Mario Forgione says Canadian Hockey League teams across the country have used teenaged players to inflate profits and have abandoned some players who don’t make it to the NHL and need help transitioning to a life after hockey. [url=http://www.cheapdolphinsjerseyselite.com/]Cheap Dolphins Jerseys China

Mario Forgione says Canadian Hockey League teams across the country have used teenaged players to inflate profits and have abandoned some players who don’t make it to the NHL and need help transitioning to a life after hockey. Cheap Dolphins Jerseys China . Forgione owned the Mississauga IceDogs from 2003 to 2006, alongside co-owner Chris Pronger, and has also owned Tier II junior teams in Milton and Pembroke, Ontario. Forgione says he quit the Ontario Hockey League after it became clear to him that his views about the league’s obligations to players didn’t align with other owners. His frank condemnation comes with the CHL under scrutiny over how it treats its young players. Canada’s three major-junior leagues, the OHL, Western Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, are facing a trio of lawsuits over working conditions of players. Both Ontario and Washington state are considering requests to establish task forces to explore whether teams are violating minimum-wage legislation, while efforts also continue to unionize junior league players. Forgione said in an interview with TSN.ca that the OHL has become big business where many owners don’t do enough to help players after their playing career. “Does the league wash their hands of them and say we are done with them? Yes. This is what they do,” he said. Players are a disposable commodity. The league has a social responsibility to look after these kids, but a lot of [former CHL players] haven’t even finished Grade 12. Then what happens? Minimum wage jobs. They say: Here’s your education package, God bless you, off you go,” Forgione said. “A lot of players fall through the cracks in the OHL. What happens after they play four years, they’re 21. How many guys are going back to school at that point? The teams are supposed to have an educational consultant on the team, but let’s face it, youve to keep on top of 30 kids, 16, 17, 18-year-old boys. It’s hard enough to make sure one kid is going to school, let alone 30. Forgione said, The bottom line is when they have done a four-year stint in the OHL, what are they equipped to do? If they aren’t equipped to do something meaningful in life, where do they end up?” One current OHL team owner, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, bristled at Forgione’s critique and said the one-time IceDogs owner doesn’t have statistics to back up his criticism. While Forgione owned the IceDogs, the franchise was a perennial money-loser, the current team owner said. “Forgione was not great for this league,” he said. Forgione reportedly bought the IceDogs for about $4 million and sold them three years later for about $9 million, according to media reports. “Fortunately, he’s no longer an owner in our league, he left in 2006,” CHL Commissioner David Branch said. “I would suggest [in the eight years] since Mr. Forgione left, there has been significant changes in the player experiences made in our league. “You’ve got a view of a person who’s no longer involved in the league,” Branch said. “I don’ t want to debate Mr. Forgione. He has his view and that’s fine.” Branch confirmed active CHL team owners have been told by the CHL head office not to speak publicly regarding the union efforts and lawsuits. CHL team officials have warned in recent months that, if they are pressured to pay players minimum wage, a concession former OHL player Sam Berg has asked for in a lawsuit filed in October, the development might drastically alter the game. Some teams might even fold because of the added expense, Branch has said. Others might start charging players for their sticks and other equipment and stop covering the cost of billets. Forgione calls that argument a red herring. “If the teams can’t afford to pay minimum wage and they go out of business, so be it,” he said. “If six teams fall out of the league, so what? Branch says, ‘we’re not going to be fair to anyone because it will affect our league… I think they do develop hockey players but they are also very focused on their own self-serving agenda, to have a strong league with financial viability (Editors note: Forgione was speaking facetiously. Branch did not make the remark about fairness).” “To me, the OHL should not be a mainstream, for-profit business venture,” Forgione said. “Players and parents are afraid to speak out. What happens to a kid that knocks the coach or GM or league? He’s blackballed. Let’s be honest about this.” Several former OHL players told TSN.ca say they are not surprised that current players are leery about speaking up. Daniel Altshuller, who played three years with the Oshawa Generals before he was drafted in 2012 by the Carolina Hurricanes, said those players who criticize the OHL can “seem ungrateful. “You can get a stigma and become known as a selfish player,” Altshuller said. “I wouldn’t want a teammate like that. Even so, Altshuller said players - especially the majority who don’t advance to pro hockey careers - deserve to make their case for a bigger portion of revenue from the fast-growing OHL. But at the same time, Altshuller worries where that might lead. “It could be a double-edged sword,” he said. “Maybe instead of using Easton sticks, the teams switch to lower-cost ones to save money because they have to pay players more… or maybe they cut cost on travel. When we played in Ottawa, we’d drive the night before and stay in a hotel, even though it was just a three-hour drive, to get some extra sleep. Maybe the team would look to cut those costs. Altshuller made it a point to say that he had a positive experience in the OHL and said his team had employees on hand to ensure players attended class. Branch disagreed with the suggestion that the OHL is doing as well as it ever has financially, despite a new TV contract that pays the league an estimated $5 million a year, according to a person familiar with the matter, and despite the fact the CHL has a strong portfolio of corporate sponsors. “I wouldn’t say it’s better than ever,” Branch said. “There’s a push and pull every season with some franchises. Branch said he’s opposed to efforts to establish of a provincial task force to examine working conditions for OHL players. “We’ve met with people at Queen’s Park, but not about [a task force looking at the OHL],” he said. “Our players are being looked after. They are amateur student athletes. But even that description has come under tough scrutiny. In the U.S. this spring, a regional office of the National Labor Relations Board gave Northwestern University football players the right to be recognized as school employees and, as such, the eligibility to collectively bargain for work conditions such as salaries. While the OHL changed its standard players contract this season, describing players as “student athletes” instead of “independent contractors,” Branch insisted the change has nothing to do with what’s happening at Northwestern. “They are not employees,” he said. “It’s for that reason we re-positioned our standard players agreement. Our adjustments and changes started long before any of that [at Northwestern] started to surface. The OHL began working on changes to its standard player contracts three or four years ago, he said. Forgione now runs a Toronto-area real estate company and said that he doesn’t accept that players in major-junior hockey are “student athletes. “I don’t know how you consider them student athletes if you’re not guaranteeing them an education,” Forgione said. “At Michigan State, a kid plays for the school and gets an education at the same time. In the OHL, he’s not playing for his high school or university, he’s playing for a for-profit entity completely outside the school. “I don’t know that [the CHL] can continue to make money on the back of players who are given a stipend that’s as little as possible because it affects their team’s bottom line,” Forgione said. “If you want to be in the sports business, be in the business at a higher level where all the people involved understand all the implications. Then you have a fair and level playing field. I don’t know that, if you are in the minor hockey business, that everyone understands the business. Cheap Dolphins Jerseys Authentic .Y. - Brooklyn Nets centre Brook Lopez has a strained lower back and will miss at least a week. Cheap Miami Dolphins Jerseys . Tampa Bay Buccaneers RB Doug Martin broke the news that hes cleared for full activity moving forward. http://www.cheapdolphinsjerseyselite.com/?tag=cheap-jarvis-landry-jersey .Hoffenheim forward Anthony Modeste opened the scoring on a counterattack in the 15th minute, shooting though Jaroslav Drobnys legs after Lewis Holtby lost the ball in midfield.TORONTO - An uncharacteristic off night from the teams most dependable player proved costly for the Toronto Raptors on Monday night.And after dropping a 114-111 decision to the sizzling-hot Detroit Pistons, Kyle Lowry beat himself up a little in the post-game dressing room.Lowry committed seven turnovers on a night that saw the Raptors commit 19, and he took just three shots through three quarters to finish with 10 points.Was it the pressure being applied by Detroit?Naw, Lowry said. It was more me, more me not being aggressive. The loss spoiled a career-high 31-point performance from Jonas Valanciunas, who also grabbed 12 rebounds. Seven players scored in double figures for Toronto (25-12), with Greivis Vasquez notching 16, Lou Williams adding 15, Amir Johnson and Terrence Ross finishing with 12 apiece, James Johnson scoring 11, and Lowry finishing with 10 to go with 12 assists. That was uncharacteristic of (Lowry), that was one of those tough games for him, said Raptors coach Dwane Casey. To have seven turnovers is very strange for him. Youre going to have nights like that but, again, weve got to make sure we back him up and take care of the ball.Brandon Jennings had 34 points to top the Pistons (14-24), who won their sixth straight on the road, and ninth in their last 11 games.The Raptors were outscored 25-16 on second-chance points, and sent the Pistons to the free-throw line 31 times — while going to the line just 14 times themselves. But the Pistons, who as Casey said pre-game have been clicking on all cylinders, gave up just seven points on eight turnovers.The turnovers were the huge thing in this game, thats what decided this game, said Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy. We took care of the ball and thats the only thing that really gave us a shot to win that game.The Raptors had defeated the Pistons 110-100 in Detroit on Dec. 19, but the Michigan teams record was third worst in the league at the time. Three days after that victory, the Pistons waived Josh Smith, and have been one of the NBAs hottest teams ever since.Casey likened them to last seasons Raptors team after the Rudy Gay trade.The Raptors, who snapped a four-game losing skid with their 109-96 victory over Boston on Saturday, led for a good chunk of the first three quarters, and were up by as much as 14 points in the first half.The Pistons came roaring back in the third, and cut the Raptors advantage to just 83-82 with a quarter left to play.Lowry followed up a driving layup with a pair of free throws to put the Raptors up by four points with 3:39 to play, but couldnt put any more distance on their visitors. Back-to-back buckets from Jonas Jerebko gave the Pistons a three-point lead with 1:29 to play, and then after a mad scramble for the ball and with thee shot-clock at nearly zero on Detroits next possession, Jodie Meeks drained a three-pointer to put the Pistons up by four. Cheap Ryan Tannehill Jersey. ack breaker. It was a back breaker, Lowry said of Meekss shot. Everyone committed to the ball and they got it out and he hit a tough shot.Lowry, whos poised to make his first NBA all-star team, replied with a three with 43 seconds left, making it a one-point game and bringing the capacity crowd of 19,800 fans at Air Canada Centre to their feet. But the Raptors point guard missed with seven seconds left, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope connected on two free throws to give Detroit the win.We shot ourselves in the foot, Casey said. For whatever reason, we had the break going, we had our pace going but we were forcing a lot of passes. If you commit that many turnovers against a good team like that, you shoot yourself in the foot and thats what we did.The coachs message to the team after the game?On to the next one, said Patrick Patterson. We let it slip through our fingers, had a great first half and second half was just horrendous. Only thing we can do now is focus on the next game. The next one is Wednesday, when the Raptors host Philadelphia. They host the Eastern Conference-leading Atlanta Hawks on Friday, then cap this six-game homestand on Sunday against the New Orleans Pelicans.The game marked the 21st straight without DeMar DeRozan, who had originally targeted last Thursday for his return, but had then predicted hed play some time this week. When asked pre-game about a potential return of his all-star guard, Casey wouldnt say. The Raptors, whove been plagued by slow starts, came out of the opening whistle at full speed, with Valanciunas leading the way with 14 points, and Lowry doling out nine assists — just two shy of the club record for a quarter, held by Doug Christie. Lowry found Valanciunas for an alley-oop dunk that put the Raptors up by 12 midway through the quarter, and they took a 32-20 lead into the second. Williams led the way with nine points in the second quarter as the Raptors built their lead to 14 points. A floater from Williams with four seconds to play send Toronto into the dressing room at halftime with a 60-48 lead.The Pistons outscored Toronto 34-23 in the third, tying the game with a three by Jennings midway through the quarter. The Raptors remained within four points of Detroit for the rest of the frame, pulling ahead to lead by one with one quarter to play.NOTES: Valanciunass previous career high was 27 points versus the Phoenix Suns on Nov. 24 of this season. . . The Raptors had won six of their previous meetings with Detroit, including four in a row. . . The Raptors had been outscored in the first quarter in nine of their previous 11 starts. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '