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Post by ridinpine on Jan 31, 2024 10:57:29 GMT -6
I don't hate that. maybe let the goalie be a free elite spot as well, and shrink the radius to actual hometown players either currently living or played minor hockey in a smaller radius then the current 120km to cut down on the fake adresses. I understand the desire for locals to play in their hometown, obviously that’s the whole point of senior hockey for most players and fans. But I think the twin rivers rules of allowing unlimited “none-elite” imports regardless of where they are from is what’s keeping the league alive. I know for a fact that if non elites had to be locals more then half the league would fold overnight, most teams are filled out by junior B, midget AA or even house league kids from the city and all over the province with no connection to the town, just guys wanting to play hockey. Allowing unlimited “none-elite” imports is the reason you don’t see as many short benches in the twin rivers. The sad truth is most of these towns don’t have much for minor hockey these days, smaller towns are lucky if they have a couple kids a year coming out of midget, nowhere near enough to put together a decent senior team anymore. Ya this is one of the reasons why those rules are good. If you can get your town to support a team with no locals on it then good for you. And most of those non elites aren't making big enough difference to displace the locals a team does have. Win win imo |
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Post by rublind on Jan 31, 2024 10:57:31 GMT -6
I don't hate that. maybe let the goalie be a free elite spot as well, and shrink the radius to actual hometown players either currently living or played minor hockey in a smaller radius then the current 120km to cut down on the fake adresses. I understand the desire for locals to play in their hometown, obviously that’s the whole point of senior hockey for most players and fans. But I think the twin rivers rules of allowing unlimited “none-elite” imports regardless of where they are from is what’s keeping the league alive. I know for a fact that if non elites had to be locals more then half the league would fold overnight, most teams are filled out by junior B, midget AA or even house league kids from the city and all over the province with no connection to the town, just guys wanting to play hockey. Allowing unlimited “none-elite” imports is the reason you don’t see as many short benches in the twin rivers. The sad truth is most of these towns don’t have much for minor hockey these days, smaller towns are lucky if they have a couple kids a year coming out of midget, nowhere near enough to put together a decent senior team anymore. Agreed. The only downside is with all of these “imports” they can’t really go provincials unless they go A and lose by 30. I like both types of leagues. Small town senior hockey to give the few locals a place to play as well as the leagues that are pretty much minor pro players still playing good hockey. |
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Post by trhlbraintrust on Feb 1, 2024 8:26:53 GMT -6
I don't hate that. maybe let the goalie be a free elite spot as well, and shrink the radius to actual hometown players either currently living or played minor hockey in a smaller radius then the current 120km to cut down on the fake adresses. I understand the desire for locals to play in their hometown, obviously that’s the whole point of senior hockey for most players and fans. But I think the twin rivers rules of allowing unlimited “none-elite” imports regardless of where they are from is what’s keeping the league alive. I know for a fact that if non elites had to be locals more then half the league would fold overnight, most teams are filled out by junior B, midget AA or even house league kids from the city and all over the province with no connection to the town, just guys wanting to play hockey. Allowing unlimited “none-elite” imports is the reason you don’t see as many short benches in the twin rivers. The sad truth is most of these towns don’t have much for minor hockey these days, smaller towns are lucky if they have a couple kids a year coming out of midget, nowhere near enough to put together a decent senior team anymore. I agree the rules in the TRHL will help make it successful - obviuosly not competitive with the top leagues - but hockey will keep playing here. However, there should be more emphasis on keeping locals playing, especially the ones coming thru the hockey season. The unlimited Non-elite imports don't make those teams use locals enough. It's low end senior, how every team can't have one or two legit rookies every year is a fault with those teams. We've all seen the cycle of a "boys club" playing way past their prime and young players not given a chance, go elsewhere or stop playing. I've got no skin in this game - just a fan. But I'd be a bigger fan knowing half the players were local along with up and comers.... |
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Post by floater on Feb 1, 2024 14:29:11 GMT -6
I understand the desire for locals to play in their hometown, obviously that’s the whole point of senior hockey for most players and fans. But I think the twin rivers rules of allowing unlimited “none-elite” imports regardless of where they are from is what’s keeping the league alive. I know for a fact that if non elites had to be locals more then half the league would fold overnight, most teams are filled out by junior B, midget AA or even house league kids from the city and all over the province with no connection to the town, just guys wanting to play hockey. Allowing unlimited “none-elite” imports is the reason you don’t see as many short benches in the twin rivers. The sad truth is most of these towns don’t have much for minor hockey these days, smaller towns are lucky if they have a couple kids a year coming out of midget, nowhere near enough to put together a decent senior team anymore. Agreed. The only downside is with all of these “imports” they can’t really go provincials unless they go A and lose by 30. I like both types of leagues. Small town senior hockey to give the few locals a place to play as well as the leagues that are pretty much minor pro players still playing good hockey. This also raises the question for a modified provincials like an edit to "D" or some way to allow small towns with low budgets to try and mix it up in the tournament, get more engagement from the teams that never enter these days. |
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Post by zambonidriver on Feb 5, 2024 11:33:15 GMT -6
I understand the desire for locals to play in their hometown, obviously that’s the whole point of senior hockey for most players and fans. But I think the twin rivers rules of allowing unlimited “none-elite” imports regardless of where they are from is what’s keeping the league alive. I know for a fact that if non elites had to be locals more then half the league would fold overnight, most teams are filled out by junior B, midget AA or even house league kids from the city and all over the province with no connection to the town, just guys wanting to play hockey. Allowing unlimited “none-elite” imports is the reason you don’t see as many short benches in the twin rivers. The sad truth is most of these towns don’t have much for minor hockey these days, smaller towns are lucky if they have a couple kids a year coming out of midget, nowhere near enough to put together a decent senior team anymore. Agreed. The only downside is with all of these “imports” they can’t really go provincials unless they go A and lose by 30. I like both types of leagues. Small town senior hockey to give the few locals a place to play as well as the leagues that are pretty much minor pro players still playing good hockey. absolutely need the small town senior hockey teams, with low budgets. without those leagues senior hockey would be all but dead. you have the LLHL, SVHL, Big 6, QVVHL that all throw around big money... you need to have the other end of the spektrum as well. went to a Jansen game couple weeks ago, rink was full, big 50/50. quality of hockey was lower but lots of local area guys and the game was good. |
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Post by ppbluesfan24 on Feb 5, 2024 17:32:46 GMT -6
This also raises the question for a modified provincials like an edit to "D" or some way to allow small towns with low budgets to try and mix it up in the tournament, get more engagement from the teams that never enter these days. Is their a reason hockey Sask still uses a population guide for provincials and not a tier system. They are the only sport in the province to do that, every single other competitive sport senior or minor, is based on a teir or ranking, or by winning your conference/league, and not population. Is hockey Sask just too lazy to put in the effort? Or are the people there just so old and out of touch of what the senior hockey landscape looks like? they pretty much just copy+paste the format used for minor hockey. Works great for minor hockey, not so much in senior. |
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Post by Guest 69 on Feb 5, 2024 23:24:54 GMT -6
This also raises the question for a modified provincials like an edit to "D" or some way to allow small towns with low budgets to try and mix it up in the tournament, get more engagement from the teams that never enter these days. Is their a reason hockey Sask still uses a population guide for provincials and not a tier system. They are the only sport in the province to do that, every single other competitive sport senior or minor, is based on a teir or ranking, or by winning your conference/league, and not population. Is hockey Sask just too lazy to put in the effort? Or are the people there just so old and out of touch of what the senior hockey landscape looks like? Sask baseball did away with population for men's provincials and it has killed sr. Provincials. They have few guys sit in a room and "rank" teams and that is messed up. |
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Post by Stu on Feb 6, 2024 15:26:43 GMT -6
This also raises the question for a modified provincials like an edit to "D" or some way to allow small towns with low budgets to try and mix it up in the tournament, get more engagement from the teams that never enter these days. Is their a reason hockey Sask still uses a population guide for provincials and not a tier system. They are the only sport in the province to do that, every single other competitive sport senior or minor, is based on a teir or ranking, or by winning your conference/league, and not population. Is hockey Sask just too lazy to put in the effort? Or are the people there just so old and out of touch of what the senior hockey landscape looks like? Not quite accurate. Mens fastball allows teams to enter any category they want. It's an honor system that generally has worked well. Granted it's a smaller scale of teams, but the 2-3 elite teams will stick to themselves in the A category, for the rest it's a free for all in what's now the 'open' category, and is usually a wide open competition. Even years ago with way more teams it worked in that sport. |
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Post by Duby on Feb 6, 2024 17:15:43 GMT -6
Is their a reason hockey Sask still uses a population guide for provincials and not a tier system. They are the only sport in the province to do that, every single other competitive sport senior or minor, is based on a teir or ranking, or by winning your conference/league, and not population. Is hockey Sask just too lazy to put in the effort? Or are the people there just so old and out of touch of what the senior hockey landscape looks like? Not quite accurate. Mens fastball allows teams to enter any category they want. It's an honor system that generally has worked well. Granted it's a smaller scale of teams, but the 2-3 elite teams will stick to themselves in the A category, for the rest it's a free for all in what's now the 'open' category, and is usually a wide open competition. Even years ago with way more teams it worked in that sport. Not entirely true. They’re down to just one team that enters “A.” Nobody wants to play the Angels. That leaves essentially one division of provincials. In recent years dominated by Grenfell, who in their own right should nut up and enter A, along with 2 or 3 other top teams like Earl Grey, and Bruno in the past. Softball Sask would benefit from another division. Not necessarily based on population, but caliber of teams, which wouldn’t be hard to determine. Another division for the better teams would encourage more teams to enter the “open” category. |
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Post by Stu on Feb 6, 2024 17:28:39 GMT -6
You're right Duby, but thats just in more recent years because of the dwindling number of teams. Even 5-10 years ago the sport saw A,B, and C divisions with decent representation in each, all entered at will without population or 'elite' restrictions. Sure some teams played down a level from where they 'should have' but it was self policed pretty well. Point being I think it can be done.
There's also a 'masters' division. 40 and over. Has this ever been explored in hockey? Even 35+ could draw a few teams together built with guys that don't want to go up against a team with 3 lines of 20 somethings just graduated from jr etc
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