Happy Monday everyone. I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy their Thanksgiving holiday in the States last week. It’s at this time of year we all begin to plan for Christmas, Hanukka and the New Year about to arrive.
Typically for families it is a great time of year, filled with anticipation and the joy of being together after being separated for months during the junior hockey season.
For team owners though it is one of the most stressful times of the year because it is also filled with deceit and lies from players as they prepare to go on break.
This is the time of year when more players leave existing teams for new teams than any other time of year. Whether it be due to homesickness, needing a change of scenery or inside tampering, December and January are the months of team destruction.
Players and parents will delay billet payments and tuition payments until the break, thinking they can simply walk away and jump ship to a new team.
Unfortunately they learn every year that it would have been better to be honest.
Contracts and financial suspensions can and usually are enforced. Hard feelings a created, relationships and reputations are irreparably damaged. Rumors spread, and these things have a tendency to damage careers long term.
Owners have to go back to trying to recruit, and teams are forced to play with short benches or forced to fold in some cases.
All because people dont communicate, and dont want to pay their bills or make a financial arrangement to get out of a contract. And that is why so many teams take preventative measures.
Teams collect all team equipment before the holiday break, and stop spending money as a way of protecting themselves against what they already know is coming. If they dont, not only are the contracts broken, but jerseys, helmets, gloves and all kinds of other team equipment just disappears.
So, if you are one of those players who will be making a move this holiday season, my suggestion to you is to grow a pair of balls and handle your business like a man. Talk to the team and make an arrangement. You will save your reputation and a lot of trouble down the road.
