Hoffmann to Des Moines; Sleepy Eye forfeiting fiasco

NEW ULM -- New Ulm's Jamie Hoffmann said on Saturday that he will play Junior Hockey in Des Moines next year after being offered a hockey-baseball scholarship to Minnesota State University, Mankato and a baseball scholarship to Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.

"I talked to the (Des Moines) coach Bob Ferguson and he was very helpful and out of all the offers that I had, I had to take the Des Moines offer," Hoffmann said. "If I play Junior Hockey, I am only going to get bigger (Hoffmann is currently 6-foot 1, 190 pounds) and more mature. Plus, my other options are still going to be open. I could still go play baseball if that works out. I would just have to do a little more work about contacting teams if that happens.

"I just felt that going to Des Moines -- even after getting the offer (from Minnesota State-Mankato and Bradley) that this was the best fit for me."

Hoffmann said that after playing one year in juniors " that if they (MSU) are going to offer me money now, their interest will not lose interest. Playing juniors will only help me."

He said that the defending National Champions in hockey -- the University of Minnesota -- has also shown renewed interest in Hoffmann.

I talked to (Gopher assistant hockey coach) Bob Motzko and he said that he would not pull my strings if he felt like I could not play D-I hockey -- I think that you can play hockey here at the University of Minnesota. He said that he saw something special in me in Des Moines. He said that he would not be doing this if he felt that. He feels that I can play D-i hockey."

He said that Junior Hockey starts on Labor Day.

"I will still play Legion baseball in New Ulm next year,"said Hoffmann who is a young 17. "We get done in late April -- I will try and get some practices in with the Eagles then."

Hoffmann said that he wants to gain 15 pounds of muscle next year in Juniors.

The word that I hear from scouts -- both in baseball and hockey -- is that Hoffmann potentially could be drafted next year in both sports.

SLEEPY EYE FORFEITS SECOND GAME: On Saturday night at the Serviceman's Club in Sleepy Eye, the Tomahawk East League voted by a 5-1 margin that the Sleepy Eye Indians would have for forfeit the rained-out July 10 New Ulm Brewers-Sleepy Eye game in Sleepy Eye.

"The reason that I had called the meeting is because I had several phone calls plus I had requested on Wednesday night that Sleepy Eye make up that game before the playoffs started (on Friday night) because I did not want any league games being played after the playoffs started,"said Tomahawk East League president Myron Seidl of Stark.

This was the second game that Sleepy Eye had to forfeit to the Brewers. The first forfeit to New Ulm came on June 2 in New Ulm when the Indians did not have nine players on the field when the game started at 7:30 p.m.

"(Sleepy Eye manager) Ralph Zwaschka asked me last week after the rain-out that the Sleepy Eye field was not available to make-up any games before Tuesday night which was our last (scheduled) league game night. He asked me if they absolutely have to have the game made up by Tuesday night and I said no and that he and (Brewer manager) Chris Peters should work it out meaning -- although I didn't say it but I certainly took it that Ralph would have taken it that way -- that the game should be made up before the playoffs (started)."

Seidl, who was on vacation for a week, came back and found out that the game had been rescheduled for July 21 "and I had some concerns about that. We went from there."

Seidl said that Zwaschka " did not read the (Minnesota Baseball Association) rule book quite right," Seidl said. "The rule states that all leagues must finish their scheduled league play in ample time for league and regional play. His thinking was that because New Ulm and Sleepy Eye both get a bye in the first round that the game did not matter. (But) the rule book goes on to say that all postponed league games must be played prior to the last scheduled league game, if possible. In this case, it probably wasn't possible. But I guess my intention was that if the game would have been played on Wednesday night. The rule book states that if the last scheduled league game is rained out, it must be played within 48 hours of postponement providing it has a bearing on a qualifying team for a playoff or championship. And in this case, it did."

Seidl said that the penalty for any team refusing to play a postponed game when so ordered by constituted authority "shall forfeit said game. I told Ralph that the game had to be played and some people in the Tomahawk East League had called the state board about this. The state board called me and there were some concerns. In our Tomahawk rules, No. 11 states that all postponed games of the second half shall be rescheduled in seven days. We didn't go with that ruling. We went with the MBA handbook because we figured if it went any further, that is what the MBA will support. We didn't want to call a forfeit but a handful of teams had played between three and four games this week to get in rained out games, and here Sleepy Eye sat and really did not go overboard in making an effort to get the game played."

Seidl said that it was "no fault of New Ulm -- this was Sleepy Eye's home game. They were doing all the scheduling."

The meeting also caused Sleepy Eye manager Ralph Zwaschka -- who is also the Tomahawk East League vice-president -- to resign from that office prior to the meeting. " He had some thoughts about issues that have been presented to the league this year and before, that he regretfully asked the league to accept his resignation (as vice-president)," Seidl said.

"I told him that I didn't feel that it was appropriate. It probably goes that I had said earlier to the teams that they should be sure to get all games in before the season was over. I think that there were some open dates in Sleepy Eye where that game could have been rescheduled."

"Ralph is good for baseball -- he keeps Sleepy Eye going but sometimes, you have to separate your team from the league officers' duties."

Seidl said the league felt everyone else would have played that game by Tuesday or Wednesday.

FORFEIT COSTS SLEEPY EYE BIG NIGHT:Not playing the game Sunday night "was not a decision determined by (Brewer manager) Chris Peters or myself," said Indian manager Zwaschka. "Chris and I agreed that we wanted to play the game as much as I did. Myron and I had talked on July 11 to ask if we could play the game after the regular season was over. He did give me that approval. We have always lived by the rules and to play the game on the field and not have a game determined by other people. That is how this came off.'

Not playing the game also cost Sleepy Eye baseball a nice sum of money. "We only needed 100 people there to bring in a $300 gate -- and I think that we would have had more fans than that -- and our concession stand would have brought in a lot. That was probably a $500 loss to us and that is conservative. But we were denied that because of a rule interpretation. It would have been a good game between two good teams."

Zwaschka said that the rule interpretation "denied us that. I can't characterize that term -- I had called two state board members (Bob Zellmann and Fred Roufs) who told me that we have ample time. We (Brewers and Sleepy Eye) have ample time (five days) before you have to play your playoffs. Having the top two teams not playing is a disadvantage to both of us."

He said that he "accepts the ruling. Somebody else other than the ballgame being played determined our destiny."

Zwaschka said that he had written his resignation as Tomahawk East League vice-president "the day before (Saturday's meeting) after pondering it for sometime. It should not be looked upon as sour grapes -- I just looked upon it as being in the best interest of the league. Their are league people who are representing their team and I am the only officer who was a manager and I felt that to try to diffuse some of the league's anxiety."

He said that having two forfeits to New Ulm "has not soured me on baseball. We all live with day-to-day decisions, and there are things that you cannot change in the minds of people. Life goes on. Now it is time to move on to the real season in playoffs."

"I know that if Chris Peters was at the meeting, he was on the phone, and he was angry about the (forfeit) decision. We did not have a field to use because of the games scheduled there for tournaments. We both (Brewers and Sleepy Eye) wanted to play the game. But somebody else decided to make that decision."

The loss of around $500 also cost the Indians the opportunity to pay off their wood bats for this year. "Now, we are deprived of that money."