The Scheduling Life

This has been one heck of a week for hockey, and even I have to say it’s bringing me down a little. Most parents don’t realize how much volunteer work goes into making this hockey program work, but let me tell you, it’s a lot of work. To add to the fun, you have to deal with disgruntled parents and coaches with marginal personalities who want to constantly take issue with what’s being done. A’s coach, whom I always thought was such a nice, soft spoken and great guy, is the biggest offender, but that’s a whole other story.

Now I’d heard this was a rough job, and believe me, it is, but as we head into this juncture of the season, it seems to have gotten a little crazy. There are so many teams canceling and shifting that it takes a fair amount of maneuvering to make sure things run smoothly on the weekend. Even then, things hit the fan. Then everyone starts moaning about how unhappy they are with the schedule and I feel like telling them to take a hike. Of course, I never do that, but I sure do feel like it.

The schedule is planned out months before the season even starts, but once things are in full swing, changes happen, and as the state tournament approaches, all hell breaks loose. As luck would have it, these are the times when you’re mistakes come back to haunt you in a big way.

Let me see if I can get this straight. First off, it helps to know that there are rankings in the field, with A on top, then A/B, then B, as you might imagine. The week started with Squirts. We have a back to back weekend with N’field, and we were under the impression that they were a solid B squad, and being a fairly competitive A/B squad, we wanted to inquire if they still wanted to play us. They said yes, so we kept the games on the schedule. The problem is, if we are not compatible, we won’t know until we actually play, and since the games are consecutive, we have to play the second one. This is a missed opportunity for us to match up against an A squad, which the coaches have been asking for because it will help us prepare for the state tournament.

Anyway, I wanted to cancel at least one of the games and get an A matchup, but no such luck. Then, this week, I get an email from N’field saying they want to cancel our second game because they don’t think we’ll challenge them enough. Can you believe that? Talk about irony. Normally I would be offended, but I understand this is standard MO for hockey. Then again, are they really that much better than we are? I’m curious to see when we play them.

The upside to all this is that it opened the door for a different game, and that’s when Rutland A came knocking. They are a tough team, A caliber, and we’ve played them twice, losing 3-2 and tying 1-1. Great, close games, and all the coaches agree we’re a good matchup. I told them we’re interested, but he’s waiting to hear from another team, and can’t commit quite yet. Whatever.

Then for the Bantams, St. Albans cancelled so I had to find an alternate game. Barre said they’d come, but not before one of the coaches asked for a practice, instead, but he was over-riddenͿy e j|adpRoach, who wanted the game. I was also asked if I could find out about why St. Albans cancelled, and I felt like I had too much on my plate and said if he was interested, then it would be best if he did it. I’m just the scheduler, I don’t need to know why.

At the board meeting, it was brought to my attention that the following week we had coincidental games, both at the same time but in different places. It was a clerical error because the game in BAHA was actually at home, and the home game listed did not exist. Not knowing this, I cancelled on BAHA, only to realize that they were in fact the team wiweT pyiw at home. We now had a hole in the Bantam schedule on that day, so I scrambled to re-schedule that game before BAHA found another. It worked out, but just yesterday, I was talking to TV and they said we were scheduled to go to them on Sunday afternoon.

What??? We like TV, they’re a great program with great people, so I don’t want to piss them off or screw them over, but I had no record of this game. I told the scheduler SM that I’d investigate, and contacted the coaches, who both declined. I told SM it was no, and she, as always, was cool about it, but I felt bad. How the heck did that game get on the schedule?

Now for the Mites. They have a bunch of holes on the weekend, but they said they wouldn’t mind a day or two off, and I was even told by the board that they have too many games. I left some open dates, but then my mistake came back to haunt me. We have a small Mite squad while most other programs have enough for two squads. This means that I have to find an fourth team to show up so the squads all match up. I usually turn to the big city and the Hanover program, and they are usually really cool about helping us out. Thanks. This time around, I had a game scheduled with Lyndon, and Hanover was sending a team to help us. Lyndon cancelled about a month ago, and I forgot to inform Hanover. On Tuesday, I was told by Hanover that they were sending a team on Sunday, and of course, I didn’t have it on my schedule.

I told them we didn’t have anything, but he was pretty adamant (in a nice way) about wanting to play. He said just to let the kids get on the ice and have fun, so I contacted the Mite team who was not planning on playing, and got them to agree to play. I also asked the house guys if they would show up, but it was highly unlikely because they had a game already. I moved times around to make it easier, and then we were all set to play in the late morning. Then I get an email from Hanover saying that they actually cannot play because of scheduling conflicts.

You gotta be kidding me. I had to go back, tell everyone involved that the game was cancelled, and then move on. Now there’s an open sheet of ice that’s going  to waste, which the board is going to flip out about, and hopefully Mr. Hockey will find a use for.

Then there’s the U12, but that’s a whole other story. For now, thanks for reading, and thanks to wstera2 for the pic.