Buckeye Travel Hockey League Board Meeting
November 14, 2000 Meeting Minutes
Conference Call

 

Member Organizations Represented: Butler County, Easton, Dayton Gems, Columbus Chill, and Louisville

 

Board Members Present:  Tracy Merritt, President, Ken Nagle, Vice President, Arthur Burghes, Scheduler, Kim James, Secretary.

 

President Tracy Merritt called the meeting to order.

 

Introductions were made.

 

Minutes from the September 12 special meeting were reviewed.  This meeting was to approve AA teams that had petitioned to play at the A level.  Minutes were approved as written.  Minutes from the September 16 had never been distributed.  There was not an October board meeting.

 

Treasurer's Report - transition is still being made from past Treasurer Murray Stall to new Treasurer Keith Kenitzer.  Concern was expressed about some outstanding bills.  Keith was not present on the call, but Kim to follow-up on status of the transition.

 

Discussion moved to the End-of-Season Play-Offs.  An apparent breakdown in communication led to confusion between the Columbus Chill organization and Louisville as to who was holding what.  A brief history was presented, in that at the May Annual Meeting, Bob Baillargeon of CCYHA volunteered to be Tournament Director and hold the Play-Offs in Columbus, OH.  However, the BTHL Board was told at the September Meeting that Columbus could only host the second weekend.  Jim Paliafito of the Louisville organization indicated they would be interested in hosting both weekends.  Jim followed-up with a phone call to Tracy that Pantherland Arena could host all divisions, both weekends.  They were given the green light to proceed with planning.  At that time, it is assumed CCYHA was notified that Louisville was hosting the tournament, but they said they weren't and had continued to hold ice and in fact could host both weekends. 

 

CCYHA expressed their frustration and stated it would be unlikely that they would be able to convince any of the rinks in the area to hold ice for the BTHL Play-Offs in the near future.  They did however state that they would like to be able present it to the rinks again by the first of the year for the 2002 Play-Offs  It was agreed to be discussed at the December meeting and possibly even make a decision.

 

Jim gave an update on the Play-Offs.  Pantherland has canceled all activities for the weekends of the Play-Offs, allowing full usage of both rinks.  They're trying to get sponsorship from Papa John's Pizza, Pizza and UPS, which could offset the cost considerably.  Tournament format was discussed and there was concern about delays in a tournament hosted by Pantherland in September.  Jim explained that in that tournament there was not enough time allocated for the games, which caused serious delays.  The league will have control and dictate the length of times allocated to games so that should not be a problem.  Jim was directed to the WEB page to get brackets used in past Play-Offs. 

 

Information should be posted to the WEB soon and more information will be available at the December meeting.

 

Business then moved on to any game protests. 

 

·        The Athens Midget A team protested games played in Athens against the Northern Kentucky Midget A team the weekend of November 3 & 4.  The N. KY roster posted on the WEB page did not match the players listed on the scoresheet.  It is know that N. KY has picked up some players and the League is going to investigate.  It was also noted that Athens has not submitted a roster to the league and that they too are in violation of BTHL Rules & Regulations.

 

·        The Cincinnati Bantam AA team has protested a game played against the Dayton Bluehawks in Dayton on Saturday September 30.  In this game the Bluehawks were awarded a goal, however there were two pucks on the ice and it's not clear which puck went in the net.  The Conduct Committee has ruled that this game must be re-played.

·        The Butler County Pee Wee AA team protested a game against the Dayton Gems Pee Wee Major team on Saturday November 11 in Dayton.  The game was played with 14-minute periods.  However, with 8 minutes left in the third period, the game went to running clock.  This had just been received prior to the conference call and further investigation is needed.

 

Ken suggested reviewing the Game Protest Procedures and maybe increasing the cost to $100.  This will be discussed at the Annual Meeting when rule changes are discussed.

 

Kim asked Ken to make sure the coach or manager of the Butler County Midget team contacted all the other Midget AA teams in the league and notify them of their decision to drop out of the Midget AA division.  Some teams were/are not aware of this decision and need the opportunity to schedule other games.

 

Next meeting will take place Saturday December 9, 2000 at 4:00 pm at Champs Restaurant in Dayton.

 

Motion and seconded to adjourn the meeting.  Approved and meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m.