Premier National Tournament

[Lindenwoodhockey]

I would first like to say to all the teams that were involved in the premier division, Thanks for a great season. There was some bumps in the road but overall I believe the game of college roller hockey is on the right track. I would like to recognize Mike Mackert of Michigan State, a lot of thanks should go directly to him. I know all the hard work you put in and you are certainly a class person on and off the rink. Shoot me an e-mail with your address so we can get you that stick.
Our guys at Lindenwood seem to be the hot topic so I figured I should get online and explain our point of view. My first thought goes way back to the summer when Derek Schaub suggested to the league that there should be a rule put in the CRHL rule book that hit on the subject of having to move the puck behind the net, knowing that if the situation arose he knew that he could use that to his advantage. The league did not address this issue and suffered the consequences. The bottom line is when we had our first team meeting this year everybody had the goal of winning the national championship, anything else would of been a failure. The way the finals played out our coaching staff felt that was the best opportunity for our team to win. When your in the situation of a championship game and you want nothing else but to win you take the attitude of "win at all costs." We were not going to be influenced by the fans or the idea of "this won't be good for the game of college roller hockey." We did more for the sport of college roller hockey in one hour during a Christmas tournament where our guys defeated the top professional team in the country. That win gave instant credibility to the sport of college roller hockey. College roller hockey is not going to fall off the face of the earth because we stalled and won the national championship that way. The game of college roller hockey will fail if the other teams involved don't recognize that the bar has been raised and if they don't start worrying about how they are going to get better instead of tearing us down, then we will see college roller hockey not evolve into a great sport for college athletes.
I would like to end by saying thanks to all our players on Lindenwood, we had a great year. The last game was a little less than dramatic, but we had 22 other great wins. We had a goal at the beginning of the year, we stuck with each other and became a great team and reached our goal.

Mark Abney, Lindenwood University

[mackertm]

I'll likely take you up on that offer of a Synergy, only had that one for a week.

I also appreciate the kind words. I know you've expressed such during the year, as well. I've put a lot of time and effort into the CRHL and MSU (on and off the floor) and I like to know that the effort I put forth is both productive and recognized.

Regarding offseason meetings, and Derek looking to address that hole in the rulebook, this is the first I've heard about it. I stepped back from running MSU's club last season, so in some ways I'm out of the loop on such meetings. If that's the case, I'll be more annoyed than ever that the hole in the rulebook existed as of yesterday. I understand the win at all costs philosophy. I just think it's unfortunate all around that it had to play out this way in a national final.

Again, though, I'd like to congratulate you and the entire Lindenwood team. You've had a fantastic season, and I would certainly not want one single game to overshadow a flawless season. LU's win over the Mudcats is one of the most impressive feats by a CRHL team in the history of the league, and instantly lends credibility to the entire league by extension - something we've always been looking for as some people outside the CRHL seem to think there is no talent in the CRHL. That certainly is not the case, and a single CRHL team (not an all star team) beating a NARCh-pro caliber team proves that the CRHL has more than enough talent to go around.

Again, congrats on another national title, and a very solid season.

Mike Mackert
Michigan State University

[CoachChrisG]

I'm guessing that you would like to keep the game the way it is with you having a stacked deck and a dynasty because nobody can afford to comptete with you. I am also guessing that if you aren't going to listen to "the good of the game" that you officially don't want NCAA status because it may not include you.

You didn't raise the bar by stalling and refusing to play hockey. You lowered it. Just because you beat a NARCh team that played by your rules and stalled them as well, (1-0 yeah that must have been exciting, zzzzz) doesn't mean you did a damn thing for the sport. All it means is that you bought a champion. What is good for the sport is people like the ECRHA who's officials have put countless hours into building their league and making their league a first class outfit. The teams are balanced and competitive and the hockey is always fun to watch. This is the kind of thing that builds intrest and also keeps it fun. All of this is done at ECRHA on a shoestring budget to boot. LU buying the best players in the land because they play by a completely set of rules as the rest of the nation isn't good for the sport. In fact it's counter productive because nobody wants to see a bunch of high priced prima donnas sit behind the net all day and talk about how good they are. Nobody wants to see one team win 25-0 game in and game out. How good do you actually feel about buying players ala college basketball and beating teams who are going with guys who actually go to class? The whole countries inline programs are run this way because their schools won't reconize them. These schools are doing the best they can but will never get to your level if you continue to do things the way you do.

Personally I believe in developing talent as well as recruiting. I agree with any coach who says they have to recruit but in a small program, (like most inline programs in the country to date,) you have to actually coach players and develop their skills. If you are just sending an all star team out there you just aren't coaching.

If every team plays by one set of rules until over 50% of the D1 programs can afford scholarships and/or NCAA status finally comes then you get a balanced and competitive national program for the sport and you don't get debacles like this most recent one.

What you did was a disgrace and your title doesn't matter.

C.C.

P.S. Here's hoping for a shot clock or a delay of game crackdown next year.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by CoachChrisG on 03/10/03 10:08 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

[STLHockey]

Chris,

Please do me a favor and calm down. Buying the best player's in the land, if that were the case would all but three of the players on Lindenwood's team be from the St. Louis. St. Louis has good roller hockey, but there are obviously other good players in the nation. So, you might want to do a little research before you go babbling about like an idiot.

[STLHockey]

Obviously coaching has something to do with it. The New York Rangers have all the talent in the world, but if you can't do anything to put it together it is useless to have all of that talent.

[Lindenwoodhockey]

Chris, feel free to give coach Schaub a call and let him clue you in on college athletics and how the LUprogram is operated. 636-949-4945

[CoachChrisG]

I think he showed the nation how the program is run this past weekend. It was not a pretty sight and made me embarrased to be part of the sport.

C.C.

[LUdad]

Chris, I've been reading this spew of yours and I've got to say pal your Killing me, just Killing me. Clearly you don't have a clue about LU. the school the hockey program the players or the criteria that has to be met for them to play. I can tell you as a fact that they practiced countless hours, more than I've ever witnessed before and both of my son's have played competitive inline hockey and ice hockey as well for some twelve years now. And to suggest that academic's aren't important at LU is just ridiculous. Son the bitter truth is that these are dedicated athletes with a dedicated and arguably the best coach in the nation! You simply don't have a clue. I'll finish this short lecture with a suggestion, shut the hell up and go practice like the big boys.

[CoachChrisG]

At last check LU has no grade point average standard. If there is I would love to see evidence of this.

As for practice, most D1 teams practice as much as they can afford to. Just because your program is richer doesn't mean it's better. Nor does it mean you have the best coaching staff in the nation. Anybody can win when they buy a full team of all stars. (Don't site the NY Rangers because they are loaded with over the hill and overated players with big contracts, Detroit is loaded with legit all stars and nobody can beat them. Ask the Yankees if they could compete if they had the Montreal Expos' budget.)

LU has been using a different standard of rules as the rest of the country and wouldn't even be competitive if they had to live under the same conditions as everyone else. Of course they are the most hesitant when NCAA talks happen because their little monopoly of the best players would be all but gone if NCAA status happened tomorrow.

C.C.

[LUdad]

Chris, as long as I'm venting my frustration with your dribble I feel compelled to ask, are you an only child? Could it be your just another spoiled brat?

[Raptor]

Chris asked a few legit questions, and made quite a few strong points. Perhaps you should go back and read his post, then make a reply that tells everybody else reading that you're capable of holding an intelligent conversation, instead of running away and resorting to insults.

[LUdad]

Yes I will Raptor, and may I suggest you do the same. Thank you.

[MDE3]

While I and others who read your post will certainly laud the work ethic of this team, it simply means that they are not wasting the monetary advantage which their program has over others. This advantage is great - and as a "Dad" who would love to see his son get a similar opportunity in a couple of years - I hope the "pilot system" (if I may be so bold as to call it that) being tried at Lindenwood has a widespread positive effect on the rest of the college programs.

[STLHockey]

Chris,

Don't wanna turn this into a NHL discussion board. However, Detroit is loaded and they will be tough to beat. The Rangers have Kovalev, Leetch, Lindros, Poti, Nedved, Holik, Carter,and Dunham. Yeah, i think that is safe to say that these guys are all overrated (give me a break).

Just trying to say that you need more than all star team to beat a team that has a good system or is very unified. Sure maybe with 12 year olds you could get by with just sending an all star team out there. But I have seen the level of play in CRHL get better each year, and the bottom line is you can have all of the talent in the world and not be successful if you don't have good coaching.

One more thing, I might be mistaken but I'm pretty sure Lindenwood's players have to have at least a 2.0 GPA to play varsity athletics (including roller hockey). I'm not sure however if the CRHL has this rule in place, they might I just don't know.

[CoachChrisG]

Kovalev (always overated)
Leetch (past his prime)
Lindros (damaged goods and over the hill)
Poti (Another Derek Morris, never motivated but gets lot of money, overated.)
Nedved (what has he ever done in the NHL?)
Holik (without Sykora he's nothing)
Carter (the only solid player and solid guy in the lot)
Dunham (Blackburn is better.)

If all star teams need coaches then why do George Siefer and Barry Switzer have Super Bowl rings?

C.C.