OKANAGAN HOCKEY ACADEMY'S ALAN KERR QUIETLY DISAPPEARS FROM WEBSITE

With no announcement or fanfare, Alan Kerr evaporates from the Okanagan Hockey Academy website. He is no longer presented on the OHA website as an owner, a coach, or as a staff member.

What is the shake up at OHA?

Da, da, da..... another one bites the dust.....

Why would another retired NHLer leave the ranks of OHA without explanation. Is it because his own children have moved on so he is not there to give them preferential treatment anymore?

Once upon a time, Okanagan Hockey Academy fielded a staff entirely of retired NHL players. It was their best selling feature. Now they have doubled their tuition rates and slashed their staff experience. Only two retired NHL players remain on their coaching staff.

Who is willing to pay over $50,000 a year for this nonsense? Any takers?

When will Dirk and Wesley move on to a more respectable coaching position elsewhere? Time will tell the real story here, but it is safe to assume they will not be sticking around this cracker stand for long.

OKANAGAN HOCKEY ACADEMY RAISES FEES! THEY JUST DON'T GET IT!

Get your calculators out. This is gonna hurt!

THE FOLLOWING FIGURES ARE PUBLISHED IN THE OHA NOSEBLEED ENROLEMENT PACKET:


$19,500 plus applicable tax

$5,000 Transportation Cost (mandatory and non refundable) plus applicable tax

Okanagan Hockey Academy Tuition and Transportation $24,500 plus applicable tax

Billet Fees (if required) $ 5,000

Out of Province Education Fees (if required) $10,500

That is 40K before taxes and some more extra special fees!

The transportation cost is a mandatory and non refundable cost payable to the Academy for transportation services to and from billet homes and local tournaments in the area.

The Province of British Columbia government has introduced a new tax, HST, which is applicable to Okanagan Hockey Academy Fees.

GST (7% tax) is the applicable tax on paid Academy Fees on or before April 30th, 2010.

HST (12% tax) is the applicable tax on paid Academy Fees on or after May 1st, 2010.

(That is a $1,659 tax saving on full Academy fees paid on or before April 30th, 2010.)

WOW! Nice break. HA HA HA HA HA!

Payment Options

• Option 1 - Full payment ($800.00 discount applied if payments made by cheque, money order or wire transfer)

• Option 2 - 3 monthly payments starting July 1st, 2010 ($400.00 discount applied if payments made by cheque, money order or wire transfer)

• Option 3 - 6 monthly payments starting July 1st, 2010

• Option 4 - Contact Mike Seeley, CA Director of Finance at 250-493-1408 Ext 3352 for alternate arrangements

Exclusive of Fees

• Extraordinary trip fees (include airfare and ground transportation at trip locale)

• Bantam, Varsity and Jr. Varsity Teams $3,500.00 per year maximum

• Prep Team $7,000.00 per year maximum

How is your math? A non- BC resident who plays on the prep team can expect to pay 47,000 not including taxes. YIKES!

OKANAGAN HOCKEY ACADEMY DELINQUENT PAYERS?

Financial stability? The company (Okanagan Hockey Academy) has a controlling amount of shares up for sale. Panic mode when a potential new investor takes a look at the books and see how much is being paid back for less then ethical reasons by a certain employee in their ownership group or a house built and paid for with company money for another ex-employee also part of the ownership group. This company has some serious issues, not to mention their poor on ice performance, save for their top team. Good people get burned by OHA repeatedly and its pathetic to listen to their propaganda machine at work. Sure they spend 5 million bucks directly, but how many local vendors have to beg and plead to get paid for services? They push small business to the brink of bankruptcy, so yeah great for the community....

OKANAGAN HOCKEY ACADEMY IS DESPERATE TO REBUILD

OHA has now stolen player Curt Lazar, a top WHL drafted player # 2 overall, from well respected POE by offering his family a completely FREE RIDE at Okanagan Hockey Academy. Some say this is a clear illustration of just how far the ownership at OHA has stooped in an effort to revive their dying program.

If the talk is about development, how will OHA accomplish this by surrounding this young man with low level players? How do the Americans feel footing the full tuition bill when they know OHA is busily passing out full ride scholarships? It's more of the same at OHA; the Americans pay the bill and the program continues to rape the dreams of young players.

Wonder how their enrolment is fairing this year?

OKANAGAN HOCKEY ACADEMY CONTINUES TO UNRAVEL

How's this for damage control? OHS recruiter Fred Dobransky retires..

Fred quit on OHS. He was tired of the direction they were going and knew when something was spinning into an ego run organization. The main man praising him, is also the same guy that Fred dislikes the most. If anyone actually calls Fred, he's not retired, he's still working for Global Showcase and now that he's not with OHS, the Westside Warriors scooped him up to scout for them. How is it that he's announcing his retirement this summer, when he quit in February? Anyone that actually doubts it, call Fred. Not only did he quit but immediately his grandson was told he had to pay, so he left OHA. This is damage control at it's best. I seriously urge anyone to call Fred. He will tell you that he quit, they tried to brIng him back and he refused.

OKANAGAN HOCKEY ACADEMY: LICENSE TO WHAT?

Here's a few facts for you that people may be interested in. After the tragic accidents involving high school teams and 15 passenger vans, OHA decided to have their staff licensed to drive them. Prior to that, they had a handful with proper licencing and the rest were driving players without the correct classification. They have even had a coach driving players in a personal vehicle while he didn't possess even a full licence in British Columbia. That's the equivalent of having a 16 year old that just got his New Driver designation driving your sons and daughters. I played at OHA, no longer do, but still have close ties to some of the guys there, if you want the truth, ask any of the players. Yes it was a good time, I developed off ice in the gym, on ice was OK, we were out matched pretty severely which I don't think helped in front of scouts at showcases, but if I was a parent I'd be looking at things like who's driving your kids and the risk they are taking.

OKANAGAN HOCKEY ACADEMY: NOSE DIVE

Well, it's that time of year again. The packets are already being distributed to families to sign their sons up for another year at OHA. Sign on the dotted line early, and you lose all your negotiating power to get your son PRE-ASSIGNED to the top team.

The parents who hold out for a meeting with Alan and a guaranteed placement prior to signing fair the best. Gone are the days when OHA can strong arm families by warning them that the spots will be filled. No one need act quickly anymore. OHA's rosters are but half filled giving the perspective buyer (sucker) time to really think things over, and give the old head a good shake. The power of negotiation at OHA has shifted. It's no longer standing room only for admissions. The owners at OHA will be scraping for anyone to fill their rosters this August and they will promise the moon and the stars to get ahold of your money.

The turnover at OHA cannot be described as anything less than astounding. Boys come and go; dreams are lost, and parents hard earned money long gone. The program has gone successively downhill with each passing year. A perspective buyer needs to look no further than the results pages of their teams who grace the bottom of the barrel in the prep-school hockey world.

OKANAGAN HOCKEY ACADEMY: LEGITIMATE GRIEVANCES

Let's talk about legitimate grievances that any player of any skill level would have with the program:

The coaches will teach you the general structure of a typical 1-2-2 but almost always fail to inform individuals and line mates of the subtleties that make the system successful (where to position your stick, when and where to pressure, etc.)

The pervading culture of high-school hockey in Penticton frowns upon extra-curricular team-building (line mates developing set plays, d-men talking to goalies about breakout strategy, etc.)

Individual or teammate-to-teammate improvisation, planned or otherwise, are strictly and forcefully suppressed.

These should be considered more important than who's getting the lion's share of the coach's attention or who's snorting what; these are they real hindrances to your son's development as a hockey player (let's be honest: you AND the oha don't give a f**k about developing "moral values" or wtf they say they do)