i agree with everything you said killer. there is always two sides to every story and we are just as respolsible as loffredo's for what happened. everyone needs to respect each other and i hope both teams have moved on and this will not be an issue the next time we play. fighting is something that needs to be consensual because if you don;t know how to fight in hockey you can get seriously hurt. a ref would also need training to break it up to prevent themselves from injury. i just wish that stupid rule was not in effect so that a whole team doesn't get punished for the actions of two or three players. when all i said and done both teams had there benches empty and one team got punished for it. hopefully everyone for teh rest of the year will play smart and safe and this situation will not come up again.

i agree. most of the things that people are so called whining about are not very hard to fix. the problem is that they think we are whining and they give sarcastic remarks like have little ninjas midget janitors or other remarks like that. these things are very basic things for the most part. i worked in a rink before and it was nothing to go over the dressing rooms to make sure they are clean. we are there customers and they need to start taking us seriously because there business depends on it. there is no need to make insulting remarks about unemployed refs. i understand that people dont always translate what there wants and needs are in the most appropriate matter but these things need to be addressed. i wrote an e-mail to the rink two months ago about the nets being crooked and i got nothing back, and nothing has been done. with all of this beign said i met the new manager a couple of weeks ago and he at least sounded like he wanted to make our league better and take suggestions so i am glad to hear that. this meeting in a couple of weeks is also a step in the right direction. we do need to do our part to and help keep the rooms clean and do the things we can.
bottom line is there are many things that need to be done to improve the league and the rink but as long as people are at least willing to listen and make attempts then we can make most of those things happen.
on a different note, has anyone ever thought of 3 ten minute stop time periods instead of 20 minute run time?? in every league i have ever played in that has been teh way and the games took about 50 minutes. that would maybe prevent all of the time lost on icing and faceoffs. i know that the third period on sunday night, about 5 and a half minutes went by and i think we only actually played for 45 seconds. it was just icing after icing. just a thought, maybe it has been tried and did not work.

NotGniGde, which team do are you playing for this season?

as for the game this past sunday in question.....I play for the tomatoes. I saw the ordeal go down from the bench. In my opinion....players from each team were a bit at fault. Nothing against my guy, however I kind of felt like he was playing with a chip on his shoulder all night. He and the other guy started getting into it during the first period. However if we had outside refs that knew what they were doing and didn't play every week then i don't think this would have happened. (piont has been made before.) this being said, I can say from first had...I lined up for the start of the 3rd across from the captain of slap shot. He looked at me and asked how I was. I replied fine and was enjoying the game. He said good, "cause we are going to kick the shit out of you now." I realize our team is not the best in the mix.....I realize we of our problems and I get that if a team is better than us they have the right to cherry pick like a bunch of bitches. HOWEVER.....do not rub it in the other teams face and expect noting to come of it. I am not saying this was planned by any means, but if you want to play like a bunch of bitches and rub it in the faces of the other team then do not go around and act like you are a saint. it is as much our fault as it is ours so deal with it and shut the hell up.

As for our guy taking out SS best player.....come on. the guy is a nice guy. I have sub-ed for your team before an have no problems with the man. however I have seen him get wrecked twice now and both times the collison has been a result of him skating with the puck with his face pointed towards the ice. The only reason our guy had a the reaction he did was because he didn't mean it. he pulled up and your boy kept on heading toward him not looking where he was going. I am sorry, as good of a player as he is, he should be able to sneak a peak from time to time at where he is going. that being said, it was a bad deal, I nor anyone on my team does not want to see anyone get hurt. And no one wants to see people duking it out on a week to week basis. This is a REC LEAGUE! if you can not deal with that and understand that people are going to mess up then move up!

Now, I am sure that I have upset someone with this rant. please, feel free to reply as I want to hear others thoughts. And if I have pissed you off big time then please, catch me on sundays and we will talk about it. I am #19 so feel free to stop me at the rink and chat. i also try to play every friday. the guys on our team realize we are not the best team out there but we enjoy the hockey and don't want to see it get any worse than it is.

Everyone had a blast this past sunday playing Slap Shot. it was a close game, which we don't get a lot of. and was fun to be a part of.....untill the last min. or so. look forward to playing them again and hope the game is close but the outcome better no matter which team wins.

I'm not playing at MISF out of protest over poor conditions over the last year and the piss poor running of the league last summer. Unlike most people who talk, I actually exercised the only power I have and left. I know it costs me a full season and they only lost like $400, but it is the principle. I am a man of principles.
The fees were not worth paying this season. I miss playing hockey regularly, but I do not miss the headaches and hassles of the MISF. Last winter & summer, I got sick several times & I attribute it to the squalid conditions at the rink (the west lockers rooms in particular carry an odor of staph) because I have not been sick at all since I've stopped playing there. Never a single illness after leaving the spacious and clean locker rooms at WFA. I have not sharpened my skates at all this year b/s the ice down there is actually maintained well enough. MISF was a sharpen at least every third game...
I am eager to return to MISF next fall based on the positives I am hearing about the new manager. I miss playing hockey regularly, but I don't have the money to throw away playing in a facility that doesn't have enough pride or professionalism to meet the basic safety standards. My choice to play at WFA was based on quiality over quantity and I still don't regret it.
Hopefully it was just dirty water and not a backed up toilet. Tetanus shots all around! In all seriousness, either way it is physically dangerous because of the risk of certain stagnant water borne diseases, tetanus from rust, and staph or other bacterial infections from fecal matter and urine. The locker room in question should have been closed until such time as it was inspected and sanitized. You play at your own risk, but you do not sign the waiver with the condition that your physical health could be in jeopardy due to unsanitary conditions or neglect by the facility, its management, or its employees.
Sorry, I cut the items down b/c there was no sense in repeating all of that. I did not realize that you were speaking in jest (not sure that anyone else did either from the sound of it). Sarcasm does not come through very clearly in a forum. You did not offend me and I will admit that I have not experienced any changes because I currently have no reason to go to the MISF. As I previously stated, I made a conscious decision to stay away this season after the crap of last summer and the disrepair of the facility over the last few seasons. My intel on the current conditions all comes from this board, talking to current players I know, and Oak Leafs players who also play lax for Valley.

As I have repeatedly stated, it is my hope that the new management takes a personal and professional interest in bringing the facility back up to an acceptable standard as soon as possible. Some of you may not like this, but the best way would be to not have a summer league this year. If the facility closed down for the summer, they would save considerable amounts of money on cooling and maintaining the ice. This would free up funds to tackle some much needed repairs. The place is what, 10 years old now? Has it had any significant inspections, repairs, or updates in that time? At the very least, they could melt the ice and offer roller hockey, box lacrosse, or arena soccer to save on the ice costs while working on the plumbing (sounds like it is something that needs to be done sooner rather than later), putting in a more efficient heating system (Obama's stimulus package can pay for a portion of that), resurfacing the parking lot (who hasn't lost a car in one of those potholes?), and/or any of the other things that desperately need to be done to bring the place up to spec. It amazes me that neither the city of Urbandale, Polk County, the State of Iowa, or USA Hockey have had any issues with the disgusting conditions of the bathrooms and locker rooms (and I'm not talking about tape on the floor here). I offer my best wishes to the new man in charge and hope that he fixes the problems the past "caretakers" left him.

---

Hockey is love. Lacrosse is passion.

I wanted to add my input to this post:


I did stop giving my money to the facility. With the way I was treated by Kristina, I only skated out the first half of last season. I wasn't going to give the rink any more of my money because of the way she was running things. I kept playing goalie, though, because I love playing hockey. I was determined to not give the rink any more of my money until management changed. That is why, after the new manager came, I joined up with the Tomatoes on Sunday.


As was said before, we did form a league at Wells Fargo and many of the players were doing that league instead of playing at MISF because of the way they were treated. I want to know where the rinks are that "saturate" Des Moines. There is MISF, KGGO, and Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo and KGGO both pull their ice in the summer from what I have heard. What other rinks are there to play at? And who said they didn't want it to be competitive?


I don't mind paying a lot of money to play hockey if we get what we pay for. The rink took our money and in return, didn't listen to our concerns, didn't improve the ice conditions, didn't improve the locker rooms, quit offering beer and food after games, didn't turn on the heat for spectators, didn't have a reliable zamboni, and the list goes on. For the money we pay, we should be playing in much better conditions with a much nicer staff. I think that will happen now that Kristina isn't running the rink anymore.


If the people at the rink actually smiled one in a while and answered our questions, listened to our concerns, and did something about it, things would be different. I know that when I asked Kristina a few questions and tried to tell her about stats being wrong, she admitted the stats were wrong but wouldn't change them, she lied to me, then she quit answering my e-mails alltogether. How's that for professionalism in management? I have absolutely no respect for Kristina after the way she treated myself and others at the rink. She didn't have to rub our feet, but being a "nice" person should be a prerequisite for running the rink.


If the staff actually did their jobs, listened to player concerns, and improved the league, there would be no need to yell at them. Personally, I have never heard anyone yell at the staff, but if it happened, it wouldn't surprise me. People can only take so much, especially when their money is being squandered by a money hungry manager that doesn't care about their customers. As was said before, before the new manager came, the ONLY pleasant person that worked at the rink was the concession stand lady (I talk to her every week, but am terrible with names).

EDIT: I am not sure if Dawn (the lady that runs the scoreboard) is an employee of the rink, but she is also very nice. She doesn't like fighting and comes down hard on those that do fight, but she is a great person as well. She actually cares about the league, unlike Kristina.


Tim promised training for every referee that was going to be reffing games. To my knowledge that never happened. With the money we pay, it shouldn't be hard to pull in at least one high school referee for games. If we had one "real" ref and one volunteer ref, it would completely change the way the game is played. With volunteer referees that have little or no training, of course there is going to be mistakes, but they need to keep in control of the game.


We don't need them "ninja cleaned", but you can tell that they rarely got cleaned before. Cleaning them daily isn't a stretch. Yes, it is a locker room and is expected to have a bit of a smell to it, but I honestly am scared to touch the floor. I always put my bare feet on my hockey bag or something else so that I don't catch something. Tape balls occasionally miss the garbage. We are hockey players, not basketball players. Those are easy to pick up though. I can see the occasional toilet being clogged, but I think enough of the adults know not to put paper towels down them. However, I do not use the locker room bathrooms anymore. I go in the other bathrooms before or after the games because they are at least a little clean and usually have working toilets.

---

QCI - Goalie #42
Killer Tomatoes - Mid-season Aquisition
Chops League - Skater

I just found this forum and this probably won't get read. What we need guys is an association. We need to build our league in the vision we want it to be. I think we all agree with most of what we had 3 seasons ago when Joe Bafia was running things. What has changed? The management at Metro has three times now. All with different degrees of how things should be run and will be run. With an association we can remove a good part of that because we will only be using the facilities. We will rent the ice, rate players, collect and pay out the money, set rule and officals standards, have governing body with input from each team on a regular basis. We will have more to say about our league. I can't think of anyone of us how thought Joe did a bad job with the league, maybe a disagreement or two but never like we have been experincing over the last several seasons. Building a league will give us more clout and provide better results for all of us. From on ice rules to player playing levels to stats. We should be moving on this before next season, we deserve a better run league and larger voice in the operation of the league.