A title that is a bit hard I guess, but we must keep both feet on the ground despite the euphoric feeling that victory provides to start the playoffs by keeping an eye on the goal to reach. On the other hand, you have to chase the heaviness of the defeat and collectively raise the team game to come out stronger next time. Each team is beatable and they can all win so notice to those who put the cart in front of the horses. The champions of this world have not all started their way as first of class or the opposite in the corner of it. It is necessary to reach a balance of confidence while respecting the forces of his adversary and especially by analyzing and understanding his weaknesses. But to do this we must invest and take the time to look beyond the tip of our nose. Those who lost in the past, believing that only their talent would lead them to high honors, learned the hard way while more intelligent men stayed in the stands and / or studied the games on Live Barn. To dissect your opponents to better understand them is the best way to put all the "chances" on your side. Of course many other aspects come into the line, but coming to the game with a clear idea of what needs to be done to defeat the other team is not a bad idea. So take advantage of the few weeks left of this fifth season of the LFA to take a couple of beers in the stands with the boys to get an idea of what is waiting for you.

THE PLAYOFFS IN FOUR

The inaugural game of the playoffs was one-sided with the Barbarians continuing on their end-of-season domination at all points against their opponents the Shamrocks who did not seem ready to play.  Like one of their players said following the blow out, they gave us a hell of a hockey lesson. Luckily, the second game between the Hackers and the Meteors was like the final standings of the regular calendar with a tight match, a comeback to equalize the score from the men in gray to finally loose it in the Last minutes of the game. The third confrontation of the night was the story of one man, although several other members of the Torpedoes who faced the Loggers contributed, it is the substitute Dave St-Georges who stood out harvesting 4 points in the match. He and his companions seemed to click to say the least. To close our first weekend of playoffs, the regular season champions, the Rhinos were almost tricked by the Vipers who gave everything at the end of the game finding the net twice and coming close to tying the game near the end. All in all, three of the four games were representative of our league where parity reigns and we can expect the game level to be raised next Saturday as some teams will have their back to the wall and will have to win to stay alive. I invite you to consult our Pro-Jet "scoreboard" to know the results.

EXPLANATION OF THE PLAYOFFS IN THE CENTRAL

Following up on some of the comments we received last Saturday and one in the survey, which found that sometimes our decisions are poorly explained in the weekly journal and too "philosophical", here is an explanation of the playoffs.

From the outset know that every year we have to wait at the last minute because of the college’s hockey program before having the exact number of games we can offer in the season leaving very little time to put a schedule together. Usually ten days before the start of the season. At the beginning of this one it was understood that we would have two pools (odd and even) but for some reason this modification had not been clearly illustrated in our rules. Those who were there was inapplicable because they required not 3 but 4 weeks of "round robin" so that the four teams of the top of the classification face the four of the bottom. Realizing this following, putting up the playoff schedule, it did not reflect what we wanted to do and in addition did not work as we were missing a week of play to make it happen. This revised approch is the most fair and reasonable version for the eight teams.

The initial idea of pools of odd and even was followed by changing the first with the second place so that finishing on top would be rewarded so they face the eighth place team instead of the ones who finished in second. If in the future we have one more week, why not do the 4 best against the 4 who finished at the bottom of the ranking? Because it would not be fair or optimal in a friendly league above all as during a season a team can fall victim of several absences that lead to defeats. As each team makes the series and it is the beginning of the REAL SEASON, it seems to me that our formula is the most democratic and it does not penalize in any way those who have had a good season. For example, dividing the teams 1, 4, 6 and 8 together only changes the teams that the teams finishing in 3rd or 4th place will face. Basically they will still play against two weaker teams and we just change the first with the second place for the reason illustrated above.

The league's administration remains open to suggestions that will respect the league's innovative philosophy as it seems to be appreciated by many of our members.

INVITATION TO REGULAR MEMBERS TO TAKE PART IN THE ROOKIE GAME # 2

In view of the upcoming draft and to limit the impact of unknown players in regular games, the LFA is organizing a second rookie game to be held on TUESDAY, APRIL 17, AT 7:00 PM at Notre-Dame College Arena. Those interested in taking part as we must have some regular players on the ice or if you just want to come and evaluate the rookies, please contact the league.

LFA PICK-UP EVERY WEDNESDAY EVENING THIS SUMMER

In the spirit of Hockey Brotherhood at the time when we put the sticks in the middle of the ice to make the teams, the LFA launches LFA PICK-UP WEDNESDAY EVENINGS this summer at 8 pm at the Bell Complex in Brossard. Because we had to cancel our division of the South Shore due to lack of registration, we still kept the option on the ice so if enough players are interested in playing this super time slot this summer, we will go ahead with this project. Please write to the league to mention if this is something you would like to participate occasionally or permanently over a period of 15 weeks from mid-May.

TOURNAMENT IN THE STATES

We received an invitation to participate in a tournament in Connecticut on the weekend of June 9 & 10 from our Swiss friends against whom we played our first international match last summer. This purely friendly tournament guarantees us 4 games and they even give us free ice time. We only have to pay our transportation and accommodation costs. Those interested in taking part in this weekend that may be very festive, please contact the administration of the league by email for us to start the arrangements.

RESULTS OF 2018 LFA SURVEY

An analysis of the survey proposed by the league recently to its members has been made and a report is based on it. Those interested in having a copy need only contact the league. The administration of the Federal League of Aces would like to thank the 54 guys who took the time to fill out the survey to help us serve you better while making the necessary changes that we will need to make to continue our operations. Good and bad comments have been considered and heard and will help us in our work. In the end, to give you the chance to express yourself remains a democratic exercise and demonstrates the good will in the process and the desire of the league to always do better. It seems to me that from now on, only those who have taken the exercise will have a legitimate reason to express themselves because sadly in a league as in society we often give too much importance to the minority of the voices who dispute the decision of the leaders without proposing anything different or better. The "rotting apples" as some say have the "cut" making the headlines as their comments often bleed the back of those who make the decisions for the good of all. So we have to deal with the echoes of the faceless people floating in their pants, whispering in the dark abyss of their own existence. Force to admit that with time, these wounds and scars harvested since our beginnings put in light the need to detach ourself and form a shell which unfortunately you will understand, decreased the momentum.

Here are some of the comments and figures collected through the survey to give you an idea:

4/2/2018 12:30 PMView respondent's answers
« LFA player assossiation Moins de plaintes personnelles pis de niaisage à gérer si toutes les critiques doivent passer par le syndicat avant de t'être officiellement adressées. »

3/22/2018 7:24 PMView respondent's answers
« La LFA offre un beau package a un prix abordable, suggestions serait peut-être essayer d'attirer des joueurs plus talentueux et dédiés (y'a des gars qui s'en fou pis qui show up 1 fois sur 2) ca aiderait a attirer une foule aussi. sinon la LFA est bien parti pis ca parait que c'est runné par du monde qui aime ca. j'ai jouer dans plusieurs ligues pis quand le management s'en fou, ca parait. les details que la LFA offre sont un must »

3/22/2018 8:58 PMView respondent's answers
« Si tu veux faire de la LFA une entreprise, une job à plein temps qui pourra apporter assez de revenus pour que tu puisses en vivre, la LFA devra devenir un grosse organisation constituée de plusieurs sous-ligues constituées d'équipes de catégorie A, B, C, D. À partir de ce moment, la LFA te fera vivre mais elle aura perdu son âme d'une "ligue de chums" qui se mêlent dans de nouvelles équipes chaque saisons. Je fuis ces ligues "d'équipes toutes faites" où personne ne se connait et où tout le monde veut se taper sur la gueule. Si tu ne veux pas en vivre et juste avoir le plaisir d'organiser une ligue de hockey, garde-la petite, reviens même à 6 ou même 4 équipes. Au moins, cette petite ligue sera constituée uniquement de vrais chums avec les crème des joueurs. Les autres, ceux qui ne se mêlent jamais, qui ne participe jamais, qui ne sortent pas avec les chums, qui volent les bières, ben ils iront jouer ailleurs. »

 3/31/2018 10:27 AMView respondent's answers
« La seule chose que je peux dire de négatif c’est la glace!! Par contre je tiens à te remercier pour tout ce que tu fais pour nous!! Comme tu sais, je suis arrivé à Montréal en 2009 et j’ai recommencé à jouer au hockey au sein du hockey brotherhood après près de 10 ans d’inactivité. Au lieu de passer mes samedi seul ou en train de viré des brosses dans les bars, je redécouvert le sport qui m’a fait tripper tout ma vie ! Tout au long du chemin j’ai rencontré des gens comme toi que je considère maintenant comme des êtres chers que je n’oublierai jamais pour le reste de ma vie. En plus d’avoir fait tous ces nouveaux chums, j’ai maintenant un endroit où j’ai le sentiment que j’appartiens. Je travail comme un chien tout la semaine et des fois je m’ennuie de ma famille, mes chums d’enfance, ma ville et j’ai besoin de quelques choses qui m’apporte un peu de bonheur. J’ai hâte au hockey tout la semaine et le samedi j’ai comme le feeling que je rentre chez nous. Des fois le monde dit “ ah ! C’est juste du hockey “ mais pour moi c’est beaucoup plus que ça! Voilà pourquoi je trouve essentiel que la bataille continue pour que d’autres gens puissent vivre des histoires comme la mienne. Tu as ma confiance comme membre mais encore plus comme ami !! Peu importe la direction que tu prendras je serai à tes côtés!! Merci encore et désolé pour la longueur de mon commentaire mais je suis un gars très émotionnel et c’est essentiel pour moi de te partager mes sentiments par rapport à toi et l’organisation. Lâche pas big!! »

4/1/2018 10:31 PMView respondent's answers
« Keep a positive attitude and a focus on good clean hockey. Better ice would be a plus!”

In addition to these comments, 92.59% of the guys say they are open to play in another arena when the college is not available. 67.92% of the guys think that the honor system should be kept for the beer and 72.22% think that the league is managed properly. We invite the 27.78% to take part in helping the administration of the league in its restructuring plans because you probably have other ideas and experiences to share that will be good for everyone. Apart from that, the three most important things in the eyes of our members seem to be the balanced teams, the games’ schedule and the philosophy of the LFA. Many other information and comments collected will be useful so thank you again to all those who took the time to share with us their vision of the league. Know that the less glorious comments are as important as those that underline what we are doing well and will be taken into consideration in the light of future changes.

ONE OF THE BENEFITS OF HOCKEY

Before and after a game, being with people with whom you share a passion can only bring us good in our lives. The post games get together serve a bit for that. Notice to those who would like to join this tradition of Saturday hockey.

Play to play

JFD