ROBIN SHORT
The Telegram

We're hearing the reigning Herder Memorial Trophy champion Clarenville Caribous will have a job defending their Newfoundland senior hockey championship next season.

And no, not because the lousy economy's eating into what some contend is a rather handsome payroll.

Nope, it appears the boys who run the West Coast Senior Hockey League, of which the Caribous are currently a member, aren't real happy with the Clarenville entry.

Now that's nothing new. Neither Corner Brook nor Deer Lake has been exactly thrilled will having to drive to Clarenville every couple of weekends, and Grand Falls-Windsor would take a pass, too.

No, what's ticked off the west lately is Clarenville's decision to play its 'home' games in the '09 Herder final at Mile One, to a point where the Herd next year, like naughty children, may have no one to play with.

West Coast president Gary Gale won't go so far as to say the Caribous will be given the heave-ho from his four-team setup, but he doesn't exactly provide Clarenville with a ringing endorsement, either.

"As a president, I've had to deal with typical things that come up ... controversies and the like," Gale said the other day. "But the biggest thing I've had to deal with lately was why didn't the west coast get any Herder games. And that was coming from fans and sponsors and the volunteers who are involved with hockey around here.

"And there's a case to be made (for the complainants), to be quite honest," he said. "It is a west coast team. If you want to play in our league, you should play your Herder games here."

You can understand the Caribous' decision to play at Mile One.

Have their fans drive two hours to St. John's, or the five or six to Corner Brook? A no-brainer.

But within the short-sighted world of Newfoundland hockey, the decision could cost the Caribous in a big way next year.

It wouldn't take much for the league to lay the boots to Clarenville. A simple motion by either Corner Brook or Deer Lake to put a boundary limit on the league - say Gander - would be all that's required, with a seconder.

Failing that, if the league was really determined to rid itself of Clarenville, it could dissolve the current operation and start a new one.

"The bottom line is we're a west coast league with an east coast team," Gale said.

So what about the Labatt Avalon East Senior Hockey League? Would it entertain the Caribous?

Don't bet on it.

There are some teams in the league - namely Torbay, Bell Island and Mount Pearl - that barely take in enough money to carry a decent stick budget. Adding a trip to Clarenville two or three times a year wouldn't exactly be greeted with glee.

In the Herder final, the Caribous were far superior to the C.B.N. CeeBee Stars, the class of the East league. Watching Clarenville toy with Bell Island, the Blades or Torbay every other night next winter would do little to enhance the league.

"And if they do come in," league president Joe Maynard said of the Caribous, "where do they get their players?

"There might have been one or two players from Clarenville on this year's team.

"The way our league is structured, players are property of senior teams - C.B.N. has (access) players from that area, same for Mount Pearl and Southern Shore, Torbay gets players from the St. John's junior team, Bell Island gets players from C.B.S.

"We have a non-import rule. The only way Clarenville could come in is if they get their players from the Clarenville/Bonavista area."

A decision on the Caribous' fate will come some time in late May or early June, when the west coast league gathers just before Hockey Newfoundland and Labrador's AGM.

Don't be surprised if the Caribous' Herder win, and big hee-haw at the Delta, might have been Clarenville's last hurrah.

Robin Short is The Telegram's Sports Editor. He can be reached by email at rshort@thetelegram.com

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