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Post by Slap Shooter on Feb 27, 2020 12:21:36 GMT -4
QMJHL issues new travel rule after Mooseheads fiasco. The team that does not travel may lose the game and be fined $10,0000. It's a story in today's TJ. I do not see this article, but the $10k fine and losing plus having to pay expenses has been the rule. The article is in the online version. |
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Post by SteveUL on Feb 27, 2020 12:23:12 GMT -4
I can see the League getting sued over that policy. While teams are not permitted to sue the league, which is a farce in itself, an insurance company is definitely going to sue the league and the two teams involved. For example, lets pretend that this rule was in place for this game that the issue arose from. Lets say that Halifax gets on the road, and somewhere in between Halifax and Saint John, the bus driver loses control on icy roads, the bus turns sideways in the road, and a Tractor-trailer following the bus t-bones it on the side because it can't get stopped on icy roads. You can imagine yourself about the injuries and fatalities. So the Transport Company (lets call it Midland, because that is fun) is going to sue the bus company, and the Halifax Mooseheads, and the QMJHL for forcing the players to be out on the road. Saint John will get sued because they didn't cancel the game which forced Halifax to travel, and everybody involved will sue everybody else ... except the Q because they can't sue anybody. Whether you are found liable or not for any part of the crash, you still have to hire lawyers to defend yourself. Only the league can cancel the game. Technically, by league rules, they could rule against Halifax for tweeting that the game was postponed and that they were staying in Moncton before the game was officially postponed. That in itself is a problem. The league should not be making decisions on who has to travel. They are too far removed from it. It should be simply up to the traveling team. |
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Post by jimmy on Feb 27, 2020 12:30:18 GMT -4
I do not see this article, but the $10k fine and losing plus having to pay expenses has been the rule. I found it on the TJ site. Its not a rule yet I don't think ... just to be discussed by the member teams. Personally, it should fall on the team that has to drive to the other teams rink that should decide. They are the ones that are taking the risk and they see the conditions they have to drive on. Having the League rule on something from Montreal based on road conditions in NS is asinine that they'd get the final say. It should be up to the guy that has to drive the bus on whether or not they go forward. He is a professional and knows the limits of his vehicle ... nobody else does. I would like to be a fly on the wall at the league meeting where this is discussed ... could see Georgie/Russell turning into a Brian Burke/Kevin Lowe situation where one ends up inviting the other outside to settle their differences LOL ... |
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Post by Briwhel on Feb 27, 2020 13:14:55 GMT -4
Only the league can cancel the game. Technically, by league rules, they could rule against Halifax for tweeting that the game was postponed and that they were staying in Moncton before the game was officially postponed. That in itself is a problem. The league should not be making decisions on who has to travel. They are too far removed from it. It should be simply up to the traveling team. So better for the team that protected its Saturday night gate over listening to experts than the league that has access to the same information? |
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Post by jimmy on Feb 27, 2020 13:41:26 GMT -4
That in itself is a problem. The league should not be making decisions on who has to travel. They are too far removed from it. It should be simply up to the traveling team. So better for the team that protected its Saturday night gate over listening to experts than the league that has access to the same information? I doubt there is a perfect solution ... travelling teams may on occasion have ulterior motives to be more or less determined to get a game in as scheduled ... but having someone in Montreal make the call does not seem ideal either - there are too many local factors that they would have no idea about - they could check the weather in Halifax, Saint John, Moncton along the way ... but they likely have never even heard of the Tantramar Marsh, or the Cobequid Pass, etc. and the impact that it could have on local travel. Edit: When was the last time two teams disagreed strongly over cancelling a game? I can't recall it ever happening before this, though I am sure it sometimes does. This almost feels like a solution without a problem ... maybe the easiest thing to do is leave it the way it is and accept that, once every couple of decades, two teams are going to disagree with each other and provide the rest of us with some cheap entertainment. |
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Post by SteveUL on Feb 27, 2020 13:47:37 GMT -4
That in itself is a problem. The league should not be making decisions on who has to travel. They are too far removed from it. It should be simply up to the traveling team. So better for the team that protected its Saturday night gate over listening to experts than the league that has access to the same information? Its all about player safety and whether or not the team feels its safe to travel. They are charged with the safety of these children by the parents. Its should never be about business. Anybody putting business ahead of player safety should be removed from the league. What Georgie feels is safe to drive on may not be the same as what Russell feels is safe, and he is in charge of those players. Gilles Courteau or any of his minions should not have a say in the matter. If they are over-ruling somebody that has to actually travel on the roads they are in the wrong and risking lives. Halifax's Saturday gate wasn't going to change because they went to SJ for a Friday game. Do you think people say to themselves ... "OMG, they played Friday and just got back in town today ... I'm not going to that game on Saturday". You are grasping at straws. |
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Post by Briwhel on Feb 27, 2020 14:36:55 GMT -4
So better for the team that protected its Saturday night gate over listening to experts than the league that has access to the same information? Its all about player safety and whether or not the team feels its safe to travel. They are charged with the safety of these children by the parents. Its should never be about business. Anybody putting business ahead of player safety should be removed from the league. What Georgie feels is safe to drive on may not be the same as what Russell feels is safe, and he is in charge of those players. Gilles Courteau or any of his minions should not have a say in the matter. If they are over-ruling somebody that has to actually travel on the roads they are in the wrong and risking lives. Halifax's Saturday gate wasn't going to change because they went to SJ for a Friday game. Do you think people say to themselves ... "OMG, they played Friday and just got back in town today ... I'm not going to that game on Saturday". You are grasping at straws. They likely wouldn't have made it back by 7pm for the Saturday game. The drive from SJ to Moncton alone would likely have been 3+ hours |
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Post by pinkbeaver on Feb 27, 2020 14:39:18 GMT -4
Only the league can cancel the game. Technically, by league rules, they could rule against Halifax for tweeting that the game was postponed and that they were staying in Moncton before the game was officially postponed. That in itself is a problem. The league should not be making decisions on who has to travel. They are too far removed from it. It should be simply up to the traveling team. The reason the league has to make the decisions is because it has to be a third party that is free from bias. With how connected the world is now, I don't think it is unreasonable to make a decision on the roads from another city. Its not like someone in Halifax or SJ can look out there window and know anymore than information being gathered on the internet. Leaving the decision up to the traveling team would be fine if you could assure all the proper steps were taken. Halifax had opportunities to get ahead of the storm and reach SJ safely. They had a bias against making the trip to SJ, and thought they could get around it by not leaving Halifax Friday and waiting for the storm to get bad. Once it was 1pm and they were going to run into the storm/not make game time, the league should not have made them travel, but certainly being penalized for their poor judgement should have been. |
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Post by SteveUL on Feb 27, 2020 14:45:33 GMT -4
Its all about player safety and whether or not the team feels its safe to travel. They are charged with the safety of these children by the parents. Its should never be about business. Anybody putting business ahead of player safety should be removed from the league. What Georgie feels is safe to drive on may not be the same as what Russell feels is safe, and he is in charge of those players. Gilles Courteau or any of his minions should not have a say in the matter. If they are over-ruling somebody that has to actually travel on the roads they are in the wrong and risking lives. Halifax's Saturday gate wasn't going to change because they went to SJ for a Friday game. Do you think people say to themselves ... "OMG, they played Friday and just got back in town today ... I'm not going to that game on Saturday". You are grasping at straws. They likely wouldn't have made it back by 7pm for the Saturday game. The drive from SJ to Moncton alone would likely have been 3+ hours Nope ... the storm was over when I got up Saturday morning and our roads were plowed. They would have been home before noon. |
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Post by yoyomamajoe on Feb 27, 2020 14:47:43 GMT -4
So better for the team that protected its Saturday night gate over listening to experts than the league that has access to the same information? Its all about player safety and whether or not the team feels its safe to travel. They are charged with the safety of these children by the parents. Its should never be about business. Anybody putting business ahead of player safety should be removed from the league. What Georgie feels is safe to drive on may not be the same as what Russell feels is safe, and he is in charge of those players. Gilles Courteau or any of his minions should not have a say in the matter. If they are over-ruling somebody that has to actually travel on the roads they are in the wrong and risking lives. Halifax's Saturday gate wasn't going to change because they went to SJ for a Friday game. Do you think people say to themselves ... "OMG, they played Friday and just got back in town today ... I'm not going to that game on Saturday". You are grasping at straws. The funny thing is Halifax has never claimed it was because of player safety until they were in Moncton. They were trying to say that the bus company cancelled the morning trip while this was proven to be a lie. That is what makes this issue questionable. I still believe that Halifax was 'afraid' they might get stuck in Saint John and would have to cancel their next day home game. Trying to pull a fast one without going through the league. If they would have played the safety card it would have been very easy to call the league and tell them they feared safety and the league would agree and cancel the game. Simple. But it didn't go that way, so very questionable business. |
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Post by Briwhel on Feb 27, 2020 14:53:29 GMT -4
They likely wouldn't have made it back by 7pm for the Saturday game. The drive from SJ to Moncton alone would likely have been 3+ hours Nope ... the storm was over when I got up Saturday morning and our roads were plowed. They would have been home before noon. The weather in SJ was not so nice. I can assure you that it would have taken a long time to get to Moncton. |
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Post by SteveUL on Feb 27, 2020 15:39:08 GMT -4
Nope ... the storm was over when I got up Saturday morning and our roads were plowed. They would have been home before noon. The weather in SJ was not so nice. I can assure you that it would have taken a long time to get to Moncton. Seeing that this storm came up the coast in a northeasterly track, like this one happening right now, the storm was over in Saint John before it was over in Moncton. I'm calling bullshit. |
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Post by j3e4 on Feb 27, 2020 18:48:22 GMT -4
The weather in SJ was not so nice. I can assure you that it would have taken a long time to get to Moncton. Seeing that this storm came up the coast in a northeasterly track, like this one happening right now, the storm was over in Saint John before it was over in Moncton. I'm calling bullshit. Not saying he's BSing but perhaps is misremembering. Maybe he's getting the days mixed up. As I recall the weather was fine by Saturday morning. Even by Friday evening it wasn't that bad. How bad could it have been for 5000ish people to go see a rapper with a few staying for a scrimmage? The storm was supposed to be over in SJ early Friday afternoon but as it got closer, the expected end time kept getting pushed back but was never expected to go beyond Friday evening. So unless it was supposed to last much longer in some points in between, I'm not sure why this would have ever been their real concern. Having said all that, if the Mooseheads actually were concerned about their ability to return to Halifax by game time Saturday due to Saturday's forecast, is that not a valid reason to cancel their trip? Why would they need to lie about that? Why must the next game on the schedule be top priority if it means traveling both ways in less than ideal conditions and could result in a different game getting cancelled? I'm not going to try to speculate what their reasons were, but if this was their true concern I'm sure they would have stated it. |
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Post by yoyomamajoe on Feb 27, 2020 20:08:16 GMT -4
Seeing that this storm came up the coast in a northeasterly track, like this one happening right now, the storm was over in Saint John before it was over in Moncton. I'm calling bullshit. Not saying he's BSing but perhaps is misremembering. Maybe he's getting the days mixed up. As I recall the weather was fine by Saturday morning. Even by Friday evening it wasn't that bad. How bad could it have been for 5000ish people to go see a rapper with a few staying for a scrimmage? The storm was supposed to be over in SJ early Friday afternoon but as it got closer, the expected end time kept getting pushed back but was never expected to go beyond Friday evening. So unless it was supposed to last much longer in some points in between, I'm not sure why this would have ever been their real concern. Having said all that, if the Mooseheads actually were concerned about their ability to return to Halifax by game time Saturday due to Saturday's forecast, is that not a valid reason to cancel their trip? Why would they need to lie about that? Why must the next game on the schedule be top priority if it means traveling both ways in less than ideal conditions and could result in a different game getting cancelled? I'm not going to try to speculate what their reasons were, but if this was their true concern I'm sure they would have stated it. Totally agree, but why be secretive about it, trying to blame the bus company and not contacting the league to voice your concerns about travelling? |
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Post by j3e4 on Feb 27, 2020 21:59:21 GMT -4
Not saying he's BSing but perhaps is misremembering. Maybe he's getting the days mixed up. As I recall the weather was fine by Saturday morning. Even by Friday evening it wasn't that bad. How bad could it have been for 5000ish people to go see a rapper with a few staying for a scrimmage? The storm was supposed to be over in SJ early Friday afternoon but as it got closer, the expected end time kept getting pushed back but was never expected to go beyond Friday evening. So unless it was supposed to last much longer in some points in between, I'm not sure why this would have ever been their real concern. Having said all that, if the Mooseheads actually were concerned about their ability to return to Halifax by game time Saturday due to Saturday's forecast, is that not a valid reason to cancel their trip? Why would they need to lie about that? Why must the next game on the schedule be top priority if it means traveling both ways in less than ideal conditions and could result in a different game getting cancelled? I'm not going to try to speculate what their reasons were, but if this was their true concern I'm sure they would have stated it. Totally agree, but why be secretive about it, trying to blame the bus company and not contacting the league to voice your concerns about travelling? That I'm not sure about. I can think of a couple reasons, neither probably being completely right. One is relatively innocent (a white lie that snowballed) and another is not so innocent. I'd say there's a good chance it lies somewhere in between. The theory I responded to above is one of the few scenarios I'd rule out for the reasons I mentioned. I just can't see why they would feel the need to lie about that if that was their true concern. |
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