Happy Holidays

From your friends at

EAST FISHKILL ROLLER HOCKEY

It has been a wonderful year here at the East Fishkill Roller Hockey Club, but we couldn’t have done it without you, our passionate hockey fans. Our board would like to extend warm wishes to you and yours. Please make the most of the holiday and we look forward to seeing you in the spring.

Happy Holidays from the East Fishkill Roller Hockey board.

1. We had complaints about the old surface (cracks, bubbles, paint chips, poor puck handling) that lead us to start researching new surfaces years ago. You know the old saying, “The Grass is Always Greener.” We went through at least 3 different pucks over the past couple of years on the old surface trying to figure out which one worked better after the “Z” puck stopped being manufactured (that was the orange puck with the black feet that you might see in some of the oldtimers bags). And none of them performed well. People were taking belt sanders and trying to modify them to make them work.

2. Volunteers had to work very hard to get games in on the old surface. Not a lot of people realized that someone had to show up at 5 p.m. to dry the rink so that we could get our games in time and time again during a season. It could rain on a Friday, be sunny all weekend, and the rink would still have to be dried on Monday evening.

3. We understand the new rink has dew issues that have especially impacted the adults in the fall, and we’ve implemented some scheduling improvements to combat the issue.

   • For the Adults this year, we played a very consistent schedule during August, getting 7 games in before Labor Day. Then Irene hit, and rain has been falling at a record rate since then, so much so, that we are now the 2nd wettest year since something like the early 1900′s. And if it wasn’t actually raining, it was muggy and damp, which would have affected the old surface the same way as the new one this year. The ground is very soggy and the old surface would suck the moisture up from below. This surface at least protects us from the below moisture, but we were still affected by the muggy damp air from above, which again, was way above normal.

   • We did a much better job preventing people from showing up at the rink only to have the game cancelled. Yes, it created some breaks in the play, but a lot of that was caused by actual rain, which would have affected us no matter which surface we were on.

   • We finished the season this year for Adults, compared to last year, when we were not able to. And we did not revert to weekends.

4. The town has invested $140,000 in our rink and surface. We do NOT have the right or ability to just say to them, “Rip this up and put down the old surface that we used to complain about” However, we will be approaching the town, and it’s engineer to see if there is a way to get air movement on the rink, to help with the dew issues. If there is a way to do this, taking into account the large surface, the fact that the fans have to be secured and ready to go at all times, security, expense, feasibility, etc. we will research that. But other then that, it is what it is. An outdoor rink subject to the weather.

5. We are on town property and we don’t own the rink. Some of the suggestions that are proposed are not ours to take liberty to do. One of the the biggest suggestions is to add a roof. If we were even allowed to put a roof up, lets look at the effect of that. The approximate cost would be upwards of $400,000 to build, taking into account lights that are already there and have to be moved, construction, and materials. If we had 200 members per season (which we currently don’t), and we doubled our rates, double in a bad economy with membership already dropping, it would take us 10 years to raise that kind of money. Putting a roof over the rink would help with rain, but not with humidty and dew. Putting the rink inside a building, the cost is upwards of $750,000. You can do the math and how this works out. Now you would be at ice hockey rates, or more. For a sport which has higher insurance expense to our members then other sports, and higher equipment costs then other sports, we have to recognize the impact of any price increase we have to cover expenses we incur.

We still provide a great, inexpensive way to experience hockey. We work hard to make it competitive and even for all teams. We work hard to make the rules consistent. We are constantly looking to improve and reinvest in our league.

We will get better. We will make some mistakes, but we will learn from them. Thanks so much for your opinions and we do apologize if you have had an experience with us that was not 100% satisfactory. But we have to move forward.

If anybody has a positive solution or a constructive comment that they would like to bring to the board, please do so. We are gearing up for our 2012 elections, and we would be more then glad to accept new people with new ideas.

Thank you for your continued support

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Thanks for your continued support!

Below is the list of positions. Also be sure to check out the responsibilities for each position.

Please contact Kim McDonald (vp@efrhl.com) if you have any questions.

This winter We are focused on a heavy advertising campaign with the focus on increasing the numbers in the spring. But, before we start, we are asking for your suggestions on ways to increase awareness of our league. Please email me directly (president@efrhl.com) and tell me your suggestions, where we do it, how we do it and of course if you’d like to be a part of it. Do you have experience in Business Development? Advertising? Marketing? PR? We can use your expertise.

We are aware of the continued issues with the rink and rest assured we are working on solutions. I bring this up not only to validate your comments, but also to let you know this is not the forum for negative emails such as “get the old rink back.” Keith Ehrichs has spearheaded this project and he has the board’s support as the town is made aware of the issues and we work to rectify the problems.

Do not be shy. All ideas are good ideas. It means someone is thinking.

I look forward to hearing from you before our November meeting. This will be our top agenda item.

Please send all suggestions before Nov. 17.

Heather Bell-Pellegrino
President, East Fishkill Roller Hockey Club

Congratulations to Bobby Clarke’s team the 2011 Fall Adult Champions.
Top L to R: Jordi Douglas, Jason Riccardi, Kevin Buckley and Samuel Cochrane
Bottom L to R: Bobby Clarke, Brandon Knesnik and Frank Rossi

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