Morning –

Folks, I need to vent a little –

The Blue Line Board is a VOLUNTEER group. A group that gives a tremendous amount of time to make sure that your son has a memorable hockey experience. The people involved on the board Dawn Stimmler, Kathy Jereczek and with the help of Pauline Batcha are willing and happy to get involved and help out. This group works on the hockey season almost year around to make sure that the players, managers and coaches have a successful season. Understanding that the group did volunteer I would ask that you be considerate of their time. Like everyone, we’re busy too, this group has families, jobs, are attending school and have other personal commitments, but still find the time to get involved to make sure your son has a great hockey experience. I can’t say enough good things about the commitment this group has given to the program. They have adjusted their personal life, missed work or taken vacation to make sure things are organized and run as smooth as they can. The group does not look for “pats on the back” or any other acknowledgement and they do not know I am sending this email. As we move toward the start of the season I am going to ask for a couple of things.

1. If we set a deadline for something please meet it. There is a reason we set the deadline – if you can beat the deadline please do so it helps us with the workload and we don’t get buried at the last minute. We make every attempt to give you enough time to get things done. We all know how frustrating it is when our son/daughter does school projects or homework at the last minute and we feel the same way. For those of you that get things done and turned in on time – Thanks!
2. Get Involved – Many of you do, and it is very much appreciated – THANKS! – for those of you that don’t, please give it a try. We always want the players to play as a team and there is no reason the parents can’t work together as well to have a successful season, besides we need the help.
3. Patience/Understanding – At the beginning of the season we’re normally dealing with 40+ families and players. There are only 3 or 4 of us. There are number of moving parts that need to come together for everything to work. Please be patient with us.
4. Be Organized – We make every attempt to get information to you through email and our web-site. Forms/money need to be turned in. Please don’t make us chase you down --  help us out by getting forms fully completed. I really don’t care to discuss money, but without it, the season is over. We make every attempt to get the most for our money. Expenses continue to climb and school revenue continues to shrink. Please get your fees paid – it shouldn’t be our job to chase the money. If you have a situation or a concern with regard to the Blue Line Club fees PLEASE let me know and we’ll try to work out a payment schedule.

Thanks for understanding ---

OK, with that said ----

CAPTAINS PRACTICE –

So there is no misunderstanding. Captains Practice is put on by the Blue Line Club and is not affiliated with the school. What we require is a liability release form and the ice fee of $210. The liability release form can be found on our website by clicking “Players Form” and then click “Captains Practice Waiver”. Our website is www.speed-fire.com. Please understand --- We will not allow anyone on the ice without the waiver form signed, turned in, and fee paid – so please don’t ask.  

TRYOUTS –

This is the “official” start of the hockey season. Tryouts start November 12^th. This is mandated by State High School League as when the season starts. In order to participate in the tryouts another set of forms that can be found on your High Schools website or from your schools athletic office need to be completed and a fee paid to the school. You will also need to prove and/or have on record with the school that your son has had a physical in the past 3 years. Once all the requirements have been met – Irondale players will receive a yellow form and St. Anthony players will receive a blue form. These forms need to be turned in to us before you will be allowed on the ice for tryouts – This mandated by the State High School League and there will be no exceptions.

WE NEED SOME HELP – PLEASE

Chuck-A-Puck -- We need volunteers to sell pucks for 2 periods during our Varsity home games. We have 8 home games – it would be great if we could get 8 different people to take a game.

DVD or Scrapbook – In the past years we have produced a DVD of the season for the players. So far no one has come forward and it appears it will not be done this year. I will ask again if there is anyone willing to get involved with this or take the lead in creating a scrapbook for the players. I don’t expect anyone to do this by themselves. We need pictures taken or video done – let’s try to get a group together to get this done.

Silent auction coordinator – We plan on having a small silent auction at our second pancake breakfast on January on January 19^th at Moe’s – we need someone to take the lead on this – we already have some great items to auction off.

REMINDER OF MEETING FOR PLAYERS –

There will be a meeting on Monday October 29^th at 5:30 after Captains practice with the coaching staff to discuss tryouts and the upcoming season.

PANCAKE BREAKFAST –

Please get your tickets sold and the money turned in for our Pancake Breakfast set for November 10^th at Applebees in St. Anthony. We also need a few more parents to help out.

If you have any questions please let me know.

We’re only 34 days away from our first game!

 GO KNIGHTS!

Regards

Jerry