Becker Big Lake Youth Hockey

Is BBL moving to District 5? Why?

For years, Minnesota Hockey (MH) has been considering drastic redistricting moves but until recently, there hasn’t been much of a push to actually complete the job. With factors such as the economic downturn impacting families and causing some to leave the sport, MH took up redistricting again. The goal of redistricting was to gain balance between the districts in terms of both number of players in each district and driving distances.

As part of the redistrict plan, BBL is moving to District 5 along with Sauk Rapids and St. Cloud. District 5 is losing two of its eastern-most associations, Mound-Westonka and Crow River (Delano).

How does this change affect BBL?

This change will affect us in different ways. The first question that usually comes up is amount of travel. We should not see any drastic change in the amount that we’re driving to get to games. Wilmar is about the same distance away as was Pine City, and our three closest associations in District 5 (Monticello, Buffalo, and
STMA) are closer than the three closest in District 10. In short, travel is a wash between the districts. D5 does have a few other rules in setting up teams than did D10. For example, in D5, if we have more than one team at any given level, at least one of those teams must be designated as an ‘A’ team. Another example is the classification of the Mite levels. There are other rule differences, but I won’t get in to those at this point. The D5 Director, Doug Kephart, did attend out last board meeting, so we were able to present some concerns and
wish list items. Doug is setting up a committee of the associations to look into the D5 by-laws and policies over the summer. He is including BBL, Sauk Rapids, and St. Cloud in those discussions, so I am confident that our concerns and opinions will be heard going in to the 2010 season.

I’ve heard rumors that we’ll be merging with Monticello or some other D5 association for next season. Is this true?

No, absolutely, positively not true. There have been no discussions with other associations in looking to create a merger opportunity for BBL. Given the local economic conditions and lack of a home arena, we still have not seen a decrease in our association numbers. We still have kids in Becker and Big Lake that want to play hockey, and it is the job of this association to provide them with that opportunity.

What does this move to D5 do for the kids in BBL that are currently either co-opping with Princeton or waived to other girls programs?

We are currently working with D5 to ensure that all BBL players will have an opportunity to play hockey at an appropriate level. One of the benefits to moving to D5 is that while we are still one of the smaller associations, we’re not quite as small, comparatively. We’re no longer 1/6th the size of the largest D10 association; we’re about 1/3 the size of the largest D5 association, and the gap between us and the mid-sized D5 associations is not as large, either.

For the girls situation, we have been in contact with the director of the North Wright County RiverHawks program (Monticello/STMA). They have room for our girls within their program. This is also the program that Becker and Big Lake high schools have partnered with to send the girls on to play high school hockey. Having the opportunity to align our girls’ youth program with a high school program means our girls and their parents will not have to open enroll to have a chance to play high school hockey.

As for the boys at the PeeWee and Bantam levels, where we’re currently co-opping with Princeton, we’re looking at having both of these levels back in BBL next season. The biggest determining factor in not doing that this past year was that we, as a Coaching Committee and Board, were not sure if we could get the infrastructure in place (coaches, ice time, etc) to support the Bantam program. This past season, we moved the PeeWees over there as well due to low numbers. We are currently working to address setting up the Bantam
program, and when we bring the Bantams back in, the PeeWees will also be brought back in. We plan to do this for the 2010-11 season. It just doesn’t make sense to send kids off to a different association for two years of PeeWees and then bring them back into a different system for Bantams. We know that we have a small group of PeeWees for next year, and that would likely mean only one team. We feel strongly that in the long term, this would be a better option for the association.

Where do we sit for a local arena? Where will we get ice next year if we don’t have a local arena?

As of right now, the BBL Ice Association (BBLIA) is looking to receive some funding from the State of Minnesota as part of the bonding bill that is working its way through the legislature right now. Funding for the Big Lake Regional Ice Arena is included in the Senate’s version, but not the House’s. Jim Koenen, BBLIA Vice President, has sent out multiple e-mails, urging every association member to write a letter. He has included all of the contact information for the House bonding committee, so the hard work is already done for you. Please take a moment TODAY to write to this committee and tell them what you feel this ice arena will mean to our communities, both specifically for the hockey association and the communities in general. We need to make sure this item is supported by both the House and the Senate. The time is now, and the price on this arena is right (with construction companies looking for projects, we are getting a great deal and we should not expect to ever be able to put up an arena for this price again).

As for the second question, if we don’t have a local arena to skate in for next year, nothing will change drastically from today. With Sauk Rapids and St. Cloud moving to D5 with us, our current home rink can be maintained. We have not had any issues getting enough practice time for this year’s teams, and in many cases, have been approached wondering if we want more ice time. Our high school team is practicing and playing in Princeton, and we anticipate being able to get hours from them for youth-level practices as well. Our day-to-day operations would not look much different from what we’re doing now.

But let me reiterate one thing; long term, our best option for association growth is a local arena. If you have not yet sent a letter supporting the arena to the legislators, please do so today. Have your friends and family send in these letters as well. I hope this addresses most of the questions and rumors that are out there right now. If you have any other questions or concerns, please drop me a line and let me know. If you’re hearing other rumors, please let me
know that as well so those can be addressed quickly and accurately. With the move to D5, there are going to be lots of questions, and for some of those questions, we don’t have answers yet (and may not have them for a while), but I will let you know what I know.

Sincerely,
Brad Weber
BBLYHA President