THE YEARS OF TRADES
/As we mark this third year season of operations for the league with our annual pre-season barbeque, I strongly believed we had reached a certain level of maturity and that this season would be the best to date. Given the past season saw us host Montreal’s first REAL Winter Classic, and the first relay game in international hockey history, I write these lines with a certain bad taste from my experience in charge of the LFA.
Without feeling like I have to carry the entire load for the mistakes we made, I remain in charge of the organization and even if I listen to the advice I get from everyone around me before I make decisions, I’m still the one who made all those trades that didn’t deliver the desired results.
It’s true that once we reached the playoffs the teams that felt cheated by the tidal wave of trades set it aside and all gave a strong effort through the final weekend of the round robin to achieve their ranking for the Grand Finale. It was little consolation for what some felt was a wasted year. It led some to be frustrated or even to express their rage when my goal is to make the world a better place and to have everyone enjoy themselves along the way. I must admit that on this front I blew it and I hope to draw the necessary lessons to not fall back into the same trap when future decisions must be made.
Other than this less-than-glorious aspect of our development, the season had its strong moments. The baby boom started last season has continued with such force we should consider opening a daycare for game days. This season also saw the introduction of shootouts to settle tie games, which forced us to revisit our scoring for different kinds of wins. That’s why since the playoffs started we now award three points for a regular time victory versus two points for an overtime win and one point for an overtime loss.
This new points system created some disagreements when it was introduced but it’s part of the evaluation of the game, which the LFA is proudly a part of.
From a personal point of view, this season saw me cease editing the Nouvelles LFA section of our site and leaving it to Jacob Poliquin. I continue to edit the “franglais” portion of the Babillard LFA which remains a tool to inform regular players directly but I’ve let it go for a while for the first time since September 2013 as I reflected on the past year. I have to admit I miss it, but with the scale of the league now I don’t really have time to write news.
So with last season filed away on my computer, what’s left? What are the memories we will carry in our adult lives and our daily routine that is already so busy? Is it the ephemeral victories that raise our spirits when we come across a teammate with whom it feels like we climbed a mountain to have our names engraved on a trophy? Does the satisfaction come from achieving a goal or the journey to get there?
A lot of questions are running around my head as I close the books on this season that saw us support the community by raising more than $20,000 in donations during 3 events. And let us not forget all the new friendships that were born on the ice thanks to our league and the encounters our sport creates for us.
Without knowing what the future may hold, I will turn the key on a new season hoping the planets align to allow us to continue this voyage that goes beyond sport and allows us to live the emotions only hockey can arouse.
Throw caution to the wind and live your passions to the fullest.
Asta whenever
JFD
