The Tomcat Board of Directors meeting occurred this week, with great participation and some fresh ideas for the future of the Tomcats. Thanks to Soupy for hosting in his man cave and for providing good drinks and food for the participants. Participating this year were as follows:

• Rocky, Soupy, The Rake, Falcon, Chico, Bullwinkle, Bender, The Professor, Skippy, Chevy

Making a guest appearance was the late (yet surprising very alive) Steve Jobs who turns out to be amazing at big ideas, but not so interested in execution.

Topics and key decisions made are noted below:

1. 2025-2026 Season Costs: Two options will be presented. Both will require early payment (prior to the first night of hockey) to Rocky. Option 1: Pay $60 early, then pay $5 per night. Option 2: Pay the entire season early and not worry about paying each night. $175 for the entire season. Rocky prefers the early payment via e-transfer so a few Tomcats still living in the Stone Age might need to purchase a 56k modem finally.
   
   Season Start – Tuesday September 16th. End December 16th (pizza party). Start up again January 6th, end April 11, 2026
   
2. Tournament – The end of year tournament in April appeared to be a big hit, so we will stay with that timing. Not so much of a hit was the “play everyone twice” format we used. As such, levergaing a recommendation from a few years back from Falcon, and reiterated by Sunny ahead of the BoD, we will go to a format where each team plays the other teams, then go into Round Robin format (1 vs. 4, 2 vs. 3) and then play a consolation game for 3rd place, followed by the Championship.
   
   All games except for the Championship game will be 2 10 minute periods. The Championship game will be 2 12 minute periods. 2-3 minutes between periods, 5 minutes between games.
   
   Captains – to be decided by December 2025 – The BoD decided to wait to name Captains for next year based on who is playing often during the first half of next season.
   
   Mid-Season Mini Tournament – The Tomcats are considering playing a Saturday Mini Tournament in November, with much less formality than the main tournament (no draft, no shirts, etc.) and follow that up later on the Saturday with the traditional Tomcat Holiday party with spouses. So hockey in the morning, gathering in the evening.
   
3. Rule Clarification – Timeouts – Timeouts can only be called during a stoppage (after a goal, ball unintentionally goes out of play, goalie saves and puts ball behind net, etc.). You can’t call the TO simply by having possession.
   
4. Recruitment – We have had good influx of young talent last two years so no dire need but would like to still bring out “good fits” for the Tomcats when possible and another goalie option is not a bad idea.
   
5. Special Nights – Besides the idea of the Saturday mini, we will continue Big Net nights, and try to plan a game where it is Youth vs. Experience. Need to figure out median age of Tomcats and divide on that age for the night. Who will prevail…Stamina of the Youth? Smarts of the Experienced? We’ll see.
   
6. Beer Nights – Once you commit to be a regular, you will be added to the Beer list and you need to be responsible for your nights. That means you either ensure you bring beer on your assigned night, or bring it early. True Tomcats live up to this. Do not be a dud. Tomcats don’t like duds.
   
7. Future Leadership Change – Rocky mentioned he will likely look to step down as Tomcat President in the next year or two and is proposing the reigns be handed over to Soupy to become the 3rd President of the Tomcats since 1989. Rocky will garner support for this change over the next year or so.
   
8. New Ideas and Thoughts to be considered:
   – We need to fix the nets or purchase new ones. Soupy and Chico to try to figure out the approach here.
   – Sparky Clock needs to return. Sparky will be asked to make sure we can have this fixed for the Season Start.
   – Carousel of Nations – St. Vlad’s is hosting the Ukrainian Village. We would like to have a large contingent of the Tomcats there to celebrate and gather during that event.
   – Use floor tape to create a goal line between the posts to make sure the nets are aligned and goals more obvious
   – Create a fun nightly award to hand out each Tuesday – not just for player of the game, but for whoever made the night special. Great way to capture something for the blog and give a shout out each Tuesday. We need a catchy name for this and a small award to hand out (think Champions Belt, small trophy, etc.).
   – Monthly Clean up of Floor – Assign guys to show up early every 3-4 weeks before hockey to do a quick sweep/vacuum of the floor, steps, stage just to keep the playing surface as clean as possible all year.
   – Fix the fire extinguishers so they can be easy moved out of the way but still be located in the correct spot for safety reasons
   – Need to revive the Pantelone de Neige Golf Tournament for 2026 but need a Tomcat to step up. Rocky and Soupy cannot be expected to run everything and there is only a handful of other Tomcats that help with other routine tasks (empty runs, hall clean ups, etc.). We need others to step up to have fun events occur. We need less Steve Jobs types and more willing to execute.
   – Speaking of executing, The Professor agreed to become the Minister of Pizza since the previous Minister is MIA.
   – Longer term planning – We are not too far away from the 40th Anniversary of the Tomcats. Will need to keep this on the radar to plan an event fitting of 40 years as an organization.

That is the summary for now. Look for more updates on events over the summer.

Until then, Tomcats Forever and as Stevo would say, Stay Beautiful!