CCHL holiday schedule and OT change

 Hi everyone,  

I'll add this to the blog section as well to make finding it easier later on as well.  

One of the things I love about the Simon simulator is the numerous options but it's also one of the things I hate the most as well.  

I did some digging this week because I was reviewing players on the ice in OT as something seemed off for me.  Turns out, I was very correct.  

There is a setting that I have never checked off for us to have a tab for OT where we can set out players that we want on the ice in OT.  What has been happening is they have been taking the players we have set for the 3 man PK, and in most lineups those are the most defensive players.  We've been treating our fans to some very boring overtimes folks!  

I discussed quickly fixing this and adding the setting with the executive committee.  It was unanimous that everyone wanted to set their 9 forwards for OT and 5 defencemen that can go on the ice, in the order, they want them out there.  I'm not normally about a change in the middle of the season but this should have been in place and in the million options, I missed it.  It will reduce the number of shootouts as well since players will be on the ice in OT that actually want to score.  I apologize for that but it will be added after games on Monday night.  

You will need to send in a new lineup to account for this before games resume after our break, but please do not do so immediately.  By the time I upload if you send right away, the file will be too old so I need you to wait until the 27th when I do an update on the files.  

I'm posting a schedule of events below so we know and everyone will have two days to send it for the resumption of games.  

After games tomorrow night, we will have a one-week holiday break.  

December 21-28 - Christmas break for games.  

December 27th - files will be uploaded and updated.  All teams must send a lineup before games resume on December 29th.  

December 29th - games will resume at 7:00PM.  

Trade freeze:  No trades will be permitted after games tomorrow night until after games start back up on the 29th.  After the games are played, you may submit trades again.  

Please let me know if you have any questions.  

Thanks,

Matt

CCHL Prospects tournament postponed - not cancelled

 I'm sure this is a long-overdue blog and explanation as to why we haven't heard anything about the CCHL prospects tournament this year, so let's try to discuss it here.

The intent back in the summer was to always do the tournament over the Christmas holidays but a few things are in the way.  

One of those is that it is a busy time of year for us at work and as a result time is limited.  It wasn't supposed to be but I literally had half my team go off on maternity leave which left an enormous challenge ahead of me and left me working a lot of extra hours and weekends.  

Secondly, in that time, my wife decided that we needed to go on vacation over the Christmas holidays now that the border has opened back up to cross over the bridge.  So, with that being said, I'll be away over the holidays for a bunch of days.  

I loved the tournament last year and I think that the best thing to do is move it annually to the beginning of September each year.  

Why you ask?  

Well traditionally based on the responses and emails, most of us are starved for some sort of CCHL action after basically having nothing all summer.  What better way than to have the draft in July, compile combined rosters with your lethal lottery partner, and do the tournament starting just after Labor Day?

An added bonus to this is that we will have just completed the CCHL draft, meaning the players we picked in the entry draft will be eligible to play as well.  It's almost like the Traverse City rookie tournament and for that reason, I really love the timing of doing it then.  

It also works a LOT better for my schedule as well, and unfortunately, that does have to be a factor in things.  

With that said, we'll probably take a break on game action from the 21st to the 28th of December - a complete trade freeze for the holidays. We'll open back up the 29th for trades and a file update with games resuming on the 30th.  

I do apologize for the rescheduling of the tournament this year but I'm excited to have it go when it does in early September.  

Yours in hockey,

The beloved (or hated) CCHL Commish