The CeeBees are back in senior hockey. No they’re not. Yes they are. In the Central West league. But the CeeBees don’t want to travel over the road.
Mount Pearl wants back in senior hockey. In the East Coast league. But that league doesn’t want Mount Pearl. Or the CeeBees.
So the two teams will renew the old Avalon East league. With Northeast. Which is in the East Coast league. But Hockey Newfoundland and Labrador won’t sanction an Avalon East circuit.
Your head hurt?
There’s more.
Clarenville, from the Central West league, doesn’t want to be in the Central West league. The Caribous want to be in the East Coast league. Which leaves Gander and Grand Falls-Windsor, from the Central West League, exactly where?
Maybe another three-team senior league, with Twillingate. But Twillingate’s not in the Central West league.
Hang on.
And what about the West Coast league, with Deer Lake, Corner Brook, Stephenville and Port aux Basques? Senior hockey, yes, but not good enough senior hockey to play for the Herder Memorial Trophy, apparently.
Ah, but the Central West, East Coast, and erstwhile Avalon East leagues are all one now — in the Newfoundland Senior Hockey League.
Minus the CeeBees, who want to call the shots, and Mount Pearl, who thought they were back in senior hockey.
Quick, someone grab me an Advil.
Not sure if we can make this more abundantly clear, but let’s give it a shot: the whole senior hockey scenario in Newfoundland and Labrador puts the A in amateur, B in buffoonery and C in clownish.
There’s ineptitude, and then there’s the governance and administration of senior hockey within Newfoundland and Labrador.
No one, quite literally, knows from one season to the next what’s going on. Who would care to support this?
The Herder Memorial Trophy final last season was a disaster, its ability to capture the public’s attention comparable to darts night at the Legion.
Too bad, because the ability of the today’s senior hockey players might be the best we’ve ever seen, and that includes the import 1980s era, light years ahead of the intermediate hockey calibre that was the 1990s.
If I’m a business owner and someone from senior hockey is rapping on my door looking to form a partnership, I’m kicking him/her to the curb quicker than you can say Zamboni.
And isn’t that too bad?
RELATED
- CeeBees shut out again
- New circuit, old name, seven teams: amalgamation results in Newfoundland Senior Hockey League 3.0
- CeeBees back in the game
- West Coast Senior Hockey League going with shorter regular season this winter
- Central Newfoundland anxiously awaiting decision on senior hockey
Robin Short is The Telegram’s Sports Editor. He can be reached by email [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TelyRobinShort
