THE THIN BLUE LINE
/It is the day after one of our more or less successful experiments that we reflect on this long beginning of the season. With 32 new faces among us and 37 who were not part of the "original four" at the beginning of last season, we are still experimenting with the right mix for our teams. There is a fine line between harmony and turmoil as a single player can make a big difference on a team while beeing just another player on an other. Characters, egos and devotion to the game are not always obvious and palpable when building squads unless you've played with everyone, again a good guy to one person, may be an asshole to another. You understand that like a priest in the confessional I get all sorts of comments throughout a season. The post-game is often a place where some of you share your views regarding your team, other players and the guys who make-up our hockey family.
After this long preamble you will understand that I see the LFA in my soup and even if I want to unplug from our league, the stories and people that are part of the LFA also share my daily life. In the positive experiences of yesterday we saw the work of a new referee, and after feedback from players during and after game; it was almost all positive. He was delighted by it all and we'll see him again as he also enjoyed his experience in the LFA.
With regards to some replacements, particularly in goal, I remind you all, that this is the price to pay during an expansion year. We need to be patient with guys who may have a bad game because of the nervousness experienced when playing in a new league. Give them a chance to get used to the league and at this stage of the season even if it costs us the game, it is not that bad; it is all within the context of an expanding league. Anyways. everyone will make the "playoffs" !!! And we're here to have fun even in defeat....The opposite happens as well when a "new guy" steals the show, so take everything with a grain of salt and be happy to play. Some guys would be happy to be in your place ;)
THe LFA administration pondering on the next step to take to balance the teams.
With the chosen date of November 15th which was set to review the teams, we are now looking at the possibility of an earlier date where we'd tweak some stuff, as it is clear that one squad needs help and another is too strong; even in the four other teams, some changes are possible. Once the exercise is completed for a redesign, some points raised above remain to be seen as only time will tell, but be sure that we do not take the livelihood of our teams lightly and that the members of the selection committee and myself have it in our hearts to balance the league so that all have a great season.
Here are the candidates for the LFA Player of the Month in October powered by Sher-Wood, Vote in great numbers on our site between now and midnight on October 31st, so that we can elect the first player of the months for the 2014- 2015 season.
Simon Lavery-Lebeau from the Rouge Horizon Tomahawks, Arnaud Gertin from the Vipers, Pierre-Luc Bédard from the Cabane Loggers, Joel Marceau from the Bily Kun Czechers, Patrick Bouchard from the McCarold's Shamrocks and Dennis Boivin from the Avengers.
Furthermore a part from Sher-Wood who joined us, I want to welcome our other new sponsor, Les Projets Solomax and on behalf of all members of the LFA, I want to thank Jose Cabral from the Bily Kun Czechers, who owns the company for his contribution (with the help of the 50/50 draw with a 515$ pot) allowing the league to purchase custom made socks for our six teams. Talk about a guy who takes his hockey league at heart! Speaking of the 50/50, here is the winning number that was pulled yesterday before a packed house at Windsor Hyper Bar & Grill at the post-game.
The winning number for the October draw
With the sun finally coming out after this grey and gloomy day, I invite you to visit the LFA PHOTOS found in the Miscellaneous section during the week, once I have finalized our photo of the month folder. Also for budding photographers among you, I invite you to take pictures to fill this section because as players photographed by our photographer in September have not encouraged him by buying pictures; it seems he may be less willing to come and follow our activities on a regular basis, which is a shame but understandable.
I would also like to draw your attention to Larry's chronicle "While sipping a last one.." after coming back from a three week hunting trip. It is in this section that you will find another point of view on our league and characters that form it.
JFD (AS TRANSLATED BY TOM SPENCER AND MATTHEW PERIS)
