Message from the Director about the 2003-2004 Season

The MCRHL has gone through significant changes in the summer of 2003. First, 5 CRHL member regions (ACRHA, ECRHA, SCHL, SCRHA, and WCRHL) broke away from the CRHL and formed the National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association. After some planning for the 2003-2004 season had been completed, the GPCIHL decided it too would leave CRHL, taking the RMCRHA with it. These movements left only the MCRHL and CRHL Premier teams in the CRHL, and it became very apparent, for the sake of national unity, that the MCRHL would be moving to the NCRHA as well, which happened officially September 15th. At this point, the above paragraph just becomes alphabet soup, because NCRHA is where this league is and where this league is staying for as long as possible. For many reasons, some obvious and some not, the teams that formerly made up the CRHL Premier division decided to rejoin their respective member regions. Although all of these changes are very complicated and confusing, the bottom line is that the MCRHL, its staff, and its players are very excited to begin the 2003-2004 season under one national organization, with one national championship, and some very exciting changes in effect this year. The CRHL Premier Program taught a good lesson about how much certain teams can handle, and the results have been positive. Some schools are obviously in the position to maintain a home arena and market themselves independently, and some are not. To meet both of these needs, the MCRHL will add two wrinkles to its structure this season. First, there will be ?extended format? or ?feature? games played at every weekend event throughout the season. These games will be 3 15-minute, stop-time periods with lengthy intermissions in between each period as opposed to the now normal 3 12-minute stop-time periods with 1 minute intermissions. Additionally, many clubs will be hosting home games throughout the season. Every MCRHL team will play every other twice this year, and if both teams wish to play games at a team?s home venue, it will happen. Keep posted to MCRHL.com to follow the schedule each week. All in all, the fans and players will only see improvements in the MCRHL. There are people dedicated to ensuring that. We look forward to kicking off the season in Fort Wayne, and we really look forward to the high level of competition awaiting us all season long and at the first ever MCRHL Tournament in March. Check the ?Member Teams? portion of the site to view all of the teams competing in the MCRHL this year, and check back often for statistical updates and league information. And, as always, thanks for the support, we genuinely appreciate it.