Royals,red wings,jets,mariners may return

[Crackerjack]

Just a little information to pass along regarding this new league. Everyone is happy to see the buzz that has been created with the prospect of senior hockey on the west coast again.

Here's where things stand regarding some of the items discussed in this thread:

1 - This is going to be classified as a senior league, not intermediate. That means there will be bodychecking. The rules for fighting haven't been hammered out yet, but there are voices at the table looking for a 2-fight rule.

2 - Each team has a defined geographic area to draw players from.

3 - To date, each potential team has identified 20-25 local players to fill out a potential roster. Teams are hoping to begin practices once insurance details are set, hopefully in the next week or so. Deer Lake has had an informal skate already to identify interested players, Port-aux-Basques was considering it. Stephenville and Corner Brook are both waiting on insurance guarantees before skating.

4 - We are looking at having games played this winter. The tentative plan is for each team to play a home-and-home set with each other club for a total of 6 games per team over the course of 2-3 weeks. Weeknight games are being considered as a possibility/test.

5 - The point of this is for each club to test the waters and see what the logistics of icing a team will be, what type of fan support each team will get, how much support is needed to make a financial go of it, etc...

6 - The plans are to try and run this similar to the AESHL. This is not going to be similar to the semi-pro CWSHL, but should be run similar to the AESHL - which means we won't need to fill the barns every night, but still should get some fans out in decent numbers, especially for the stretch run and playoffs.

7 - Skill-wise, probably a notch below the AESHL and a notch above the Central Intermediate league.

8 - There has been a ton of interest from businesses interested in getting on board with sponsoring local teams. There is an appetite for local senior hockey - Stephenville and Port-aux-Basques haven't had teams in over 15 years now - and it's generating interest.

9 - There are some real good people at the table trying to get this off the ground. Knowledge, experience, energy, and a desire to make it work. Lots of talk about trying to keep imports off the rosters and work is being done to try and close all the loopholes via a league constitution.

[The Bottom Line]

Great stuff, hope it all works out !

[Hockey Eyes]

Nothing to say except to wish the hockey people from the west coast the very best of luck . The concept as outlined seems like a great starting point for a league that will give a lot of players a good uptempo game of hockey. Looking at the people involved on the ground I have no doubt that you will make it. I can see community sponsors lined up to be part of it .
I am already for Stephenville. *s*

[superfan]

Stephenville has a lot of heart, but how about those Mariners .

[RKP49]

It will still cost money. If fans are not coming out to watch what we have now I doubt they will pay to watch this stuff. What;s the involvement of HNL? How much coin do they have on the table. Could be a great ploy to rid NL of the Caribous Flyers and Cataracts. Sounds bush to me. Let's see how it all plays out. It will likely all end up on the Avalon anyway.

[superfan]

Hotels and buses do cost money indeed . Hope there are sponsors ready to help .


... all the very best to the new league .

[rusty]

They don't need hotels if they play a home and home, only with the trip to PAB, Todays paper said it is a go for the month of March with each team playing a home and home and a one play playoff. Great start.

[titan]

I think that us fans of the CWSHL should watch this very closely. IMO this will be a good model for us to follow if we want Sr.Hockey to watch in this area in the future. The current model isn't working and is not affordable so we need something new or we will have nothing. I, for one, would go to the rink to watch a league like this anyday. All the best folks in this venture!!

[Langerfan]

It will still cost money. If fans are not coming out to watch what we have now I doubt they will pay to watch this stuff. What;s the involvement of HNL? How much coin do they have on the table. Could be a great ploy to rid NL of the Caribous Flyers and Cataracts. Sounds bush to me. Let's see how it all plays out. It will likely all end up on the Avalon anyway.

To suggest this is a ploy by HNL is also to suggest that the people trying to get this off the ground are just HNL puppets. I know some of the people involved and I can assure you they are not puppets. What they are is a group of knowledgeable hockey people, simply interested in bringing senior hockey to their communities. I'm sure they looked at the CWSHL and AESHL models and came to the conclusion that the CWSHL approach is simply not sustainable.

I believe enough fans will support this new league to keep it operating and for those that don't, well they will just need to replace senior hockey with some other type of winter weekend entertainment. I remember reading one post recently where someone said that instead of taking in an AESHL game he/she decided to engage in a game of snowball fighting with some minor hockey players. Since (s)he has already started the process of transitioning away from senior hockey by finding a new enjoyable winter sport, we at least know it will be possible to move after once the CWSHL disappears.

[royals hockey]

I can't help but feel some people don't seem to want this to work but that just my opinion. I for one can't wait to see the royals on the ice again clashing with the red wings its been such a long time. There is alot of buzz here in corner brook and in deer lake also.