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MVP: Zak Campbell and Nick Siniawski

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TEAM McDONALD ALL STARS WILL WEAR WHITE Tony Bonacorso Ryan Perhac Zack Siniawski Jason Kortz Andrew McDonald John George Brian Grise Drew Hruska Tom Fetsko Not Playing: Buddy Doyle YOUNG STARS Ryan Mains, Drew Blasko, Max Vehec, Nick Lekovitch, Sean Lyons

Team Lucas WILL WEAR BLACK Brian Barca Zack Wahal Zak Campbell Jason Tatrai Matt Wierchowski Jeff Rogers Ryan Cleary Nick Siniawski Jeff Pingor Not Playing: Chad Kanz YOUNG STARS Ben Bobick, Craig Hixon, Joe Sims, Mike Pavasko, Zack Graham, Brandon Welsh

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Listed are the 20 top vote getters not in any order Buddy Doyle Matt Wierchowski Zack Wahal Jason Tatrai Jeff Pingor Ryan Perhac Chad Kanz Tom Fetsko Jeff Rogers Brian Barca Tony Bonacorso Zak Campbell Andrew McDonald Brian Grise Zack Siniawski John George Drew Hruska Ryan Cleary Jason Kortz Nick Siniawski Top 3 Vote Getters 1. Chad Kanz 2. Brian Barca 3. Tony Bonacorso All Star Captains are Roy McDonald and Shane Lucas. Check back next week for draft results.

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by Buddy Doyle

Buddy Hey, John, thanks for sitting down with me this evening. Let's get right into it. When I first approached you about an interview, you immediately brought up the idea of doing a "tell-all" interview-- a chance for you to open up to the league. Why did you want to do something like this? What did you have in mind? John Hey Bud. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Well, to be honest I just don’t want members of the league to feel like they are in the dark. It may not come off this way, but I value everyone’s opinion in the league and I want everyone to feel as if their voice is heard. I know that it is impossible to please everyone, but I am open to any suggestion that may improve the FHL, and I want our members to know that they can come to me with anything they have on their mind. Buddy A big problem this year is goaltending. After the firing of Dancin' Rick, we have been using a lot of subs to try to fill in. What are your short and long term plans for goaltending in the FHL? John Short term I know that there is enough talent and athleticism in the league to find more than capable goalies on a week to week basis to help fill in. Long term it would be nice to eventually move to a six goalie league, one for each team. To do that though we would need six committed and relatively equal goalies, I think it would make things a lot more fun for the goalies and really makes the draft more interesting. Buddy Earlier this season you took Hixon off of the Kings without even asking Chink-- and you compensated by waiving his FHL entry fee. What was your thought process-- why didn't you talk to Chink first? And what do you have to say to those who see the compensation as "controversial"? Any regrets about that situation? John I would love to change the way that situation was handled. I do think the move the necessary for the sake of the league, and I think Chink understands that. But looking back, I should have consulted Chink before the move was made. I take responsibility for that. Buddy Speaking of the Kings, there have been rumors about upper management activity, and possible action, with regards to Chink's franchise. Can you shed any light on that? John That’s Chinks team this year. They aren’t doing too hot right now and attendance has been low but hopefully they can turn things around a little bit. They got some decent guys and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were able to string together a couple wins. Buddy A name has been floating around-- Kyle Thomas. Any chance he'll be put on the King's roster to give them a boost? Or any other team for that matter? John Kyle is a real good player. I got to play with him a few years ago and we won a cup together. He would definitely help out the Kings or any FHL team for that matter. However, I don’t know if it’s fair to just put him on the Kings. We have turned away several other players who wanted to join after the season started so we have to stand firm on that ruling. It is easy to say 'put him on the Kings they need him', but what about Boyle? They are 2-4 and just a few bad bounces away from being in the same boat as the Kings, but nobody brings them up. Plus Kyle’s availability is not expected to be too good as he is a starting pitcher for Cal U. Buddy Moving on... The FHL has been trying to crack down on boarding and open ice hits this year. Did these ideas come from you (a player whose game relies on such hitting) or from somewhere else in the front office? What does this mean for the future of the league? John That was my idea 100%. We're out there in little to no equipment playing on concrete and against mettle fences, we have to eliminate unnecessary hits. Obviously taking the body in a legal fashion while someone is making a play with the puck is still acceptable--just not hits to the head or hits from behind. These are actual rules in professional sports so there is no reason they shouldn’t be rules in our league. Buddy Speaking of... Are there any plans to fix the fences? John They are repaired by the school during the summer every year. Any repairs are on the school, there isn't really anything we can do about it. These fences are a big reason why we are trying to crack down on hits from behind. Buddy Is the league showing preferential treatment to players such as Kanz and Roy-- pure scorers-- over players such as Gilson and Fetsko? John I haven’t noticed much of that this season. Those skilled players tend to draw more penalties because of their ability. Buddy I mean... are these things, such as an official referee and stricter hitting rules, forcing the league into a "skill" game, rather than what Lemieux might have called a "garage league"; or, in our case, a " playground" league? John I think we're trying to find that middle ground. Obviously this isn’t like a real dek league, there would be penalties called almost every rush if we played the way we do at Franklin on a dek. Almost everyone enjoys that little bit of physicality that we allow, but we still have to make sure the game is safe for everyone. Buddy Kanz and Barca seem to be everything we expected-- but why are they together? Can you explain why the FHL has yet to transition to a more traditional drafting system? Where order is based on performance... John Im not sure that system would be good because a high percent of the team is spread out into the draft. It’s almost starting from scratch for each team so the previous season doesn’t really mean much in terms of record. By the luck of a draw the Jets got the number one pick and the rest of the league has to deal with that. I know as a captain it doesn’t change my view of how I want my season to end, and that’s with a Cup win. Buddy Teams start off from scratch each season? So the Jets consistent success is merely a coincidence? Or are some teams already at a disadvantage with their captain and franchise player, and are deserving of a better draft pick than some of the more fortunate franchises? John I think that’s a matter of opinion. I agree that most would say Campbell and Barca are the most skilled captain and franchise combination. But they shouldn’t be punished because of that with lower picks. 2 years ago they had the 6th overall pick and went on to win the cup, last year they lost it. So I don’t think the skill difference is really even that great, it’s just about who wants to step up and play hard in the playoffs when it really means something. At the end of the day none of us are professionals, we're all regular people playing pickup hockey so you can’t just show up and be like "ah man its Barca Campbell and Kanz" so what? If you really work at it you can beat them. Buddy Will that happen this off-season? John I don't think so. But if an overwhelming majority of the league wants to do that, then maybe we will. But most teams have been able to assemble winning teams and Cup winners from various spots in the draft. Buddy Now that you waited on making a decision, it seems unrealistic to franchise two players this off-season. However, is this something you would like to see in the future? John I like the one franchise pick. It makes the draft much more meaningful Buddy John, as the seasons pass, our league gets undeniably older. Some might say that the age is intimidating for some high school students that consider joining the league. Do you see this becoming a problem? John I think that some older guys may be blocking a few high school kids that want to play more. I'm not sure that the kids are intimidated though. You look at guys like Mains, Blasko, Bobick, Vehac, they’re out there contributing and I am sure other high school kids see that. A few older guys drop out every year and that is gonna open the door hopefully for some more younger kids. Buddy Why do you choose to play the majority of your season when weather causes bad playing conditions, and when many players are away at school? What is your explanation for refusing to take the league into the early stages of summer, and starting a month or two later than December? John I think attendance would be just as inconsistent in the summer too because of vacations and jobs. Plus playing in that heat all day isn’t really as easy, we've seen that in past playoff games and the charity tournament. You almost died Bud in 06'. Buddy What are your feelings about players holding out.... whether it is because they don't like a team, or because they want to play with a friend John This bugs me alot. Play for who picks you. None of us are strangers at this point in the league so it won’t be too hard for you to play with those people. And if you're team is bad, make it better if you're so good. John as Captain Buddy Do your commissioner and captain jobs ever conflict? John I truly feel that I can make unbiased decisions as a commissioner. It wouldn’t be fun for me if I made everything benefit my team. I really enjoy doing both of them. Plus I get alot of help from Andrew McDonald, Mr. Meade and my friends with making choices for the league, so I don’t feel too much pressure with that. Buddy With these other people and influences acting on you, do you feel that you have complete control of the league? Or is the power distributed to others as well? John I get to make alot of final decisions, but I never make a decision without consulting several people. I take in alot of opinions and sometimes change my own mind when I hear what other people have to say. Buddy How do you feel about your team’s chances this year? Can you make a run for the cup? John I feel as good as I ever have about a team. Mitch and Roy have a crazy chemistry out there, they really bring the best out in one another. We also have some playmakers from the defensive end with the Ryans. And like always we have a great group of team guys who play theirs roles better than anyone in the league. I am really excited about our chances. Buddy True-- you have another great team, and it seems like you will have great regular season success. But that seems to be the trend for your franchise-- a good regular season; but will this team overcome your playoff curse? You haven't won a playoff game in some time-- what makes this team different? John I think there’s no where to go but up from us. Last year was rock bottom. Our time is now. We feel the pressure and we're feeding off of that. This team plays a fun style. We're a run and gun team and I think we have a little different look than years past. Buddy You have to be proud of your late round pick, Ryan Perhac. What made you select him this year, seeing as he had no prior FHL experience? John Well everyone I talked to told me he was a stud in high school on ice. And I heard he played alot of dek. So when we felt it was time to call his name we did it. He's been great for us. John as Fan Buddy Favorite NHL player? John Crosby Buddy Favorite FHL player? John Bill Seaman Buddy Least favorite FHL team? John Boyle. But I like our recent battles with the Pirates. Buddy Toughest FHL player to play against? John The Siniawskis Buddy MVP prediction? (remember, you are a fan...) John Kanz Buddy John, thanks so much for your time. I just want to say on behalf of the entire league: you do a great job with the FHL and we appreciate all of your hard work. John Thanks, Bud, it means a lot. Thanks for doing the interview.

by Buddy Doyle

In this exclusive interview, Commissioner John George tells all. Buddy Doyle has the interview, check back later for more details.