AHAI ANNUAL MEETING Sunday, June 4, 2006 The following were present at the meeting: Bob Mathson, Mike Mullally, Bob Saliba, Al Torres, Rich Becker, Kevin Bolger, Jack Weinberg, Bill Gomolinski, Lisa Olsen, Dennis O Malley, Maddy Rossobillo, John Dunne, and Paul Jakubowski. President s Report-Bob Mathson President Mathson welcomed all to the Annual AHAI Meeting. Bob reviewed the past season with a Power Point presentation that named all 37 of the State Championship teams at every level and noted that they all were invited as guests of the Chicago Blackhawks and the Wirtz family to the Championship Dinner at the O Hare Hyatt. The presentation went on to note the Illinois teams that went on to Regionals and Nationals. Bob also went on to introduce the One Goal Program, a program in conjunction with USA Hockey whereby AHAI will provide 500 Hockey Starter kits to organizations with Learn to Skate (play hockey) programs. Bob noted the creation of the Illinois Hockey Hall of Fame and its inaugural class of 24 inductees. USA Hockey-Jim Smith Jim talked about USA Hockey s upcoming Annual Congress, June 7 through 11, in Colorado Springs. He also explained that a new and improved USA Hockey website was scheduled to be operational this fall. Central District-Norm Spiegel Norm explained there were 2081 teams registered in Illinois last year. He went on to note the upcoming Central District and National Player Development camps for both boys and girls, and explained how well Illinois was represented at all the camps. AHAI COMMITTEE REPORTS Blackhawk Cup-Maddy Rossobillo Maddy gave a background of the evolution of the selection process / seeding for the Blackhawk Cup in the years since he has been the Chair. Then Maddy introduced and explained 2 of the 3 proposals under consideration to update this selection process. For the third proposal he introduced John Dunne the AHAI Chairman of the Tier II Presidents Council to explain their proposal. The floor was then open for discussion on these 3 proposals. After a rather lively and lengthy discussion by all of the Club Presidents in attendance, Chairman Rossobillo closed the discussion saying all would be taken under advisement and the Committee would have a decision on which new Proposal would be adopted by the Registrars Meeting in August. ASRC-Kevin Bolger Kevin reported that Fighting penalties were dramatically reduced this year. He attributes this to Clubs, Associations, Coaches and parents becoming more involved and outspoken against fighting and doing a great job educating players about this. Checking from behind
penalties have risen but Kevin attributes this to officials being more attuned to calling dangerous hits that could lead to severe injuries. He believes that like the decline in fighting penalties, checking from behind penalties will also recede from the raised awareness of potential injury and accompanying effort by Clubs, coaches and parents to instruct players to avoid this type of hit. Kevin applauded the effort of all involved and asked that everyone continue to educate the hockey players at all levels the correct way to play the game. Treasurers Report-Mike Mullally Mike reported that AHAI is in great shape financially. AHAI just closed their fiscal year 2005-2006 on May 31 st, and those financials will be submitted for audit shortly, and available on the website post audit. Mike noted that there will be one new financial item for next year the One Goal Program. High School-Mike Mullally Mike reported that the State Tournament consisted of 5 Divisions, 136 Teams with 131 games. Some minor adjustments to Divisions are already in the works for next year and the marketing of High School hockey will be more focused and at a higher level. AHAI will continue to partner with the Chicago Blackhawks to conduct the Annual Chicago Blackhawk Charities Christmas Tournament. At this year s Chicago Showcase Illinois had one of their strongest teams ever, and will move back up to the A bracket. Mike noted the 3 Blackhawk Alumni Scholarship recipients for this year. Finally Mike thanked the High School Committee members for all their diligent work over the last year. House League-Mike Mullally A very successful year was reported for all rink and youth organization House Leagues. Mike explained that the future focus would be on: Marketing the game to Non-hockey families; the Cross Ice Program; and the new One Goal Program. IHOA-Chris Lindley/Mike Wilt Former IHOA President Chris Lindley, was introduced as the new Referee-in-Chief replacing Don Allord who retired. Don had been the Illinois RIC since 1997. Chris introduced Mike Wilt as the new IHOA President. Chris reported that the IHOA Performance & Development Committee received 156 reports this season: 10% were not USA / IHOA registered games 50% were found to be unjustified complaints by individuals 15% were Attitude / Hustle issues with officials 5% were referred to Rules & Ethics 20% were Complimentary Chris also noted that the IHOA will conduct at least 10 Seminars beginning in August running through October. Last year IHOA / AHAI mandated that all officials over 18 must be screened. It is important that all officials are more diligent on penalties this year as it is an effort to combat the aggressive play and create a safer environment for the players. IHOA is also striving to create more consistent penalty assessment by all officials in Illinois. Finally Chris said the IHOA have provided in the past and currently still provide a service of presenting rules meetings to organizations and teams of AHAI.
Girls-Lisa Olsen / Dennis O Malley After 4 years in existence, AHAI s GROW Grant program which was aimed at attracting new girls to hockey, came to a close at the end of the 2005-06 regular season. Eight applications were approved in 05-06 totaling $24,000. That brings to a total of 34 applications with an aggregate total of $99,855.00 that have been approved since the GROW programs inception. Lisa reviewed the Prep Jamboree and Player Development Camps that have taken place and are yet to occur. She reported that the Illinois Showcase team finished 2 nd to Minnesota. Finally, Lisa noted that all age registrations were up this year with the exception of a slight decrease in the 16-19 bracket. Womens-Lisa Olsen Lisa pointed out that the number of Womens players has remained relatively stable since 2001-02. She reported that in the National Bound Pool there were 4 teams in the C Division and in the non-national Bound Pool there were 4 C and 2 D teams. Real area of growth is being noticed at the beginner / lower intermediate level teams. CEP-John Dunne John reported that all AHAI CEP Clinics are scheduled and will be posted at the rinks shortly. Online registration for these clinics will open by August 1 st. John specially thanked Rich Becker, Norm Spiegel and Myles Gottainer for their years of involvement in and development of AHAI s CEP Program Player Development-John Dunne With player and coaches decreased involvement in the AHAI Player Development program, participation by all organizations needs to improve. It was suggested that Tier II and High School Organizations both need to be more active in the placement and evaluation of players. It was strongly observed that Player Development starts with the Organizations at the grass roots level. Organizations need to follow established USA Hockey developmental programs to aid in Player Development. Participation in the Player Development Program will be emphasized by AHAI s Presidents Council, Tier II, Tier I, and High School Committees. Tier I-Bill Gomolinski All tryouts for squirt through bantam have been completed. All Illinois teams will now compete in the MWEHL Hockey league. Midget tryouts begin July 15, 2006. All player cards are due (squirt through bantam) by August 15, 2006. Midget cards are due November 15, 2006. All Tier 1 teams are playing in the Nike/Bauer tournament hosted by the Mission-Chill in November. This is the largest tournament in North America. The 4 AAA teams seem to be cooperating more readily this year.
R&E-Bill Gomolinski It was a banner year with a record number of cases. The Organizations must be responsible and educate their members as to Zero Tolerance. AHAI is not the first line of discipline, the Organizations are. I encourage all of the organization's to read the AHAI Guidebook regarding discipline and notice requirements. I also encourage the organizations to read Article 10 of the USA Hockey Guide which deals with discipline. Any other questions, please feel free to contact me. Tier II-Bob Saliba There were approximately 4500 players registered at the Tier II level this year. The Ice Dogs were approved as a new Tier II organization. They will call Vernon Hills their home. Bob explained that out of 71 requests to recoup a second choice 60 were granted a reinstatement of their second choice. Disabled Hockey-JJ O Connor JJ reported that Amy LaPoe is the new Central District Disabled Hockey representative to USA Hockey. He explained the 4 disciplines of Disabled Hockey as for: 1. Hearing Impaired. 2. Special Needs (such as the Tomahawks). 3. Amputee Hockey / Standing Team (no program here in Illinois) and 4. Sled Hockey (Hornets 2 nd year team that has 22 players). JJ announced that Illinois will be hosting the USA Hockey Disabled Festival at the Edge Ice Arenas on November 30 to December 2, 2006. JJ who is also AHAI s webmaster reported that AHAI has the leading website in USA Hockey in terms of hits and content. Golf Outing-Bob Mathson Bob reminded everyone of the AHAI 10 th Annual Golf Outing to benefit Special Hockey, Diversity Hockey, Hearing Impaired Hockey, Youth Sled Hockey, & the Catastrophic Injury Fund will be held on Friday, July 14 at the St. Andrews Country Club in West Chicago. Elections President Mathson said a quorum was present for the election of candidates to the AHAI Board of Directors. A motion was made from the floor to request a verbal vote for the candidates. The motion was seconded and passed without exception from the floor. A motion by Dave Shapiro to accept the slate of 5 nominees was seconded by Ned Forsberg and passed. John Dunne, Lisa Olsen, Bill Gomolinski, Bob Saliba, and Dennis O Malley were re-elected to the AHAI Board of Directors.
New Business Bob Mathson announced he would be stepping down after 5 years as AHAI s President effective immediately. Bob was presented with a commemorative award by AHAI for his service and given a standing ovation. As his last act as President, Bob Mathson thanked all the Presidents for their attendance and adjourned the 2006 Annual Meeting at 11:30 AM. The Board of Directors met briefly following the Annual Meeting. Bob Saliba made a motion to approve the May minutes which was seconded by Kevin Bolger and was approved. Ken Michel, Chair of the Nominating Committee proposed the following slate: Mike Mullally John Dunne Lisa Olsen Jim McGlynn Bob Mathson Bob Mathson Fred Lopez President Vice President of Operations First Vice President Vice President of Player Development First Past President Treasurer Secretary This was voted and passed. Mike Mullally noted that Rich Becker would stay involved with the AHAI Board and thanked him for all he has done over the years for AHAI. Kevin Bolger made a motion to adjourn which was seconded by Dennis O Malley. The motion passed. The meeting was adjourned at 11:48 AM. Respectfully submitted, Paul Jakubowski AHAI Recording Secretary