June HAHA Board Meeting Minutes June 24, 2015 Skyline Joe Biondi Jim Knapp Matt King Karly Madill Dan Gotz Jon Kalkbrenner Jeremy Graves Troy Fath Greg Hanson Jon Clauson Mark Sams Haley Watkins Jesse Evjen Brandon Thorsvik Bob Schmidt Meeting opened at 8:04pm by Joe Biondi with a call to order. The May 2015 Minutes were reviewed and a Motion to Accept was made by Matt King and seconded by Jon Clauson. The motion passed with a vote of 14 yes and 0 no. Gambling Report: Bob Schmidt presented the gambling report for May 2015. The May Tax Report was presented with gross receipts of $159,905.00, prizes paid out of $134,302.00, net receipts of $25,603.00, taxes $9,253.00, and all other expenses of $11,833.00 resulting in a net profit of $4,517.00 for May 2015 versus $3,398.00 for the same period of May 2014. End of month carry-over was $68,283.99. The YTD Net Profit was $69,501.00. May expenses were $23,103.00 on an original budget of $26,240.00, which was $3,137.00 under budget. A Motion to Accept the May 2015 Tax Report was made by Matt King and seconded by Dan Gotz. The motion passed with a vote of 14 yes and 0 no. A Motion to Approve the proposed budget for July 2015 of $28,740.00 was made by Jeremy Graves and seconded by Matt King. The motion passed with a vote of 14 yes and 0 no. Schedule C donation request was made by Matt King to donate $2,038.93 for equipment and supplies for the 2015/2016 season. Payment is made to Play It Again. Motion to Approve the donation was made by Jeremy Graves and seconded by Jim Knapp. The motion passed with a vote of 14 yes and 0 no. Treasurer's Report: Jon Clauson presented the May 2015 Treasurer Report with end balances for Money Market of $256,260.42; Savings of $10,000.00; and Checking of $10,356.23 ~ for total funding of $276,616.65. A Motion to Approve the May 2015 Treasurer's Report was made by Matt King and seconded by Karly Madill. The motion passed with a vote of 14 yes and 0 no.
Joe Biondi followed up with information for the $10,000.00 payment for the Arena floor. Nate Hooper, Dave Huttel, Laura Thorsvik and Pat Chaffey were at the meeting along with Joe to discuss. Laura Thorsvik stated they did not want to approach the school board with the $40,000.00 bill for repairs to the arena floor. She stated the Superintendent has power for payments under $25,000.00. She further stated that once it was brought up at the school board meeting there were some concerns by school board members who did not want to pay anything for the repairs but agreed to $25,500.00. HAHA paid $10,000.00 and the Arena paid $11,000.00. Joe Biondi stated he told Laura Thorsvik about the $50,000.00 that was spent by HAHA for the girl s locker room construction. She was not aware of that and he felt that those are issues the school board needs to be aware of. Jon Clauson stated he spoke with Dave Huttel who said he is concerned with the arena s loss due to be being closed for 2 months. He stated their cash flow might be down for a while. Equipment Troy Fath spoke with Pat Andrews for an update on jerseys. Pat Andrews is working with players to get proper sizing prior to placing the order. Troy also stated we do not have a final price. He asked for a higher quality logo to use. Matt King said the board dividers proposal needs to be signed and they can be delivered in two weeks. The quote total is $5,700.00, which includes shipping. Matt further commented that Dave Huttel is willing to keep and store the new boards along with the boards we currently have. It was mentioned that the current board dividers could be brought to Proctor Canvas to be repaired. Matt King said the new boards could be moved with two adults in less than ten minutes. Matt is requesting a decision on the boards to move forward. Website with descriptions of the boards is Becker Arena Products. Joe Biondi asked for thoughts on spending the money for the boards. They should last long term and can be covered by donations from Bob Schmidt. Troy Fath stated Frank Postal s concern is when you have an odd number of teams at the younger ages. We will repair and retain the dividers we currently have to allow for splitting the ice if needed to accommodate the younger players. Dan Gotz said the ADM model is based on using the half ice and the boards will be valuable.
Brandon Thorsvik stated it needs to be mandated at that age that the boards be used and needs to be enforced by level coordinator and coaches. Greg Hanson said he feels the older ages will also use them. Jim Knapp asked for recommendation for timing of ordering. Matt King said he wants to move forward. A Motion to Approve the Purchase of Boards was made by Troy Fath and was seconded by Greg Hanson. The motion passed with a vote of 14 yes and 0 no. Matt King will confirm how they do billing for the process and would prefer to invoice Bob Schmidt. A Motion to Approve the Donation to HAHA by Bob Schmidt was made by Dan Gotz and seconded by Brandon Thorsvik for the Boards. The motion passed with a vote of 14 yes and 0 no. PeeWee Level Consideration: Jim Knapp recapped information from a meeting that occurred over the last month with interested parties. Their purpose was to determine how we got to the teams we have and what we do and how do we handle in the future. Number one issue is our ability to look at competition being appropriate with the skill level that we have. The question was then discussed at their meeting as to how a new proposal for level realignment will promote development within the program allowing our teams to have games that are closer in score and competition. If the games are closer in score and ability our teams gain development because we gain nothing if we are much better or inferior than our competition. Organizations need to adjust to the skill level each year but that is also difficult. Mark Sams stated that numbers for next season are around 45-47 skaters with 7 goalies. Jim Knapp then said it is better to have lower numbers on teams to give players more ice time. Some meeting attendees commented that a change might make a difference if you have three or four teams depending on registration numbers. Jim Knapp then discussed some of the minuses: A team wins will be harder to achieve because organizations that do not have AA teams the A team is their highest level. Scheduling will be important in order to help facilitate proper competition. They believe it will be very important to do swings vs. tournaments
so you can choose the teams you play against and have a better opportunity for success. Additionally, the B team(s) will also have wins that will become harder to achieve. They also thought that a second cut for the players on the B team could affect player s confidence. Joe Biondi said generally one cut and then placement on their team. Another minus could be a coaching shortage if we have four teams. Brandon Thorsvik stated that the process and procedure for deciding team levels needs to have transparency with the members of the organization. He feels we should have a way for parents to discuss with board members and be educated on why the change was made. Matt King asked how the other associations handle the PeeWee level. Joe Biondi said there are many organizations moving to designate their top level being A. Mark Sams feels we could be competitive around the area but it would change versus cities teams. Joe Biondi said looking at numbers we would need to field four teams. It was discussed that having four teams with the current projected numbers will be difficult but Dan Gotz said less is better because they get more playing time, enthusiasm and development. Jon Clauson was concerned if you have injuries, sickness etc. and going with potentially nine skaters at that level will be difficult. At this time we do not know if there will be petitions for move ups. Brandon Thorsvik said for him it depends if we have three or four teams with most skill being at top two levels. Biggest difference this time would be goal tending which caused problems a few years ago. Jim Knapp would like to determine a way to look at each level and see what the future brings and what the tendency looks like over several years. Mark Sams and Dan Gotz feel like it something that you discuss every year because there are always concerns and our numbers fluctuate. Dan Gotz said in other associations they discussed with coaches to determine what they feel and how players developed at each level. At that time it was decided the goal and plan for the following year. Jon Clauson stated he feels like we have done a good job historically at analyzing teams each year.
Jeremy Graves stated his concerns for the players that are bubble kids and work very hard and could make the A team if we had more numbers on three teams. Jim Knapp said to remember that playing on a B team is not a negative and should be considered an opportunity and be more influential on that team. Matt King asked if we decide as a board or if we put it out there to the parents. He stated that a couple years ago we decided as a board. Jim Knapp feels that you can open it up to the parents to get their input and have a say. Matt King and Jeremy Graves stated they feel like that has already been done and the board should decide. At this point it most likely will be AA/A/B/B but if not enough for four teams we would have AA/A/B. Joe Biondi asked for who is in favor for taking information and putting out to parents. Karly Madill stated that she agrees we need to have a decision and will never get a consensus from parents. Rather as a board we should be transparent and clear as to why the decision was made so that parents understand the thought process and research into reaching the decision and they can discuss with any board member if they have questions. Brandon Thorsvik stated he feels that we should have input from parents with players at the PW level. He mentioned that Cloquet had it on their website for a month stating when decision was to be made so that member had an opportunity to get information. Dan Gotz said the framework is the same as it is now but it will just depend on the number of teams and then how the B teams are distributed if we have one or two teams. Jesse Evjen said he agrees that you decide as a board and then put out the information so that you still have transparency for parents to gather information. A Motion For PeeWee Level Classification as AA/A/B/B (if we have four teams) was made by Matt King seconded by Troy Fath. The Motion passed with a vote of 14 yes and 0 no.
Coordinators: Bantam: Pat Andrews is handling AA games and tournaments. Dan Gotz will start to look into tournaments for all other Bantam teams. PeeWee: Mark Sams talked to Scott Pionk about coaching the AA team next season and tournaments he would be interested in playing. Squirt: Brandon Thorsvik stated he is currently signing up B teams for tournaments. He believes the numbers are about 53 skaters and 4 goalies with 2 part time goalies. Greg Hanson and Jason Carlson are working on the Squirt A schedule since they have knowledge from last year. They are looking at four or five this year and maybe a swing. Brandon said there is interest from other teams to come to Hermantown to play so he is inquiring into ice time. The question was asked about district teams in Duluth and Brandon Thorsvik replied that they would be very strong. He feels it will be hard to play in the National League but the American League would be competitive. Jon Clauson asked if we should have a Squirt A team and there was consensus and discussion that it is be best to have the A team. Matt King feels that we should stay in the stronger National League and not the American League. Mark Sams and Brandon Thorsvik think that the American League is better. Mark Sams stated he thinks competition out there is very strong at the squirt level if you play at the higher level. Joe Biondi said he would discuss at District meeting and see if three levels are possible and then discuss at the next HAHA Board meeting. Girls: Karly Madill said they had an end of year meeting in March to recap the past season and discuss next year. It is projected that the U14 level will have 20 players and a goalie. She commented that they had great discussion with High School coaches and many would like to stay U14 because they get more games. Coach Gilderman is not anticipating needing to take anyone up to Varsity. 12U is projected to have 16 skaters and 4 goalies with one potential skater potentially moving in to the area. Karly stated they are hoping to have an A and B but definitely an A. 10U team is projected to have 16 players with 8 new ones for 24 skaters. They are waiting to see numbers to see if any can move up. Karly Madill sent in proposal for tournaments and which tournaments need to be registered for immediately.
Jim Knapp asked how many tournaments teams do. Karly said they are as follows: 10U: 4; 12B: 4; 12A: 4; 14U: 5 She then commented that the goal is to do more swings but it was very difficult to schedule and getting teams here was hard because of ice availability. Mite II: Jon Kalkbrenner said no report at this time. Joe Biondi asked for estimated numbers at the MII level and Brandon Thorsvik replied he thought about the same as last year if not a little less. Ice Mite/Mite I: No report. Equipment: Matt King stated we are committed to purchasing new jerseys this season for all Bantam and PeeWee teams. The Squirt and Mite teams will follow next year to help spread out the financial portion. Matt King will work with Pat Andrews so that he can get them ordered. Outdoor Rinks: Greg Hanson is new coordinator and he will work with Matt King and Kevin Carlson to gather information for the next meeting. Player Development: Jim Knapp would like discussion on the number of tournaments each team plays. It used to be three away and one home but now it is harder to do that because of lack of teams in area to play and also lack of ice so often teams are getting more tournaments. Tournaments: Jon Clauson said he would get checks to coordinators for tournaments but e-mail him with the information. Karly Madill asked if we have a HAHA credit card that could be used. Jon Clauson will help with registering for tournaments that require on line payment and using credit cards. Membership Comments/Concerns: None Motion to Adjourn was made by Karly Madill and seconded by Matt King at 9:41pm. The next meeting is scheduled for July 22, 2015 at 8:00pm at Skyline.