Because of their geography, teams from Yarmouth and Shelburne, as examples, don’t think twice about having to travel outside of their areas to play games. But for some other teams, they’re not always keen on making the two-hour trek for a game in return.
On the flip side, teams located closer geographically to metro may organize more games with city teams than teams from Yarmouth or Shelburne might.
Asked whether everyone has to be on side for these leagues to happen, Wentzell says that is the intent. But, he says, as discussions take place there may be room for flexibility in what shape these leagues would take.
“There are other leagues in the province, but they’re functioning in a geographically tighter area. So we have our own challenges. We can adopt new regulations to conform to what we want and what will work for us,” Wentzell says. “At the first meeting every minor hockey association was represented. There were lots of questions and answers. I’ll say this, we all agreed that we will put together a committee and look at it.”
The absence of leagues also creates challenges in scheduling games at the A and B levels, as that is left to individual teams to sort out. If a team opts to cancel a scheduled game during the season there is no rule preventing that. And when playdown rounds commence teams are left scrambling to find other teams to play when previously scheduled games get bumped, or if a team has been knocked out of playdowns.
With a league format, the scheduling would be looked after for teams, and the outcome of all games would hold some significance.
“Every game would be meaningful, every game would have a purpose,” says Wentzell, who really hopes to see this happen.
“I have a lot of support, but I also have some people who are balking at it. So it’s a matter of trying to bring them on board. At the very least, we have a commitment from every minor hockey association to sit at the table and see what things could look like.”
