Survey Results (Port Stanley Minor Hockey)

PrintSurvey Results

**Every Player Was Given A Survey. A Total of 78 Surveys Were Returned. 59% in Favour of Leaving Things The Way They Are, 41% in Favour of Local League Only.**

"Read the constitution, it's very specific about how changes can be made. How are you sure 1 person didn't fill out the form for the entire team"  

Thank-you for your concern.  We are quite familiar with the organization Constitution.  The results of this survey will not be binding for either option.  The purpose of this survey was not to make any changes, this was a request for input survey with 3 main goals;

Inform the membership that there is an issue with fielding rep teams at all ages which requires considerable energy and results in hard feelings amongst the members. 

To generate discussion. 

To determine if there are strong feelings for running rep teams or not so that we could resolve the issue at the AGM. 

Further actions will proceed as outlined in the constitution. 

 

Lobby omha to provide flexibility to play in the ae loop or get rid of boundaries altogether. 

There is some hope that the OMHA will make changes to resolve this issue, but that has been a thought for many years.  We decided that waiting and hoping were doing a disservice to the kids impacted by the current system.  Rather than hoping for someone else to resolve our issue we want to take control and do what is right for our unique situation. 

 

Introduce pick up hockey one night with coaches only there to ensure there are shift changes and no fights. 

For the last several years we have focused on player development through professional skills sessions, but there is nothing preventing coaches from doing this now if they want to. 

 

Can we play 8 game seeding instead of 6?

Seeding is a relatively new initiative which can be tweaked, but the number of games is determined by the league not our association.   

 

If we do option 2 and your child doesn't make st t a or ae, will we keep a Port LL spot open for them. 

Yes, provided you make payments by the required deadlines.  Missing payment deadlines will result in your spot being offered to someone from the waiting list. 

 

Can we drop down to ae?

Not permanently, but sometimes on a team by team year to year basis.  AE stands for Additional Entry, and is typically a division that only includes larger centers that have more than 1 team worth of players who want to play Rep hockey.  The level of play is typically lower than what we face in Shamrock and those centers are reluctant to let our rep team into their pool as they are concerned we would beat them badly.  However, they have allowed it on a limited basis in the past and we expect will continue to do so. 

 

Can we lobby omha to abolish residential restrictions on having those cut from larger centers playing on the smaller ones. 

Yes, we can lobby OMHA and make motions at the AGM.  In fact, we did that the last few years and there is currently a rule that allows those cut by larger centers to try out in ours.  On paper this sounded great, but the reality has been less than ideal.  The issues we discovered;

St Thomas is the only center large enough to have players left over after A and AE teams are made (and even they struggle at the older ages)

Those who don’t make A level hockey in St Thomas can and typically do try out for AE, whose tryouts are the same time as ours.

Those who play LL in Port and would like to try rep in Port have to go to St Thomas and try out for A and AE and be cut before they are eligible for Port rep. 

 

Can 2010's play atom?

They cannot be full-time rostered to atom starting next season, but we are quite certain they will be able to AP (AP means affiliate player - they register and play at one level and also get called up to play a second team at a higher level or age).   

 

Option 2 is worded in a biased way. 

The wording of both options was discussed at our board meeting.  Our core goals were to inform the membership of the issue, generate discussion and receive feedback on what the thoughts of the members were.  Our AGM will include a discussion on the future of our rep program, and I would encourage all members to attend to have their voice heard.      

 

How does omha respond to the impact not allowing 7 year olds play novice on smaller centres?  

The OMHA is simply enforcing the direction of Hockey Canada.  Through years of research they have determined that focused skill development is more important to player development than playing games.    

 

Which one of these options will require the least amount of travel for my family?  

In a centre the size of ours both Rep and Local league teams travel for games.  The rep boundaries are Exeter (north) Port Stanley (south) Wallaceburg (west) and Belmont (east) with provincial playdowns potentially requiring greater distances.  The Local League boundaries are similar, but playoffs are limited to the same geography as the regular season games. You can check out the range we play by selecting any team and looking at their schedule.  Tournaments are arranged/selected by the teams and many include travel outside of our area.      

 

There is no benefit to travelling for skill development. 

Hockey Canada would agree with you.  They would rather players stayed home and developed their skills than travel to play games.  The Long-term player development policies for Novice and younger are a reflection of that. 

 

With a growing community it would be nice to see rep teams stay in Port Stanley. 

Port Stanley may be growing, but our registration has been in steady decline for multiple years.  Our reality is that most of the growth of school age families is in the shared boundary area and we are not the first choice of many of those families.