2014/2015 LHGCL season is over

To Our LHGCL Teams,
As each of you know, the enormous amount of Rain has wreaked havoc on our attempts to complete our 2014/2015 season. Games have been rescheduled and cancelled numerous times and are still yet to be played. Our playing venues have taken an enormous hit, some under feet of water. The fields will recover, but we will be well into June before that happens.
The life cycle of a competitive playing year is also coming to a rapid close. June 1st means open tryouts and a crucial time for our teams to regroup and reset for the upcoming playing year. Teams need to know where they stand for the fall so expectations can be set for returning and incoming players. Our families are important and we respect that vacations have been planned, camps have been paid for etc. For LHGCL it's a time when we are full speed into preparing for the next playing year as well as planning and preparing for the upcoming Qualifying Tournament which is only seven weeks away.

With the above said, the difficult decision was made to end the 2014/2015 playing year as of today, May 31st, 2015. This was not a decision that came easily - we have wrestled several weeks with the issues and consequences of ending the season without playing all games. It is a decision that, unfortunately, we have been forced to make due to the record breaking rain we have all experienced.

so there will only be 2 divisions next year? Wonder how they are going to split them

So basically the teams that just spent the year busting ass to get a promotion to D2 are now relegated back to just and expanded D3 next year. Yeah seems like a great solution.

Exactly.  Looks like only 3 spots open for QT so stinks for those wanting to qualify.  Also, if reading correctly, will be less games if everyone plays each other once.  I would think the league fee would be reduced then.

Are the teams due money back for this season for games not played?? That is the question.

They could have kept this age group at 3 divisions. Promotion was settled in all divisions. I think there were a couple of teams on the bubble for relegation which could have been settled with going with points per game averages

Well, they should make any team that was going to be in D2 legitimately be exempt from relegation to QT.  Never know what might happen with injuries and such.  That goes for all age divisions that are having this odd format.  Teams earning promotion out of D3 deserve that grace.

Tiger, explain?

Only those in the current D3 relegation zone are in danger of QT.

His thinking is that at once you got into D2 if you had a bad year you would just drop to D3. Well now if you have a bad year (injuries and whatever) you could drop into that relegation/requalify zone without the buffer of just the D2 to D3 drop.

True. But with a larger division of teams you have a greater percentage to stay in.

True. Just keep winning and it all takes care of itself. From our teams perspective we had hoped for the stiffer competition of D2. We will still play 4 other teams that would have been in D2 (if I understand what they are doing) but we don't get to play the top 5 old D2 teams... and now we only play each team once so 10 of our 14 games will be the old D3. Another con on this is the drop from 18 games to 14...

Correct. It will be plenty tough with the new format. D3 was not easy in any way this season. You could make a case it could be easier in some ways but also very bad luck if the team has lots of injuries, does not play well, etc..

This also stinks for those current d2 teams that will be staying in d2. They now face the same reality. So, being in traditional d2 has zero advantage unless all those that would have been there legitimately are exempt from relegation at the end of 15/16. So just a blend of divisions now.

OK, so reading the logic of their D1 and D2 split, Solar Gold would definitely qualify to move to D1. Mustangs Bussey is 10 points behind so mathematically they couldn't qualify for D1. (However, this could be different depending on their mathematical equations.) Assuming no team from D1 is dropped to D2 (per their logic) that would put at least 10 teams in D1 and the rest of the D2 and D3 teams (not facing QT) would all become D2 teams. (Sorry all of you who worked hard to get to D2 this year.)

The lowest D3 teams will have to re-qualify which would be three slots to fight for between the relegated and new teams.

Playing each team only once will indeed make things stickier for the D2 teams - no do-overs.

So, the big monkey wrench has been thrown into the mix for next season. Those teams qualifying into Lake Highlands will go directly to D2 which could be very difficult to manage against teams who have the experience there already.

I believe you are correct. D1 10 d2 20. Personally I think it will not be great in D2. When we had super D1 at U11 there were many many mismatches. The competition was not as good week in and week out as it was when they split to the 3 divisions. I know they don't want to make the hard choices but I think the girls will be the ones who loose in this format.

InaB wrote:OK, so reading the logic of their D1 and D2 split, Solar Gold would definitely qualify to move to D1. Mustangs Bussey is 10 points behind so mathematically they couldn't qualify for D1. (However, this could be different depending on their mathematical equations.) Assuming no team from D1 is dropped to D2 (per their logic) that would put at least 10 teams in D1 and the rest of the D2 and D3 teams (not facing QT) would all become D2 teams. (Sorry all of you who worked hard to get to D2 this year.)

The lowest D3 teams will have to re-qualify which would be three slots to fight for between the relegated and new teams.

Playing each team only once will indeed make things stickier for the D2 teams - no do-overs.

So, the big monkey wrench has been thrown into the mix for next season. Those teams qualifying into Lake Highlands will go directly to D2 which could be very difficult to manage against teams who have the experience there already.

The top two teams were moving up this year from D2 to D1. So Mustang, Aztecs and Sting West all have a mathematical chance of moving up. So will that mean 4 teams join D1? That is what I am taking from this.

beast wrote:

InaB wrote:OK, so reading the logic of their D1 and D2 split, Solar Gold would definitely qualify to move to D1. Mustangs Bussey is 10 points behind so mathematically they couldn't qualify for D1. (However, this could be different depending on their mathematical equations.) Assuming no team from D1 is dropped to D2 (per their logic) that would put at least 10 teams in D1 and the rest of the D2 and D3 teams (not facing QT) would all become D2 teams. (Sorry all of you who worked hard to get to D2 this year.)

The lowest D3 teams will have to re-qualify which would be three slots to fight for between the relegated and new teams.

Playing each team only once will indeed make things stickier for the D2 teams - no do-overs.

So, the big monkey wrench has been thrown into the mix for next season. Those teams qualifying into Lake Highlands will go directly to D2 which could be very difficult to manage against teams who have the experience there already.

The top two teams were moving up this year from D2 to D1. So Mustang, Aztecs and Sting West all have a mathematical chance of moving up. So will that mean 4 teams join D1? That is what I am taking from this.

Actually DT North could have caught Mustangs Bussey with 31 points (they had 25 with 2 games left) so do they get promoted to D1 as well.. that would split the current D2 5 up to D1 and 5 still in current D2 (+D3 teams). This would leave D1 with 13 teams and D2 would have 15 teams.

This also leads to the question of now we only have 14 games instead of 18....

They also mentioned they could move 1 or 2 teams to a division considering only playing each other once. That tells me two 14 team divisions or 13 and 15. Gonna be like college football I guess, each game matters a lot.

sportsnerd wrote:

beast wrote:

InaB wrote:OK, so reading the logic of their D1 and D2 split, Solar Gold would definitely qualify to move to D1. Mustangs Bussey is 10 points behind so mathematically they couldn't qualify for D1. (However, this could be different depending on their mathematical equations.) Assuming no team from D1 is dropped to D2 (per their logic) that would put at least 10 teams in D1 and the rest of the D2 and D3 teams (not facing QT) would all become D2 teams. (Sorry all of you who worked hard to get to D2 this year.)

The lowest D3 teams will have to re-qualify which would be three slots to fight for between the relegated and new teams.

Playing each team only once will indeed make things stickier for the D2 teams - no do-overs.

So, the big monkey wrench has been thrown into the mix for next season. Those teams qualifying into Lake Highlands will go directly to D2 which could be very difficult to manage against teams who have the experience there already.

The top two teams were moving up this year from D2 to D1. So Mustang, Aztecs and Sting West all have a mathematical chance of moving up. So will that mean 4 teams join D1? That is what I am taking from this.

Actually DT North could have caught Mustangs Bussey with 31 points (they had 25 with 2 games left) so do they get promoted to D1 as well.. that would split the current D2 5 up to D1 and 5 still in current D2 (+D3 teams). This would leave D1 with 13 teams and D2 would have 15 teams.

This also leads to the question of now we only have 14 games instead of 18....

Very true, but even if DTN caught them, Mustangs had the tie breaker so DTN is out. Sting and Aztecs could have still mathmaticaly beat out Mustangs. Not sure how Lake highlands will handle all of the little situations. Guess it is wait and

I did not realize 2 moved up. That will even out the divisions and may help with the competition level a little bit.

beast wrote:

sportsnerd wrote:

beast wrote:

InaB wrote:OK, so reading the logic of their D1 and D2 split, Solar Gold would definitely qualify to move to D1. Mustangs Bussey is 10 points behind so mathematically they couldn't qualify for D1. (However, this could be different depending on their mathematical equations.) Assuming no team from D1 is dropped to D2 (per their logic) that would put at least 10 teams in D1 and the rest of the D2 and D3 teams (not facing QT) would all become D2 teams. (Sorry all of you who worked hard to get to D2 this year.)

The lowest D3 teams will have to re-qualify which would be three slots to fight for between the relegated and new teams.

Playing each team only once will indeed make things stickier for the D2 teams - no do-overs.

So, the big monkey wrench has been thrown into the mix for next season. Those teams qualifying into Lake Highlands will go directly to D2 which could be very difficult to manage against teams who have the experience there already.

The top two teams were moving up this year from D2 to D1. So Mustang, Aztecs and Sting West all have a mathematical chance of moving up. So will that mean 4 teams join D1? That is what I am taking from this.

Actually DT North could have caught Mustangs Bussey with 31 points (they had 25 with 2 games left) so do they get promoted to D1 as well.. that would split the current D2 5 up to D1 and 5 still in current D2 (+D3 teams). This would leave D1 with 13 teams and D2 would have 15 teams.

This also leads to the question of now we only have 14 games instead of 18....

Very true, but even if DTN caught them, Mustangs had the tie breaker so DTN is out.   Sting and Aztecs could have still mathmaticaly beat out Mustangs. Not sure how Lake highlands will handle all of the little situations.  Guess it is wait and

Ok, i did not dive into tiebreakers, so if that is the case then you would have 4 up for a 12 team D1 and then 6 stay for a 16 team D2...

Another issue on the other side is i guess since Meja could have theoretically caught gunners for a bye in the bottom of D3 then they stay so only 3 get regulated and only 3 spots open up...

Would not be surprised if they bring up a team or two from "D2" to "D1" to have an even distribution of teams in each division.

Regarding D3 relegation the way I read it is any team not already eliminated stays in D3. So in this case only three could not reach the number of points that 7th place team has so only 3 go to QT.
Don't know if that means only three spots available at QT or not but it does seem fair to not relegate the teams that still had a chance to earn it on the field.

So what happens next year? Do they go back to the 3 divisions?

I think it would be a good idea to have a few "Preseason Games" to make up for the lost matches in the new format. They would count for the standing but would let the teams get some touches before the season and perhaps after half way point. Probably a little too far out for LHCL but I think it would be good!

How many games would be a "good" number? 12? If so, that means 13 teams in D1...which would include SG, Bus, Aztecs, SWW, and DTN. If that happened they could make a 15 game, 16-team D2 which could include 5 D2 teams, 7 D3 teams and 4 QT teams...If a team folds, either fewer teams or more QT teams??

I agree, that is a lot of money to play for a 12 game season...I like the idea of pre-season friendlies...just 2 games (maybe a Saturday and Sunday) against 2 teams near you in final season "rank", and NOT play those two in fall??