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Grant Williams elected PPMHA president 'Increased ice rental 'is worry to executive . by Danny Millar Grant Williams, who has served on the Port Perry Minor Hockey Association Executive for the past three years, has been named as President of that organi- zation at the annual meeting held at the Old Town Hall on Sunday, April 27. The presidency was accepted by acclamation after outgoing President Jan Franssen declined to run for his fourth one year term of office and Doug Scott declined. Last year Mr. Williams served as first Vice- President under Mr. Franssen, who remains on the executive as a Past President. Mr. William's former post as first Vice- President has been left - vacant as has the second V-P spot, because nobody ran. According the Mr. Franssen, these positions will be filled by people appointed by the Executive at a later date. Scott also declined to run for these two offices but did gain entry as one of ten Directors. Originally 18 people had been nominated for the Directorships but eight declined. Five of the board members are returnees including: Paul Pelow, Muriel Statham, Doug Scott, Doug Moore, and Jan MacC Callister. New appoint- ees will be: Dennis Wray, Don Steele, Adelaide Blayone, Nancy McConnell and Doug Whalen. President-Elect Williams believes his first obligations will be to rekindle interest. "My main objective would be to get the game back in the boy's hands," he said, * to get away from this win at all costs." Though he admits that he isn't sure how to undertake the task, he believes the recently created Ontario Hockey Council may be helpful. "I'm willing to give them a try," he said. Mr. Williams expressed satis- faction with the large turn- out of Directors. Last year only eight of the ten positions were fulfilled. The meeting opened with the financial report. This past season PPMHA rented 964 hours of ice time at $20 per hour. Apparently the rate will be raisedvhy the arena board and Mr. Franssen candidly stated during the report that if no financial aid is forthcoming from the town council, minor hockey may be forced to raise its registration fee a minimum of $15. "Are boys going to be put out of hockey because of it?"' he was para- phrased'as asking. After the meeting he wouldn't venture Sports Editorial Problems facing local hockey by Danny Millar There's a new Executive coming into Port Perry Minor Hockey Association that looks surprisingly similar to the one which just completed its term. Jan Franssen finished as President after four years, to be succeeded by Grant Williams, who was a vice-Presi- dent last year. Leo Taylor remains as Secretary- Treasurer. I believe there is room for optimism in these men, and the others who were placed on the Board of Directors. Every one of these positions was filled without an election. Personally I feel that these people put in charge will do an excellent job because they are all proven hockey men. All have experience in the PPMHA and are aware of developments in the OMHA and its controversial Ontario Hockey Council. There will be a few rough spots for Mr. Williams and Co. to get over before the skates are laced back on and people with sticks in their hands begin taking runs at each other next fall. At the general meeting a few days ago they were open and candid about them and seemed willing to take the bull by the horns'in an effort to combat them. Perhaps the most ominous of these coming calami- ties concerns the Arena Board's request for more money from each of the major Associations using the new Arena - the figure skating club, Ringette, and the " biggest customer - Minor Hockey. Now I'm not an economist (I got about 30 percent in that course in a recent report card), but then it doesn't really take a Howard Hughes to figure out that if that rental does increase, and no help is received from Township Council, then the price of registration could go up 20 percent. This past season each player paid out $50 for the right to skate, pass and shoot like Guy Lafleur or fight like Tiger Williams. I can't see them having to fork out an additional $15 on top of that for the same rights next year. If we are not careful then hockey may go the way of exclusive country clubs where only the affluent are able to compete. And according to Mr. Franssen, Port Perry is in better shape financially than a great number of areas. One suggestion at the meeting was that perhaps the season, which starts in October and runs through April should be shortened. It was pointed out that this action would put the early development of Port Perry competitive teams behind the other centers. The reason I'm leery of this suggestion is because it would shorten the number of games and therefore the biggest + losers would be the athletes. (Turn to page 16) EA SP AAR DRED an opinion on the ramifi- cations to the PPMHA, saying "It all depends on what we can set up with council, minor hockey, ad the Arena Board. Over $12,000 of minor hockey's money went into paying Ontario Minor Hockey Association referees. Gate receipts totalled $9,900. The PPMHA has a defecit this year of just over a thousand dollars but still kept over two thousand in the bank. The financial report was .followed by the Constitution changes and discussions which took up the majority of the three hour meeting. Several of the amendments were put forth by Novice A coach Gary McConnell. The proposals McConnell made were handed to the Execu- tive shortly before the meet- ing opened. One of the by-laws stated -that all constitutional changes and amendments must be made two weeks prior to the meet- ing but this rule was waived because the oh that they didn't publicized this aspect properly in advance. The motion made by McConnell that caused the greatest stir was the one in which he moved that a non- contact rule be imposed in Novice and Atom house leagues. This was voted down after lengthy discus- sion by a 13-9 margin. Unless the OMHA or the OHC steps in with a more strict ruling, which is a distinct possibility, then body checking will be allow- ed to go on in Port Perry lower level house leagues. Two other McConnell motions were tabled for the new Execs at a future date. He felt that the player's name should be put on the back of the jerseys to easily distinguish themselves to the spectators. He also suggest- ed that a board be made up for tournaments which would show the advance- ments of each team at Port Perry tournaments, replac- ing the standard used piece of bristol board. One amendment that was passed without opposition was the changing of by-law Section 4 on the election of the top Executive members. It will now read: Persons nominated for President, first and second Vice- Presidents, and Secretary- Treasurer shall have served at least three consecutive years on the executive. It used to state that these positions were opened to anyone who served the immediate past three years. Now the three straight years can be served within the last five. The Port Perry Legion had a representative present to protest the actions of the PPMHA at the banquet two weeks ago. At the dinner, Mr. Franssen handed out certificates to all the sponsors present at the dinner. The Royal Canadian Legion had been overlooked because Mr. Franssen had not been told that they did have a representative there. That representative was given the certificate at the very end. It was suggested that PPMHA might draft a letter of apology to the Legion, which has been a constant supporter of amateur sports in Port Perry. Another amendment that went through without a naye was that each player be given a copy of the constitu- tion after registering. The theory behind this would be so that the athletes and his parents would be able to read and understand more fully what is expected of each of them from the Association. One change that made it part way was that now the financial statement would be available to everyone at the general meeting. Currently the statement is read out loud at the meeting. Initially it was suggested that the entire statement be posted in the Port Perry Star. Mr. Franssen opposed this because he claimed that it might cause some confusion, but that the books were open at all times to the public. There were 25 people at the meeting this year, an increase of four over lasi spring's get together. The major difference this year is that all the Directors posts are now filled. All that remains for the new Execu tives is to find two vice presidents. The long arm of the law tried their luck at volleyball last week as a squad of Durham Region Police officers took to the courts against the senior girls team from Port Perry High School. The action was fast and furious at times as both teams fought tooth and nail right down to the last point. The outcome? The girls managed to steal a few points, but generally the boys in blue had them hand-cuffed throughout the match. x gl | { 3 NUR LAURER FEE ERA Fe TAR i oS EN BY ThE 's AR oy Puls TY Nel ah oy SN REN "ro ee i iS 3 REE or Zo Arh ee YEN LX ee Favial , oN Pe Ig Nope hk » Ly, Ene D TEA v8.