Months before the election, the candidates are circulating nomination papers, stumping for votes, and making their views known. They send out emails, work the phones, and publish campaign letters.

Politics at its best, right?

In some cases, this is a member of your local hockey association.

Don't get me wrong--most of the hard-working board members work very hard to promote and advance their associations, but it seems like there are always one or two folks that have their own agendas and seemingly drag the other board members down.

The main objective of a hockey association is to promote and grow the sport of hockey for every young hockey player in their association, whether the player is 8 or 18, whether it is a boy or a girl.

Funny how some people don't see it that way. Horror stories abound.

One gentleman worked 48-hour days to make sure there were enough schools in place to create a WIAA co-op so that his son would have a place to play, and then bailed out the minute junior graduated from the program.

Associations have ignored the bottom level of their programs while making sure the varsity team had the best of everything, only to see the high school team struggle for players eight years later when the feeder program dried up.

Some associations give the girls' side of the program short shrift because it is more important to build the boys' teams up.

The list goes on and on.

I have been involved in youth hockey since 1993, when my son began playing as an eight-year-old Squirt. The winter after he graduated, my step-daughter began playing and is now in her eighth year, five of which have been on girls' teams.

I have seen "good boards" and "bad boards," and not just in my organizations. No matter where I travel, inevitably the topic of hockey associations will come up and someone always has a sour taste in their mouth from parent/player/board experiences.

The point is, we are here to promote the game and give our kids, ALL OF THEM, a chance to perform and improve their games to the best of their abilities. Too bad it doesn't always happen that way.

Wouldn't it be nice if everyone would just put their petty agendas away and work toward the common goal of making youth hockey better for everyone?

I know I would think so.