In our quest to become the primary source of credible news for the college-bound hockey player and parent, we will be running irregular Fake News Alerts when our competitors or any other “news” source circulates a rumor or fact that we can disprove.
One of the reasons we entered the editorial part of this business is to help people wade through the rumors and inaccuracies of the hockey world while simply trying to follow the sport, or help their player advance.
Yesterday’s post by one of our competitor’s covers the demise of the USPHL Premier Division’s Jersey Shore Whalers. TJHP broke this story five days ago.
Our other chief competitor has made no mention of this happening, which isn’t an Earth-shattering event, but it’s legitimate information that impacts many teams and many players. It should be reported on even with a brief mention if you claim to be in the news and content business.
Ironically JuniorHockey.com used the demise of the Whalers story to take shots at TheJuniorHockeyNews.com for not reporting it — as if reporting on it four days after TJHP is some sort of accomplishment. The article went one step further in the attack:
“(TheJuniorHockeyNews.com) even goes as far as to associate the NA3HL with Canada’s non-sanctioned Greater Metro Hockey League. As a result, the league has suffered serious combined financial losses rumored to be in excess of $1,000,000 over that last four seasons. That’s a lot of hurt that has so far gone unpunished.”
While this has nothing to do with the Jersey Shore Whalers, which is the actual news content, it’s also a prime example of citing or making up a rumor and publishing with absolutely no effort to verify. In this case, the NA3HL is actually being hurt by the misinformation as it implies the NA3HL is a struggling business. What league, with roughly $20,000 per team dues, can withstand that kind of loss?
With twenty minutes of research, including a yet-to-be-returned message to the NAHL giving that league a chance to refute the allegation, TJHP has disproved this is a false and damaging allegation.
The NA3HL, for combined fiscal years 2016-18, shows a profit of $303,052. As of May 31, 2018 it listed $415,889 in assets. The NA3HL is set up as a non-profit corporation with 501c3 status as granted by the Internal Revenue Service.
That leaves only a far-fetched, outside chance the allegation is true if the NA3HL lost more than $1.3 million in fiscal year 2019. The owners would have had to pony up more than $500,000 last year to keep the league afloat, over and above the annual dues (the NA3HL had assets listed at $415,889 heading into last season). This type of loss or cash call to keep a league afloat is so unlikely TJHP is willing to publish without verifying with the NAHL.
TJHP will continue to report facts as best it can, and will continue to report on FakeNews when it’s spotted. Any and all tips and questions about FakeNews can be sent to info@juniorhockeyhub.com.
