WINCHESTER YOUTH HOCKEY PARENTS ASSOCIATION, INC. MINUTES OF THE BOARD MEETING December 17, 2012 Attendees: Directors: David Hennessey, Brud Houllahan, Jim Kiley, Gordy Lawrence, Peter Albert, Chris Parker, Tom Troiano, Scott Streckenbach, John Addonizio, Carolyn Walsh, Steve Mix, Brendan Monahan President Chris Parker opened the meeting at 7:03 p.m. By a poll of the WYH Board of Directors it was determined that a quorum was present to allow for the transaction of business. Minutes from November Meeting The minutes from the November 19, 2012 Board meeting were reviewed. Peter Albert suggested two changes to the proposed minutes. Tom Troiano made a motion to accept the minutes with Peter Albert s changes. Brendan Monahan seconded it. The Board Treasurer s Report Treasurer Steve Mix handed out the cash flow and account statements, showing a balance of $101,733.82 in the checking account and $332,640.23 in CD s. He said the December 1 st payment was due a few weeks ago and we are about halfway collected on that payment. Steve indicated that WYH had one unusual expense, which was $1,856 for a storage facility, which is a discounted rate for paying a year in advance. Tom suggested we consider adding this expense into our tuition model as it is a standard business expense. Tom inquired about $1,140 in other revenue and Steve indicated that this was for the sale of ice for playdowns. Tom and Jim Kiley suggested moving that item to practice ice transfers and Steve stated he would make that change. Chris Parker made a motion to accept the Treasurer s report. John Addonizio seconded it. The Board Concussion Testing Chris Parker noted that our effort to make baseline testing available to WYH players was featured on the front page of Winchester Star s sports section. A Head of the Game tested 18 WYH players. Chris indicted he would draft letter to the other sports organizations in town to see if they would be interested in co-sponsoring an event with a speaker followed by baseline testing. Ice Committee Tom Troiano said the ice committee is working on January practice schedule and had also discussed placement dates. Based on the Valley League playoff schedule, the committee s recommendation is to hold placements during the first two weeks of March
(March 5 th, 7 th & 12 th and 14 th ). This would give teams the opportunity to practice the third week of March, prior to playoffs. Brud Houllahan made motion to schedule placements on March 5th, 7th, 12th, and 14th. Peter Albert seconded it. The Board Outdoor Rink Chris Parker and Steve Mix went to the School Department meeting to answer questions about building an outdoor rink in town. The Committee conditionally approved the outdoor rink request at Skilling s Field. They stipulated that WYH provide a million dollar liability policy. Chris indicated that Chris Nelson, from the Winchester Recreation Department, also asked him to attend their Board meeting. Peter Albert inquired about the cost of building the rink. Chris said that the Recreation Department already has the materials needed to construct the rink. Tom Troiano asked if we would be able to find people to shovel and maintain the rink. Steve Mix said he thought maintenance would not be a problem. Brendan Monahan said the Board should to focus on the liability coverage issue. Chris said USA Hockey provides liability coverage for our players. Steve Mix said we should address both aspects getting coverage from USA Hockey for WYH -sanctioned events on the outdoor rink, and ensuring that we are not responsible for the liability for other uses. Chris Parker made a motion that should a WYH coach express interest in having an event on a pond/outdoor rink, the skaters will be supervised by the coach and all USA Hockey rules as far as protective equipment will be followed. Tom Troiano amended the motion to state that should an outdoor rink be erected in town of Winchester this winter, if a WYH team elects to use it, then there will be coaches present and we will follow all of our standard policies regarding equipment use and it will be considered a WYHsanctioned event. Brud Houllahan seconded it. The Board unanimously approved the motion. Chris said he would also speak with Saltmarsh Insurance and others to indicate that WYH does not want to purchase a liability insurance policy regarding this rink. We will help build the rink and provide volunteers to maintain it. Tom Troiano made a motion that WYH will not be a party to a liability insurance policy for an outdoor rink in Winchester, other than USA Hockey insurance for our players for WYH-sanctioned events. Jim Kiley seconded it. The Board voted 11-1 in favor of the motion. Brendan Monahan said he would be concerned about WYH being involved without a policy. Brud said we must convince the town to include this under its umbrella just as it would other recreational attractions in town, such as the skate park at McCall. Funraiser John Addonizio will look into the date of March 1 st at Woburn Country Club. John asked what our plans are for any funds raised at the event and expressed concern about changing the nature of the event. Tom said when discussing the coaches stipend earlier
in the season we thought that any extra funds that were raised could be applied to defray the cost of the stipend, however this does not need to be a stated purpose of the event. Bauer Study Tom Troiano said he got a call about participating in a study by Children s Hospital funded by Bauer, but we are still looking into it. The study would involve skaters wearing a device on their helmets that senses when a head injury may have occurred and transmits a text message to the parents and the coach. Scott Streckenbach spoke to the person conducting the study. Participants would need to go to Waltham for an initial test, and then return for two more tests during the season. In addition, someone from our organization must videotape every game that the participants are in and send the tape back to Children s. Scott indicated that most of the participants in the study are currently in high school. Scott said that if we were to participate, he would recommend picking two or three teams to be in the study to make the logistics easier. Tom indicated we would gather more information and discuss again at our January meeting. Online Store Peter Albert reported that year-to-date the store has sold 75 items at just about $3100 in sales, and another $765 in bags, for just under $3,900. Denyse Miller said there is a Bauer shell jacket that was discontinued, but she was able to find another supplier and filled the orders. She did not make any money on that item. She will mark it sold on the website so there are no further orders on that item. Jim Kiley moved to waive our 10% on that item, since she did not make any profit. Chris Parker seconded the motion. The Board Boys/Open Travel & Valley League Peter Albert reported that WYH had 8 Valley League games forfeited thus far and 7 of them can still be made up. He is also working with the Valley League on the player of the week to correct errors made when two of our players were improperly listed. Mass Hockey/District 9 Gordy reported that he attended the District 9 seeding meeting and that all WYH Squirt and Pee Wee teams in the boys division were seeded in the #1 or #2 spot. Chris said we will be hosting playdown games at Flynn and will need volunteers to staff the sign-in table and to run the clock. ACE Coordinator V.J. Ladd sent an email reminder to coaches that they will not be able to be on the bench for playdown games without having completed their CEP's. Chris said he would send a note to V.J. and the coaches indicating that they have one week remaining to get this done. Chris raised the topic of presentations to the Board by potential outside evaluators. John
Addonizio reported that he spoke to Chris Nagy who would conduct placements at a rate of $50/hour or $200/night. Tom Troiano said the Board would be interested in hearing from him so we could discern how he might add value to our process. Chris asked if he could come to a Board meeting to discuss his services. John agreed to provide something from Chris Nagy so that the Board can discuss this option at the January meeting. Coaches Committee Nothing to report. Intro to Hockey/LTPH Steve Mix reported that there have been two sessions of Intro, with about 8 coaches on the ice and 50 skaters. Gordy reported LTPH games have been going well. One issue is that sometimes the zamboni has to clean the big rink, so new ice can t be made on the little rink. Also, there have been problems when the buzzer on the little rink goes off while a game is being played on the big rink. Players on the big rink have been confused at the sound of the buzzer from the other rink. Tom said he would see if there is anything that can be done to address that problem. Gordy also mentioned two issues that have arisen at the Harvard rink on Saturday morning. One is that sometimes the teams who are practicing in the second hour will come on the ice before it is their time. Also, at times families are charged to park at Harvard if there is an event going on. Tom Troiano said that it has been a policy of WYH for many years that players are not allowed on the ice before their scheduled time. Chris indicated that he would send an email out to ensure that Mites and others do not come out on the ice before it is their time and to remind families that siblings are not permitted to attend practice. Girls Only Program & MYCGL Nothing to report. New Business Scott Streckenbach raised the issue of goalie attendance at Sunday night skill sessions. He said attendance has been low and that the feedback he has received has been relatively negative. Scott made a motion to discontinue goalie skills at Sunday night skill sessions. Steve Mix seconded it. The Board Chris Parker said he would contact John Roderick to let him know we will discontinue goalie training at skills. Chris raised the issue of a cell phone policy and said players cannot bring cameras into the locker room. He will address it with families in the next email to parents. Tom Troiano said he would look into Mass Hockey s Safe Sport Policy to see if this topic is addressed. Chris also said the Board will need to make a decision about our placement policy this
year as it pertains to when an age group that expands. The current policy indicates that if an age group expands, players in the lowest bracket only may be eligible to be moved down. John Addonizio said the choices should be that everyone is eligible to be moved down, or that no one may be moved down. Tom said our current policy was adopted because there can be a greater disparity on a team in the lowest bracket since there is no other placement option. Chris said this would be discussed in greater depth at the January meeting. Tom Troiano stated that the Board should make decisions about any possible changes to our program as soon as possible, since the placement dates will be announced soon. These decisions include: (1) whether to adopt a longer season for the girl s only program; (2) whether to change the Bantam schedule to two practices and skills versus three practices without skills; (3) whether to have more goalie training; and (4) what the model will be for our mite travel program next year, given the requirement that mites play only cross-ice games. Next Meeting The next meeting will be held Monday, January 21, 2013.