Ok kids, some times in life, and in hockey, things just don’t make any sense. The Buffalo Regals being forced to go dark for the second season in a row is just one of those things.
Sure they didn’t play last year because they couldn’t fill a roster. But this year was completely different.
Head Coach Brian Becker worked his ass off all spring and summer to assemble his roster. Twenty two players signed and twenty of them were American born. Yep, that’s more than enough to compete and still leave a little room to pick up a late cut or mid season cut from Tier II.
Sounds like smart planning to huh kids?
Know what wasn’t so smart? The Regals Owner forgetting to submit his reinstatement paperwork to USA Hockey in time for the June approvals.
Even though the team had proof that the owner was physically unable to get the paperwork in, when the coaches found out, it was way too late. Turns out they only got notice of the lack of reinstatement last week. But within 48 hours the paperwork was in to USA Hockey.
Too little, too late.
Because the missed the deadline, USAH took the by the book approach and did not sanction the team for this season.
What happens now? Well it aint all rosy kids. While the coach has gotten several players tryouts on other GOJHL teams, and those eligible to return to AAA are doing so, several players are going to hang up the skates! Talk about a travesty!
What does it say about the system when an exception cant be made in order to save a team? What does it say about the system when not saving a team results in young people leaving the game? Now I am not blaming USA Hockey completely here because the owner should have known the paperwork had to be submitted at some point. But when kids leave the game with their last memory of it being that the team was forced to go dark, the impact of that wont just be for one season.
Stay tuned kids, we got more on the way.
*The Death Pool is a mix of comedy, and satire in connection with recent events. It is not an official report of current events although it may look as though the news is so accurate that it could one day happen or may be happening.
