CBHL Members, 

This message is long overdue. Every time I start working on this message, I get more information to add! As soon as our season ended in March, we began to plan for the 2022-2023 season…so it has been non-stop for us on the CBHL staff. So I’m taking advantage of this brief break in the action to update you on what we’ve been up to the past few months.

Our 2021-2022 season came to a successful conclusion on March 6th. We were fortunate to have minimal impacts due to COVID. We did have some challenges throughout the season…namely the availability of officials. Our partners at SHOA along with our club schedulers worked hard to get us through the season. Thank you to everyone who made our past season a success.  

What we didn’t do so well…player, spectator and coaching behavior. The number of reports we’ve received regarding abuse of officials was exceptionally high this season. We are going to work with the clubs and SHOA to prevent this from happening next season.  More on this in a bit.  

April is a big month for the league staff. This is when we reset, start laying the foundation for the next season, and do some significant housekeeping. For example, at our April meeting, in accordance with our bylaws, we held elections for three key staff positions: our Vice Commissioner for Discipline, our Vice Commissioner for Girls Hockey and our Treasurer.  

We are fortunate to have our Vice Commissioner for Discipline, Bill Schmidt, for another term. Bill’s work is invaluable in ensuring we are in compliance with USA Hockey and our affiliate’s standards. Thank you Bill for your continued service to the league and to hockey players in our region! 

Our Vice Commissioner for Girls Hockey, Jacque Dzubak relinquished the reigns to Pat Wildman. Jacque served as the girls commissioner since 2016 and led the league through a significant growth period for girls hockey over the past few years. We were fortunate to have Jacque on the staff and I wish her the best of luck as she continues to support girls hockey at Tri-City. Pat Wildman was a standout defenseman at Dartmouth College, and has more than 20 years of youth hockey coaching at all levels, in both the co-ed and girls programs for the Reston Raiders. Pat is a USA Hockey Level 5 certified coach and has been on the Reston Raider Board of Directors for over 10 years. Pat already has a list of projects to tackle and is reaching out to the girls hockey leaders across our clubs to get the ball rolling.  Welcome Pat! 

Our treasurer, Shirley Lyons, is stepping down after her second tour with the league staff. She served as our treasurer from 2009 through 2014, and again from 2019 to this year. She has been significantly involved in the youth hockey scene in Richmond over many years. She was not only our treasurer; she was critical in transitioning operations during our last commissioner change over and she instrumental in sharing her historical knowledge during our meetings. Thank you Shirley for your dedication to youth hockey in the region. Stacy Hart is our new treasurer. Stacy is a seasoned comptroller with experience in managing large budgets for the Prince William County School system and the Nokesville Volunteer Fire Department. She is also a senior hockey mom with three kids across junior and youth hockey. Welcome aboard, Stacy!  

We also had two statisticians step down at the end of this past season. Amanda Vaccaro started as our 8U statistician in 2016 and picked up the Girls stats in 2020. Amanda has been involved with youth hockey and high school hockey in Maryland for many years. Bob Orr has been a league statistician since 2000. He is a big presence out on the Eastern Shore, serving in may key roles with the Easton Ice Hawks since 1997.  Amanda and Bob, thank you so much for your tireless dedication to our league and to youth hockey in our region.  

With this new foundation set, we are aggressively planning for the 2022-2023 season.  We are in the midst of our annual rules review.  We typically knock this out in April, but we had a large list of proposed rules to consider, so we’ll work through May to finalize everything. Many of our proposed rule changes are administrative in nature…cleaning up redundant language, establishing business guidelines and bringing playing rules into alignment with the current USA Hockey and affiliate rules. However, there are some noteworthy changes, including the implementation of a running clock in games where there is a significant goal differential in the third period, and implementing a financial fine for coaches who receive multiple game misconducts for abuse of officials. Again, we hope to have an updated rule book completed and published in May.  

As the summer approaches, we’ll be working on two other significant programs for the league: the full transition to the GameSheet electronic scoring system and the restructuring of how we schedule playoffs. Starting in July, our team of GameSheet ambassadors will begin to heavily engage team managers and club leaders about GameSheet in order to provide as seamless of a transition as possible. As I’ve mentioned previously, we are looking to consolidate our playoff games in one to two locations each weekend in order to provide an enhanced experience for our members.  More on these initiatives will be announced in the coming months.   

Youth hockey in our region has grown leaps and bounds over the past 20 years, and our clubs are becoming more and more recognized throughout the country for their accomplishments. I’m proud to a part of this amazing community and I’m excited for what next season will bring. More to follow!

Tom Crosson
Commissioner
Chesapeake Bay Hockey League