Despite being accepted into the Ice Tilt Hockey League and paying the Franchise entry fee, the North Stars Wilderness hockey team is reconsidering to join. The uncertainty came after a string of losses to current ITHL teams, including blow outs by the bottom two teams in the league.
Compounding the issue were losses in casual club matches, in which the team surrendered significant leads late in the game, or fell behind early. The team has been 4-13-3 in their last 20 games, with the majority of those wins coming from 3v3 play rather than 6s.
What seemed like an opportunity to join something fun and organized by Assistant GM Scafe, has left a sour taste in several of the members.
“This sucks!” said one of the players during a recent matchup. “So we’re really going to be playing these guys?” said another. A third exclaimed, “oh my gawd!”
It’s unfortunate, because a good majority of the team would like to play in the league, but GM and Captain “Namkce” Robertov is concerned that there might not be enough commitment to continue the league if the team gets on to a bad start.
“I think it’s important to understand that if we bow out during the season, we’ll all be banned and unable to rejoin in the future. It’s not fair to the other teams in the league, nor to the commissioner if we aren’t 100% fully committed.” explained Namkce. He added, “I understand that losing is part of the game, and no one should expect to win every game, but when you’re losing by a lopsided score, and people are yelling and complaining, then it’s no longer fun or enjoyable for the guys.”
“I know that I want to play, but I don’t want to be banned, and there just doesn’t seem to be enough real commitment and skill to ensure we would finish a full season at this point.”
When asked about the franchise fee already paid, Namkce shrugged it off. “It’s only twenty dollars US, not like it’ll break the bank. Maybe we can join in the season after when they plan to have an upper and lower division.”
Some of the players on the team seemed to be in agreement with sentiment. “It’s tough, if I didn’t have a wife and kids, I’d be definitely down to play, but I just don’t have a lot of time on my hand” K9 was heard saying.
“I’m with you Nam, on whatever you decide” said DillTree and Nanashi.
At this point, the team has not notified the league, but Commissioner Moon is currently on vacation anyways.
“I really don’t want to disappoint him, so we’ll make our decision quickly, but indications is that we’ll bow out for this season until we can ensure we’d finish a full season. However, I will register myself as a free agent so that I can play on another team, but I will stay with the Wilderness for casual club play, since I really enjoy playing with the guys.”
Here’s hoping the Wilderness can get their mojo back, but for now, it’s been a rather rough couple of weeks.
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