Canada vs America 2009
Many of us wanted this discussion to begin ASAP after numerous discussions from the past and during recent Saturday games.
Because of the results of the last two CanAM games USA needs to change the way we have been doing business in order to win against "Canada/World" team.
It is important for anyone who has played in the past 2 games to post their opinions about the future of these events as well as players who plan on playing this year.
Questions For Discussion:
Should/is the CanAm game a "come one/come all game"?
My Answer; No! If we divert from "throw your stick in the middle" way of fate selecting teams then we have already began the "picking teams or have begun a segregation approach" to the whole SSH concept of throw your stick in the middle mentality.
Should we limit the number of players?
My Answer; Yes. Last year was a total clusterF@$! that killed us by having 30 people on the bench and the worst players that day taking the most amount of shift time. Lots of mismatches , infighting etc, etc. Nothing more than an unorganized mob! There were and still are a lot of players that don't have a clue about the etiquette of make line changes and are often too stubborn or clueless to rotate out with the other players on the bench. I'm personally not a fan of the worst player taking the most amount of playing time. We need to be more organized and get away from the "USA Mob Team" approach to be competitive.
If so, how do we select a team?
My Answer; I think we should have players play in weekly games and "earn" a spot on the USA team. Everyone who wants to play on the USA team should put their names on the roster. Over the next few (2-3 weeks) we should have the USA players have 15 votes (one for each player to represent USA) and vote for players who they would want to represent USA. The number of votes is dependent on the total number of players we decide to field for the game 15-20. That way if there is a player that is "good" but doesn't act as a team player I.E double half ass shifts,cherry picking and not playing D, or someone who doesn't hustle etc. This gives an equal chance to the players who are not as "good" as others but have the team player and hard working qualities that will be noticed and voted upon respectively. Those players that are selected by the USA roster will play and represent the USA appropriately.
If not, should we have a separate game for the players that want to play as a "select team" or a competitive USA vs. Canada game? Canada; What say you?
My Answer; I'm open to a rec team and a competitive team. Maybe a simple tournament style approach at the Can Am game???
If we have two divisions should we have a recreational game before 2pm and a competitive game after the recreational "come one/come all" game? Or select another date for the real game USA say in another challenge event?
My Answer; My vote would be to categorize the CanAm game as a real representation of the USA vs. Canada/World players. Recreational division game to be played at 12pm come one/come all. The real game to start at 2pm. Otherwise the CanAm Mob type game will mean as much as a "Lefties vs. Righties" game in my book.
Should we bring in a Ref and have a penility box to keep the game cleaner?
My answer; Yes, we could have one Canadian ref and one American ref. These people could be injured regular players or outsiders who know the game of hockey.
Lets all discuss these topic's until June 1st and then let's make a finial decision as to what the game plan will be. I'll talk to the COMMISH and see if we can somehow send or host a voting system and we can vote in the 3rd of June after that Saturdays game as to the meaning and format of this years CanAm game.
We have the blessing of the Canadian/World team coaches and management to make this a "bring your best team" event. Now let put it to a discussion and vote!
If you don't participate in the discussion or the vote you haven't earned the right to complain about this years event!
Because of the results of the last two CanAM games USA needs to change the way we have been doing business in order to win against "Canada/World" team.
It is important for anyone who has played in the past 2 games to post their opinions about the future of these events as well as players who plan on playing this year.
Questions For Discussion:
Should/is the CanAm game a "come one/come all game"?
My Answer; No! If we divert from "throw your stick in the middle" way of fate selecting teams then we have already began the "picking teams or have begun a segregation approach" to the whole SSH concept of throw your stick in the middle mentality.
Should we limit the number of players?
My Answer; Yes. Last year was a total clusterF@$! that killed us by having 30 people on the bench and the worst players that day taking the most amount of shift time. Lots of mismatches , infighting etc, etc. Nothing more than an unorganized mob! There were and still are a lot of players that don't have a clue about the etiquette of make line changes and are often too stubborn or clueless to rotate out with the other players on the bench. I'm personally not a fan of the worst player taking the most amount of playing time. We need to be more organized and get away from the "USA Mob Team" approach to be competitive.
If so, how do we select a team?
My Answer; I think we should have players play in weekly games and "earn" a spot on the USA team. Everyone who wants to play on the USA team should put their names on the roster. Over the next few (2-3 weeks) we should have the USA players have 15 votes (one for each player to represent USA) and vote for players who they would want to represent USA. The number of votes is dependent on the total number of players we decide to field for the game 15-20. That way if there is a player that is "good" but doesn't act as a team player I.E double half ass shifts,cherry picking and not playing D, or someone who doesn't hustle etc. This gives an equal chance to the players who are not as "good" as others but have the team player and hard working qualities that will be noticed and voted upon respectively. Those players that are selected by the USA roster will play and represent the USA appropriately.
If not, should we have a separate game for the players that want to play as a "select team" or a competitive USA vs. Canada game? Canada; What say you?
My Answer; I'm open to a rec team and a competitive team. Maybe a simple tournament style approach at the Can Am game???
If we have two divisions should we have a recreational game before 2pm and a competitive game after the recreational "come one/come all" game? Or select another date for the real game USA say in another challenge event?
My Answer; My vote would be to categorize the CanAm game as a real representation of the USA vs. Canada/World players. Recreational division game to be played at 12pm come one/come all. The real game to start at 2pm. Otherwise the CanAm Mob type game will mean as much as a "Lefties vs. Righties" game in my book.
Should we bring in a Ref and have a penility box to keep the game cleaner?
My answer; Yes, we could have one Canadian ref and one American ref. These people could be injured regular players or outsiders who know the game of hockey.
Lets all discuss these topic's until June 1st and then let's make a finial decision as to what the game plan will be. I'll talk to the COMMISH and see if we can somehow send or host a voting system and we can vote in the 3rd of June after that Saturdays game as to the meaning and format of this years CanAm game.
We have the blessing of the Canadian/World team coaches and management to make this a "bring your best team" event. Now let put it to a discussion and vote!
If you don't participate in the discussion or the vote you haven't earned the right to complain about this years event!
Views: 30
Comment
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Comment by Erik on April 25, 2009 at 10:56am
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Hi all.
I think the teams need to limited to 15 players each. The more people that are on a team, the longer the shifts and I don't think anyone feels like sitting around for 30 minutes waiting to play again. At first I thought having 2 teams per country would accomodate everyone but I don't think we want to accomodate everyone. I think we are all in agreement that those who show up regularly should play and those that come once every 2 months should not.
I am not in favor of refs. If you need a ref to keep you in line you probably should not be playing in this game. We don't have refs normally so I am not sure why we would need them for this game. Let's keep it fun, people!
I am in favor of choosing 2 captains to work with the Commish and they will decide if we go to a voting system or something else. It's great that we are getting some discussion about this but we all have different ideas about how this should work.
June 3 is a Wednesday, by the way. June 6 is that Saturday.
That's enough from me.
Erik
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Comment by Katherine Cortes on April 25, 2009 at 9:49am
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hey guys. I would be in favor of keeping it simple, but at least having a sign-up sheet circulated over the next few weeks. If a person can't make it to a single game in May, they shouldn't get on the list. That said, I don't need to play if people would rather not have me.
-Katherine
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Comment by Pete McCall on April 24, 2009 at 10:52pm
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Comment regarding hogging the ice/pavement:
One thing you could do to make sure people hussle out there.... if your line gets scored on, automatic line change. That will make people play a better defensive game (mind ya, that sounds boring)... damn trap. If you don't get scored on you are probably hussling and will want to change anyway.... either way it will make for somewhat consistent line changes.
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Comment by GG on April 24, 2009 at 6:46pm
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I honestly think what makes Seattle Street Hockey great is everyone gets to play no matter what level. Sure we've had a few weekends of a ton of people, and with the HUGE success the CanAm game has become it is tempting to limit the teams based on talent/participation or whatever.
I think we should just wait and see, and plan on business as usual. Everyone comes and has a good time, semi-family event, Canada puts a thrashing on the US counterpart. Celebrate the victory at Peto's.
Simple as that.
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Comment by ML on April 24, 2009 at 2:07pm
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Ron, hats off to you for bringing up a topic that has assuredly been on everone's minds. I know you're looking for Team USA input here but I'm going to chime in anyways with my humble opinions.
Q1: Should/is the CanAm game a "come one/come all game"?
No. I thought it was retarded last year that Team USA had so many players...not because it was unfair (it wasn't, we won), but because I didn't recognize half the people there. In my opinion, the now 3rd annual USA vs CAN event is not for anyone and everyone to come out of the woodwork to play their one game of the year. Its for all of the folks who show up week in and week out, who come out early in the pissing rain to set up the boards and stay late to tear them down, etc. If nobody knows your name, you don't belong at the event. If you haven't played with us since last year's event you don't belong at the event. If you haven't contributed money to the Seattle Street Hockey cause, not just for this event but throughout the year, you definitely don't belong at the event.
Q2:Should we limit the number of players?
Yes. See above. I don't think people should be allowed to come out once or twice a year and then expect to play at the event.
Q3: If so, how do we select a team?
In my opinion, its up to the senior members of Team USA (e.g. Gregg, Benny, Ron, Chuck, etc) to decide how to limit your team, if at all. Clearly Team USA had some challenges last year even though you far outnumbered Team Canada, so I'm sure you guys feel something needs to be done. I have some thoughts on this, and some of my points could apply to Team Canada, for that matter.
1) First, selecting a team based on skill level alone is a very slippery slope and bound to get some people really pissed off. I don't think it is a good idea, and definitely takes away from the Throw Your Stick In The Middle theme that defines SSH.
2) Instead, base the selection on things like the effort someone puts in, how hard they hustle, and definitely how often they've played in the last year. I like your idea of a voting system Ron. We have some new folks that have been coming out for just a few months and could be considered 'new', but the ones I'm thinking of come out and play hard and bust their asses and help set up/tear down the boards and are good team players and are on their way to becoming considered 'regulars', if not already. Should the fact they've only been here 4 months mean they don't get to play? My magic eight ball says no. They bust their butts, let them play.
3) Both teams should make sure all their players know that they'll be held accountable for a lack of effort if they display it. In my opinion, the team captains and the tenured guys should feel very comfortable telling a guy or girl to get off the pavement if they're stinking up the joint, or not hustling, or not listening to coaching. Additionally, if the Captain or one of the other leaders (Assistant captains?) says get off the pavement, or its time for a line change, then listen or you're out for the rest of the event.
4) Speaking of line changes, this happens a lot even during the regular weekly games when there's a large number of players...people don't get enough playing time. I'm a big fan of mandatory line changes when there are too many people. Mandatory wholesale line changes after every goal, or when Bubbles or Ron launches a ball into Green Lake, or whatever. And again, if your team is telling you to get off for a line change, its because you're out of gas and should get off for the good of the team. Or because you're a playing-time-hogging son of a bitch :)
Q4: Should we have a separate game for the players that want to play as a "select team" or a competitive USA vs. Canada game? Canada; What say you?
NO! It should stay the same format as years past: one Team Canada vs one Team USA, best of 5 (or 7?) games series. We shouldn't change the event format just because Team USA was poorly managed last year ;)
Q5: Should we bring in a Ref and have a penality box to keep the game cleaner?
Funny that the guy who breaks fingers and tomahawk-chops goalies in the head brings up the topic of making the game cleaner ;). Yes, a ref or two would be awesome. I know a certain bald-headed hippy with a bum leg who would be a good choice.
Another idea I had to limit the amount of dead wood showing up for their one game of the year - charge an entrance fee for the game. Not the money already being collected to pay for the party, but a five or ten dollar mandatory 'donation' towards the boards, equipment, balls, etc. Payable before the game starts, and we keep a roster of who has paid. You don't pay, you don't play.
Anyways. Just some thoughts.
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Comment by Ron Niemi on April 24, 2009 at 9:00am
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I agree. Cananda/World vs America is still the event.
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I'm not sure if I like the idea of 2 Canadian teams playing each other in the finals.
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Smoke another UP Wowie! Go Wings!
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Comment by Brad Marsh on April 24, 2009 at 8:32am
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actually games up to 5 win by 1 like regular. i just thought of somteihn though there might be not enough goalies.
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Could also add a consolation game for 3rd place before or after the championship game. Comes to a total of 10 games played....GO WINGS!
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