To the great Eastern Conference GM’s of the CCHL,
Earlier today, the all-star selection committee released the official rosters of the CCHL All-Star game. Within minutes, the selection committee was inundated with complaints, whining and overall silliness about the selections. I am here to address these very damaging accusations.
With top players being snubbed, goalies who are leading the league being told to stay home, and a Centre with 30 FO being selected to play the middle slot, let's make one thing clear. These selections were made with minimal effort, and for that, I do not apologize.
As with every all-star roster, there will always be a group of snubs that do not receive the recognition they deserve. This year for example, players like Reilly Smith (#Trade-Block), Joe Pavelski, and Ian Cole (#Trade-Block) were left off the list. Are they some of the CCHL’s top talent? Sure. But the Flames GM understands that in a league where everyone needs a seat at the table, sometimes the best need to stay home.
This morning the committee got together to make the roster with the goal of doing it as quickly and as nonchalantly as possible. If a player has LW/C beside their name and we have an open C spot, you better believe they're getting slotted into that position. The committee determined that if a roster was valid, their job was done. Does that mean that maybe a couple mistakes were made and a 30 FO player is listed as C while a 96 FO player is on the wing? Sure. But one thing can be certain. That player's GM should maybe consider investing as much time into FO development, as they do dissecting the roster for a made-up game with minimal implications.
As we approach the committee taking as much time to write this article as they did with their "all-star" selections, we want to make one thing clear. We are not surprised that there is an uprising happening over these selections. We are not surprised that East GMs may try to overthrow the committee for next season and in fact, we welcome that. What we have done with this roster is created a team of mostly all-stars, with about 50% probably playing the position they should be, and 2/3 goalies being the right choice. And for that….we are damn proud.
The selection committee will not be commenting on this topic until it is inevitably brought up on Slack later this evening.