Western Ontario Ringette League

January 15, 2008

Attendance: Kitchener; St. Thomas; Susan Hill; Guelph; Hanover; Waterloo; Elora-Fergus; Dorchester; Scott Borland; St. Clements; Chuck Webber; London; Chatham; St. Mary’s; Exeter; Ron Vermeltfoort; Waterloo; Forest; Darlene Capson; London Open; Mary Kaiser, Janet Logan; Keith Kaiser; Tania Pettitt-Tracey; Peter Westelaken

Meeting called to order at 7:30

Approval of minutes – Motion by London/Forest . . . . approved.

Schedulers Report: some teams are short on games, those teams will have games added to the league schedule. League games need to be in as league standings are used for rankings for playoffs. Playoff format is single game elimination. Intent it to have all league and playoff games completed by the end of March. All league games must be played, even if they are played after playoffs.

Business Arising – University games – no online reporting this year. Send Janet the stats.

Convenor’s Report:

• Provincial Petite – all is good. 4 games need to be rescheduled. Question arose – how many times do you have to offer ice time for rescheduled game before the other team forfeits? 3

• Tween – no report

• Junior – some games to be rescheduled

• Belle – no issues. Some games to be rescheduled.

• Open – 2 games to be rescheduled.

Issue arose with games in Chatham, email went out that there wouldn’t be refs available. Teams driving long distance for the games and already on the road. Much discussion took place. Note – ORA rules stipulates that you must have at least 1 qualified ref. Teams can play the game without qualified refs, however both teams must play. It is suggested that both teams ensure the game sheet states that there were no qualified refs for the game when the teams arrived. It was decided that Chatham and Elora Fergus rep would put a draft policy together concerning this issues. Will be presented at next meeting.

WORL contact information. Very important to have team contact information (including a cell phone if possible), forwarded to Janet. This information was to be sent in September. Contact information can then be given to Tania, and to the teams in their respective divisions. Contact list was also used for Hudson Travel, who will be contacting the teams regarding reservations for Provincials.

Elite Report:

• If you have WR shotclocks, and they aren’t working, let Mary know.

• Coaches have been contacted that haven’t met their qualifications.

• Matrix. WR has to operate under ORA’s Closest Association rule. However, WR can fine tune the matrix, and are willing to do so. If you have suggestions on how to improve the matrix, send your suggestions by email to Mary (deadline end of Feb). WR will look at all suggestions, and will decide on those that they would like to present their ideas in person. Most individuals that responded to the ad-hoc questionnaire identified the matrix as a hurdle. Any fine tuning of the matrix has to be in the best interest of the Region. Region will continue using the e-player tracking tool. What other tools can we develop? How do other regions follow the closest Association rule?

Membership report: Start thinking about awards. Western Region is hoping that there are more nominations from the region than last year.

Webmaster report – nothing to report.

Referee in Chief – no report. Mileage report handed in.

G&T:

• Prelims: Provincial Petite division has been cancelled. However, those teams going to Whitby Provincials need to talk amongst themselves and decide if they want to play in Prelims. If all agree, the division will be reinstated. Same with those teams going to Oshawa. Open teams will be in Prelims.

• Prov. Petite division will only have a WORL champ (playoffs)

• Janet provided an explanation on how teams were chosen for each Provincial championship.

Adhoc Committee:

• Feedback due Jan. 16^th

• Response has not been overwhelming

• Individual and Association responses wanted

• Encourage individuals to forward their responses to their Association President.

• Draft presentation at next meeting. Allow enough time for the presentation, questions and decisions.

• Next WORL meeting will be bumped to 7pm

London Petite 2 team status: Team would like to see them listed on the website. Game results aren’t posted. Confusion over whether their games are exhibition games or league games. Coaches of respective teams to discuss. Coach to let Scott and Bill know if any of the games played are league games. Information will be forwarded to Keith to post. Only league games are posted.

Next meeting: Feb. 12, 2008 at 7pm – Optimist Hall

Motion to adjourn: Elora Fergus/Guelph . . . . carried