Message From the Commissioner

It's time. The gym has been booked and we are ready to begin the season. This message is somewhat lengthy but bear with me, it will have all of the information you need to know to get involved. For anyone travelling, the last item is most important for you.

Item 1:

This message is being sent out to the Floor Hockey Mail distribution list. I have added some external members to the message but not everyone. If you know of someone who is not on it, please let me know. We will use this for all future communication. Feel free to use it to address everyone involved in the league. It presently includes people that expressed interest, if you choose not to play you will be removed.

Item 2:

Just like last year, games will be scheduled to start at 8 or 9 PM each week. The season will run the same amount of time (8 weeks), starting Thursday April 6 and running until Thursday May 25. The schedule will be similar to last season - everyone plays once a week. There will be a pre-season for anyone interested in getting out to play pick-up and getting back in shape. This is also a good opportunity for anyone who still isn't sure if they want to play to check out the game.

Item 3:

The cost will be $20 per person for 6 regular season games and 2 playoff games. Pre-season will be $10 extra per person. This money is used to pay for the gym, buy goaltending equipment, T-Shirts if possible and a party at the end of the season if money is left. Pre-season money is due by Feb 18 (next friday) to determine if we have enough people to rent the gym. The rest of the money is due ASAP to confirm your participation. Only those paid by the end of pre-season will divided into teams for the rest of the season. I will be collecting the money until the 18th and John Dulong will look after things after that. If you cannot get the money to us in time, please call (Mike 422-6036x477 - John 474-5217) and let us know that you are definitely playing.

Item 4:

The format of the games will be the same. Three 15 minute periods, with a small break in between. Games start at 5 minutes after the hour, no matter how many team members have arrived, SO BE THERE EARLY!

Item 5:

Teams will be determined at a captains meeting later in March. We will use a system similar to last year but we will reduce the number of players kept on a team. Captains will choose 2 players from their team to keep. All other players, including new ones, will be entered into a draft and divided among the teams. The draft will be conducted using the standard rule of 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1 etc.. The order of the first round, according to league rules, will be the reverse finishing order in last year's regular season. Due to the number of players travelling and/or unavailable, the number of teams will remain at 4 and the same team names and captains will be used.

Item 6:

We will require volunteers for referee duties and stats-keeping. We will be using the same rules that were used at the end of last season. For those who did not play, this means Gentleman's rules with a ref that will call penalties to anyone getting out of line (i.e being "ungentlemanly"). This is an effort to control the game and it worked effectively throughout last season. As you will see when the teams and guidelines are released we will be using a system of written warnings for anyone getting out of hand. Multiple warnings could result in removal from the league. All other rules will be included with this release.

Item 7 (the last one):

For anyone travelling, you can pay on a per-game basis. $3 for pre-season games and $5 for season games - of course you will never have to pay more than the full price if you make most of the games. For the season, wherever possible, travellers will be grouped with someone who has a different travel schedule to count as one player when picking teams - Thus, the team will always have one of the people to fill a spot.