So you wanna play hockey?

As instructed by HNB, we did not hold an Annual General Meeting in the Spring. We are not a registered non-profit organization, so we are not legally required to hold one, and as a board we have decided to exercise this option.

We did so because we do not have many major constitutional changes planned and only a few board positions that were vacant or up for renewal. We prefer dealing board positions internally as a board – with an emphasis on continuity  – so we can focus on getting up and running as quickly and efficiently as possible. If you are interested in joining the board, here are positions that are up for renewal or vacant:

• Vice-President of Operations: vacant
• Initiation Novice Technical Director: up for renewal, currently held by Eric Mockler
• Bantam Midget Technical Director: vacant
• Female Hockey Representative Director: up for renewal, currently held by Eric Mockler
• Coaching Committee Director: up for renewal, currently held by Eric Deschenes

If interested in either filling up a vacant position or presenting yourself as a candidate for a position that is up for renewal, please contact us.

Update: see the following article for information on our upcoming AGM on September 28, 2020.

Our first point of concern with the upcoming hockey season is finances. Last year we took dramatic steps to improve our financial situation. We estimate that our debt was in the $35,000–40,000 range at the start of the 2019-20 season. Through hard work we were able to reduce our debt to about $10,000. Had the season not ended abruptly and had we been able to host the Timbits, Atom C Zones Championships and Peewee C Provincial tournaments, we might have finished the season with very little debt. A remarkable turnaround!

While we are happy where we currently stand financially, this year might prove challenging. Despite the price of registration fees, they do not cover all of our expenses, and the pandemic will severely impact all of our important revenue streams: fundraising, sponsor donations and tournaments. 

Simply put, our financial situation might force us to limit the amount of ice time available but we will do our best to maximize every dollar.

Volunteering is an important aspect of running a successful minor hockey association. The current pandemic will only make it even more so, and we implore every parent to come forward and give some of their time.

Many of our board members and a small subset of parents pull double/triple duty so every child can play hockey. This burns volunteers out and makes coming to the rink a chore. If this situation continues we may have to add some financial penalties and/or incentives as this unacceptable.

Every minor hockey association will be required to complete a detailed operational plan before the start of the season. An outline of the plan is available online on the HNB website and covers various aspects, such as (but not limited to):

• Physical distancing rules
• Contact tracing (requires taking attendance at every event)
• Cleaning and disinfection
• Health guidelines (hand washing, wearing masks, water bottles, etc)
• Coordinating with the Dalhousie/Campbellton facilities to determine what protocols to follow, including distancing rules for parents and spectators.

In order to meet some of the guidelines, this will require some new volunteer positions:

• A Communications Officer that will communicate with HNB and pass on the relevant information to each team.
• Each team will also need to appoint a “Team Liaison” that will ensure the protocols directed by the Communications Officer are followed and take attendance for each team event.

As directed by HNB, the season will progress in a series of five phases. In section 6 of the document you will see the outline of the five phases. As of now, we know that phase 1 will last two weeks and will begin at the start of our season. We do not know the length of the following phases, except that none will be less than two weeks. We encourage you to read the document but here is a brief outline of each phase:

1. On-ice Physical Distancing / Skill Development only
2. Skill Development / Competition drills (1 v 1, 2 v 2, etc) / Small area games
3. Regular practice structure / Regular game play – with travel restrictions
4. Regular practice structure / Regular game play
5. Tournaments permitted

Please note that for phases 4 and 5 we do not know if travel restrictions will be in place.

There is a possibility that we may decide not to have any competitive teams this season. We will continually assess the situation, but the reality is that as a small association that has at most one competitive per division, those teams might have to wait a very long time before playing any games. Looking at the HNB Return to Hockey Guidelines, only in Phase 3 will competitive teams be allowed to play, but only against one team from a neighbouring association. Phase 4 travel distance is yet to be determined, but we anticipate that games will probably be limited to our District. 

That’s a lot of time on the ice before seeing a game (or playing more than one team) for those kids, potentially as long as the new year. Again, we want to stress that no official decision has been made, but if kids won’t play meaningful games for a long time we would prefer splitting our players into many small teams so that they can at least play and have fun.

As you can see in the “Return to Hockey Guidelines”, tournaments are only permitted in phase 5. At this point, we do not know when this will even start. It should also be noted that at this point HNB is not even accepting any tournament applications (a process that is usually done by the end of May). 

As far as attending away tournaments, we do not know how far teams will be allowed to travel, and there is some discussion only regional tournaments will be permitted. 

Players from Listuguj & Pointe-à-la-Croix are permitted to play but will have to register, as per provincial regulations, for each time they play to cross the border for practices and games.

While we already have a refund policy in place in our constitution, we will develop additional policy guidelines as advised by HC to handle the unique challenges in the upcoming season. For example what happens if a season needs to be cut short, or if there is a stoppage in play for a period of time, what if travel restrictions between NB and Quebec are tightened etc.

Most coaching certifications will be done online this year. Additionally all coaches will need to take an additional (but short) “Planning a Safe Return to Hockey” HC course.

Please note that our new coaching application will go online shortly.

At the moment, there are no plan to raise registration fees. Registrations will open in the first week of September and the process will also be somewhat different this year.

Last year was our first year of “digitizing” the process and was quite successful. We will be sending existing parents their login information so they can access their account in order to register their child/children with minor hockey (new parents will be able to create accounts). Once you have completed the registration process you will be given options for online payment. We will also hold some nights for parents that need to pay cash and allow for mailing of post-dated cheques. 

This new system will allow you to track the registration status for each child and for every year on our website.