Investigation into the 2025 U11AA Tryout Process
The 2025/2026 U11 tryouts seem to have been manipulated between October 2nd and October 5th. A SSHMA Tryout Policy Format was developed by the SSMHA's former president, Justin Mullaney and the board to prevent exactly this type of manipulation from happening.
The policy document is called "U 11 13 15 18 Tryout Format 2025" and is posted on the Association website under Policies:
These are the events as they had occurred October 2nd through to the 5th:
The roster for the U11 AA team was manipulated by firing the original head coach John Lecain, by members of the Board in order to take control of the players making the 13th, 14th, and 15th spots on the U11AA roster.
The roster selection process is defined on page 3:
Roster Selection:
AA: Scoring for placement will be weighted as 2/3 from skill sessions and 1/3 from game 2. Head Coach can have a decision on the final roster spots and the option to waive it if they choose. The top 12-15 scoring players will make the AA team. The Head Coach will have the ability to select up to 3 skaters for the final three spots based on scores once are roster size has been selected. Example, the roster size is 15, the coach can select the final 3 spots (skater 13/14/15) from skaters ranked 13-18.
After being offered the position of HEAD COACH by our Association's president and accepting it on Thursday Oct 2nd, Coach John Lecain exercised the policy’s right to select the final 3 rostered players from those ranked 13th through 18th to supplement those players ranked 1-12 based on their abilities and the needs of the team. This choice was made on October 2nd and communicated directly to the President of the Association. Upon finalizing his roster, a list of players who were to attend Scrimmage #3 was posted by our U11 Coordinator Ken Foote on the morning of Oct 3rd at 9:07am. To those following the tryout process, one could easily deduce who was chosen for AA team based on the players invited to Scrimmage #3 from this email. It was clear that any players invited to Scrimmage #3 that participated in Scrimmage #2 were not selected to the AA roster by Coach Lecain on October 2nd.
If you compare the invitees for Scrimmage #3 to the AA roster released on October 5th, you will see that some names, two in particular, are on both lists.
The original Head Coach, John Lecain, refused to accept this overreach of power by the Board and has now been replaced by board member Josh Whynot.
The Association then overturned the original Head Coach's roster and went with players ranked 1st through 16th instead (also a violation of the same tryout policy). Why would the Board go against their own policy document? Specifically to affect the outcome of one teams' roster, at one age level, U11AA?
The members of our association should demand a transparent written explanation as to why the 2025 SSMHA Tryout Format was abandoned after the U11AA head coach was chosen, accepted the position AND he had selected the 3 final players to fill the roster?
These policies are created to eliminate small town politics from our kids' sports and create a fair environment for everyone to compete in. But they are only as strong as the Board members who uphold them.
We are asking for your support in signing this petition to demand that SSMHA written policies are adhered to and to reinstate John Lecain as the U11AA head coach with his roster as chosen in accordance with the 2025 SSHMA Tryout format for the removal of those involved in manipulating the team selection process (includng but not limited to the President, VP of Risk and U11 Tryout Committee personnel) in a blatant abuse of power.
Lindsay and Jeff Clarke Contact the author of the petition
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