements in the very, very near future. In addition, we are working on up to four Exhibition Festivals which will be staged in potential expansion markets throughout the U.S.

With all that said, the opening weekend Festival scheduled for this weekend in Marple has been moved. We have all the team's schedule requests for hosting one or more Festivals and traveling to other Festivals. All we're waiting for is the final number of teams that will be participating. When that happens, we will release the schedule. We are in constant communication with the teams that have not yet submitted their signed aggreement forms and because of who we're talking to and the confidence level we have that they will be submitting a signed agreement form, we are trying to be flexible to accomodate them. That is not to say that we will not have a final deadline, but we're not at that point yet. It is, however, rapidly approaching and now that we have the minimum number of teams signed up, we will definitely have a season this Fall.

I hope this answers some questions. Keep checking the XIHL web site and look out for more XIHL Insider e-mail newsletters coming soon.

Benny Gulakiw
Director of Marketing & Public Relations
eXtreme Inline Hockey League