Nice skate.  We didn't know what to expect but it was well run; kept the kids moving, working and having fun.  I thought there was a good turnout of surprisingly talented players today.  I think there were 14 players and the goalies were great.  We'll be back for another look at tomorrows skate (4-5:30pm); they felt that we will need some more players at tomorrows skate in order to make this viable.  It has our interest with no downside.

I was impressed by the Minutemen, they had both coaches there and both stated that they were unified with their decisions.  Their '98 team had finished their evals yesterday morning and that team was picked; that team was not going to be touched to maintain the integrity of that process.  They said that this was a '97 team.  If there were '98s who came, they would have to come from outside.  The coaches were very realistic that in order to have any chance of being competitive, they would need '97 players.  I asked if they thought they were going to be competitive?  Again, they were very realistic and said that as a startup team, their goal would be skill development and to be competitive in games, they weren't all that concerned with league standings.  It was refreshing that they followed this up by saying, "Listen, this is your team.  You are not here for us, we are here for you and your kid."

The Sunday skate went well also.  Unfortunately, Coach Kolar felt that there weren't enough Tier I players there to foeld a competitive team.  He was good a communicated well with both the players and the families, as well as running a good skate.