More From The Telegram

[Tomcod]

How many of the teams in the West are holding their heads above water?
Clarenville...I doubt it based on recent comments.
Grandfalls...yes
Corner brook...? Not much gets said about them.
Gander...? Not much gets said about them.

I often wonder where the Cataracts would be today if they weren't bailed out by the town of Grand Falls Windsor a few years ago. They would probably be folded by now... The other teams never have had the luxury of getting money from their towns.

It's not hard to see that something needs to be done to fix senior hockey in Newfoundland. I fully agree with Mr. Gale that the caliber of the CWSHL does in fact need to come down but at the same time the caliber of the AESHL needs to come up quite a bit, both leagues need to meet in the middle in my opinion. The writing is on the wall, especially when someone like Frazer Russell makes comments like those in the media.

Just goes to show your ignorance.. the cats werent bailed out by the town , they were given a few hours of icetime ... go check your sources .... stay tuned ...

[Hockey Eyes]

I am curious about free ice time. Is it just the Cats that get free ice time or dopes minor hockey and figure skating get it as well? Is Grand Falls Windsor and its taxpayers committed to amateur sport or just semi-pro sport? If it is free ice time for amateur sport as well? If the answer is YES please let us know in St. John's how you do it. You grip on economics is better than ours .
Should we sell bottled water at the Regatta and give it all to the Ice Caps. Should we take the canteen run by Hockey Moms in Mount Pearl and turn that over to the Ice Caps or the Senior Blades if they return. I am interested in how Grand Falls is in" the black". I myself and the guys I play hockey with are also looking for free ice time. Where do I sign up for that ?

[Seniorfan]

I am curious about free ice time. Is it just the Cats that get free ice time or dopes minor hockey and figure skating get it as well? Is Grand Falls Windsor and its taxpayers committed to amateur sport or just semi-pro sport? If it is free ice time for amateur sport as well? If the answer is YES please let us know in St. John's how you do it. You grip on economics is better than ours .
Should we sell bottled water at the Regatta and give it all to the Ice Caps. Should we take the canteen run by Hockey Moms in Mount Pearl and turn that over to the Ice Caps or the Senior Blades if they return. I am interested in how Grand Falls is in" the black". I myself and the guys I play hockey with are also looking for free ice time. Where do I sign up for that ?

ENOUGH!!!! Clearly you have a specific agenda which meshes with that of Mr Gale and others who couldn't care less about the CWSHL or it's fans as long as the AESHL gets a chance to play for the Herder. That has been stated explicitly. That's your opinion and you're entitled to it. However, what you are NOT entitled to is to either deliberately or through ignorance spread falsehoods about what is happening in Grand Falls-Windsor. The Cataracts do in fact pay the town for games played at the Joe Byrne. They pay the union rates for all the employees, including paid security (not volunteers). Under this deal the cost is somewhat higher than the cost of renting ice time by other organizations in the community. It is NOT a subsidy as you insinuate. Also, your implication that money is taken from the canteen is a complete and vicious LIE!!! Not one penny from the canteen is taken by the Cataracts organization. Not one penny!!! In fact the lion's share of the profit earned by the canteen is made during Cataracts hockey games which is then put back directly into the minor hockey program. This is money that will be lost should the Cataracts cease to exist which I fear will be the case if HNL gets its way. You ask how the Cataracts are in the black. The answer is simple sir. They do it through hard work and through sound and prudent financial practices. They make their money the old fashioned way....they earn it. Based on your comments you are either ignorant of the truth regarding how team's operate in the CWSHL or you are deliberately misleading people. So which is it Mr. HockeyEyes? Are you ignorant or dishonest? Clearly it's impossible to engage in a rational discussion who's mind is made up regardless of the facts and has a specific agenda they want to push forward so this will be the last time I waste my time by responding to you. I will however be providing more information regarding the situation for Senior Hockey for next year as things unfold. Right now things do not look very good for the survival of the CWSHL unless something can be done to turn HNL around. I'll have more in a few weeks time and rest assured, I'll stick to the truth.

[Tomcod]

Hey hockey lies youre not only an ignorant liar , youre a low life , dont want to talk to such a poor excuse for a human being ... stay tuned ....

[habitant33]

Trying to make the WCSHL down to par with the ECSHL is a load of crap and you will get very poor hockey and fans will not come out to see it ..

I saw 2 games this year. Most boring hockey i have ever seen no lie. The attendnce is dropping everywhere due to this and raising tickets prices.
I saw every cats game in 06. Onviously not as talented but had no trouble fillin the seats to watch ,bishop, hodge,hooper,brent,pittman,richards,lewis,etc... That hockey was not a skilled but a thousand more times entertaining that the floaters we see now. Maybe if the players played like they did in the allan cup but they dont do that. And it had nothing to do with the 2fight rule

You should rewrite that to you wont want to come out and see it

How much did you pay for a case of beer in 06 ?? stay tuned ....

That is as thought out a post as I have seen from you on here Tomcod. Such and articulate argument. By all means keep attacking people and calling them low lifes. You're so big. At least senior fan, though I disagree with his opinion is actually making reasonable arguments.

[evanpenton]

Funny, the HNL claim they always look to better the league. The last time they forced a decision upon the cwshl it was that the cats and nous had to play out of mile one and the Pepsi centre. Who did it benefit ? No one, it was nothing more then an attempt to cripple the two teams that were (at the time) the most financially sound. Now again this year they attempted the same thing with forcing a team to play a team that is far inferior to that of the cwshl. After they didn't get their way and St. John's went without a shot at the herder they now attempt to take away most teams top players..... This is to better the league ? As someone stated most imports flights are paid for through air miles that sponsors donate, they are billeted. Where is this huge cost ? I happen to know the Delaney brothers are paid more then most imports. This completely refutes the argument that imports are destroying the league.

hockey eyes... I ask you this. On the aeshl you discuss with 123 that by watering down the cwshl it will force teams to spend less on their players and this will in turn cause more players to stay in the aeshl. If for example the cataracts are forced to eliminate imports and they cannot sign cam fergus. The money used to pay fergus "according to you guys" must be astronomically high. So then the cats would have money left to pay its remaining team and then Also offer money to the players of the aeshl. Every team in the cwshl would have money left over to offer players from the aeshl to come join a better, more challenging league. Not all of the stars in the aeshl would come over obviously due to work constrictions but do you honestly believe that most of that leagues top players wouldn't come over for a pay cheque vs playing in the aeshl for the "pride" of the smother shore.... Gimme a break,

This decision will do nothing. It water the league down by taking away some of the most talented players in the league. Teams will then recruit most of the aeshl better players to take on 3rd and 4th line roles. Your regiment is flawed.

Frazier Russell can say all he likes about the flawed system but I find it funny that he didn't complain or tempt to change things while he ran the bous. He went public after he stepped down from the team.....seems fishy. As some cats exec have told me, draft young guys, you pay them less and they play their hearts out.the cats have operated in the black for so many years because they have had the youngest team for the past few years, which in turn cost less money.

Anyways that's my rants, it's a little over the place but feel free to come back with some logic.

[evanpenton]

Lol autocorrect changed a few words on me but you can still get the jest of it

[123]

Lol autocorrect changed a few words on me but you can still get the jest of it

I'm just curious to get ur experience. Have you been on the executive since the beginning for the Cataracts or just say in the last 2 or 3 years? If so, without being specific how have the salaries ballooned percentage wise from the beginning to the most recent season?

[evanpenton]

I'm not on the cataracts exec

[thelionsden]

I am curious about free ice time. Is it just the Cats that get free ice time or dopes minor hockey and figure skating get it as well? Is Grand Falls Windsor and its taxpayers committed to amateur sport or just semi-pro sport? If it is free ice time for amateur sport as well? If the answer is YES please let us know in St. John's how you do it. You grip on economics is better than ours .
Should we sell bottled water at the Regatta and give it all to the Ice Caps. Should we take the canteen run by Hockey Moms in Mount Pearl and turn that over to the Ice Caps or the Senior Blades if they return. I am interested in how Grand Falls is in" the black". I myself and the guys I play hockey with are also looking for free ice time. Where do I sign up for that ?

Your interested in how The Cataracts are in the black?...good corporate sponsorship...great fans..and a good product...treat it like a business and you will do fine...As for the ice time...we get a break on the cost of our rentals and 1 hour of ice time every second week for a practice...in turn minor hockey earns money from the cataracts via the canteen.
changing the rules of imports is not the way to go..this will water down our league more and inturn it will water down the AESHL as more players will head west, as roster spots open up for the eliminated imports.

I suggest going with a 15-16 roster +2 goalies..that would cut cost down and keep some players on the east coadt...thoughts?