Buckeye Travel Hockey League Annual Board Meeting

May 20, 2001 Meeting Minutes

Nationwide Arena - Columbus, OH

Member Organizations Represented: Butler County, CCYHA Columbus Chill, Cincinnati, Dayton Gems, and Findlay

President Tracy Merritt called the meeting to order.

There was no April meeting. The March Meeting Minutes were reviewed and entered into record as written.

Treasurer, Dr. Keith Kenitzer was not able to attend the meeting, but sent the Treasure's Report. The League ended the season with a surplus of approximately $3700. The old checking account should be closed out within the month. There are still outstanding checks that Tracy is going to follow-up on. Treasurer's report was entered into record as presented.

Next item was discussion of the need to fill the Secretary's position for the 2001 - 2002 season. There has not been interest and nobody at the meeting expressed any interest. Per Article V, Section 1 of the Buckeye Travel Hockey League Code of Conduct, the Secretary's position will be filled by Ft. Wayne. Tracy will contact the Ft. Wayne organization.

Discussion moved on to registration and tournament fees. As previously discussed a portion of the end of season play-offs fee will be due with the registration fee. Registration fee will stay at $125 (on-time payment). In addition, $300 of the tournament fee will be due with the registration, bringing the total due with the team registration to $425. It must be noted that the $300 may not cover the total tournament cost and an additional fee may be required once actual tournament fees are determined. Section III, Item A of the Rules and Regulations will be updated to reflect this change in the fees.

Further discussion of the end of season play-offs took place. Ft. Wayne has expressed an interest of hosting the tournament. The Columbus Chill also expressed interest. Tracy is going to contact Ft. Wayne about submitting a bid. CCYHA was also asked to submit a bid. Further discussion will take place at the July meeting.

Next discussion took place about allowing Ohio High School players to return to Buckeye teams for the play-offs. After discussing both sides of the issue, the league decided to not make any change to the current Rules and Regulations. If a player meets the USA Hockey and BTHL Rules & Regulations, a player is allowed to return to a Buckeye team after the High School season is over and play in any remaining BTHL games, including the end of season play-offs.

Discussion on length of periods took place. The clarification made in December 2000 will be made to Section F, Item 2 of the Rules and Regulations. No other change will take place.

Cincinnati brought up a question about a (for sake of discussion) Mite age player playing on a Mite team and a Squirt team during the season, provided the member association approves. This is OK with the league, but the player must declare which team he/she is going to play for in the play-offs and stay with that team for the duration of the play-offs. This will be added to the Tournament Rules.

The League will provide the play-off seedings and tournament rules for the play-offs. This will drive more consistency from year to year and take that responsibility off the organization hosting the play-offs. Sub-item "d" will be added to Section G, Item 2 of the Rules and Regulations stating such.

Discussion on a "Tiered" approach for the play-offs at the "A" level took place. All were in agreement to experiment with this approach for the 2001 - 2002 Play-Offs. All believe this is a way collapse the disparity between the top and bottom teams that appears to exist at the A level. For the 2001 - 2002 play-offs if there are more than 8 teams in the A level in any age division, Mite - Midget, the level will be divided into Tier A1 and Tier A2. Championships and trophies will awarded for each Tier. Each division will be looked at closing when dividing up the teams within each tier to ensure a team is placed appropriately. If successful, this approach will be adopted into the Rules and Regulations.

Next meeting dates were discussed…

· A July conference call will take place

· Scheduling meeting and September meeting will take place September 15, location TBD

· On-Time Team Applications are due September 1

· Final Team Applications due September 8, $50 late fee assessed to registration

· Petitions to skate at the "A" level, if the team is "AA" as outlined in the Rules & Regulations are due September 8

· Conference call to rule on petitions to be held September 11

Len Holtgreven, BTHL WEB Master is asking for potential teams for the upcoming season. He will update the WEB page throughout the summer so teams can see the prospective teams for the 2001 - 2002 season.

Meeting adjourned at 12:30 pm.