President Bill Ohlhausen steps down...or retires

So the big news out of the KIJHL AGM last weekend was that longtime  President Bill Ohlhausen has stepped down after 17 years and the league is now actively looking for a new President... or a Commissioner . The difference, a President for the most part does what the Governors want and a Commissioner has a longterm vision and leads the league in that direction. 

We do know that Ohlhausen (sometimes unfairly)  took a lot of heat from the owners, GM’s, coaches and referees over the years and because he was the  President he was the guy who dealt with BC Hockey. Therefore he was right in the middle of the new face mask conspiracy (some think that word is appropriate) that ignited a firestorm throughout the league  because it was never voted on by the Governors. (Remember the difference between a President and a Commissioner )

Every year there are, and always will be, all kinds of player and carding issues that fans never hear about and the President is always right in the middle of it. He is constantly putting out fires and even gets justifiably angry once in a while... at one time he even called what we do here trash, one of my finest moments. For the record, he isn’t the only one with those values ... nothing personal here I’m good with it.

Anyway I wouldn’t be expecting an old school hockey guy like Bill Ohlhausen to spill his guts and tell the public exactly why he stepped down. But if he did it would be an interesting read.

The league had a great thing going with Bill and his wife/secretary  Mary who did a ton of paperwork for the league. That's another thing that the average fan knows nothing about, and they did both of those jobs for about  thousand a month... it’s two full time jobs for christ’s sakes.

So the betting here is the new guy will have to set up an office (guess where the office is now?) and hire a secretary. That will cost way way more than 1000 a month...maybe as much as $5000 per team, certainly $3000.

In other news...
Sixteen year Secretary/Treasurer John Surovy has also retired, another job to fill.

So at the moment Vice President and former Nelson President Larry Martel (another big fan of this column, or not) has taken over until the KIJHL decides what exactly they want to do and Eddie Mountain VP Kathy Merkel (a tireless volunteer) is filling in for Surovy.

I wish Bill and Mary and John all the best in the future, that was a very trying job.