Welcome to the first of two nights of evaluations!

These next two Sundays are the most important nights of our season, as they’re what allow us to break the league up into ten competitively-balanced teams.

Tonight, we’re looking at basic individual skills. We’ll be looking at four different things:

• Skating maneuverability and stopping
• Skating backwards and changing directions
• Skating and controlling the puck
• Skating and passing

You may be really great at all of these, or not able to do any of them or somewhere in between. It doesn’t matter. You are in the league and you’ll be on a team either way. Do your best, whatever your best happens to be, and don’t stress if you don’t do well, or as well as you’d like.

We have a lot of people to evaluate. Please be dressed and ready to get on the ice before your start time. We have to get you on the ice and divided into four groups in a short amount of time if we’re going to get a good look at everyone. It’ll also be a big help if you have your name on your helmet.  Check your email for this week’s evaluation rosters.  This should have all the changes that have been requested.

Next week we’ll be doing one-hour scrimmages where we’ll look at your knowledge of positioning and your shooting, among other things. Watch your email for your time and team assignments for scrimmages. They will likely be different than this week’s rosters.  We’re hoping these will be refereed scrimmages, as well. We won’t be keeping score but we would like to have face-offs after goals and for offsides and icing.

We realize that some of you don’t know what offsides and icing are. This should help:

Offsides:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxiUccHD1Bc

Icing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEzyTOySsLc
Note that in adult rec hockey, icing is called as soon as the puck crosses the goal line, it doesn’t get waved off if a player on the opposing team gets there first (as noted in the video).

We will be having MGHA New Player Orientation on Sunday, September 10th from 4pm-5:30pm at Kavanaugh’s Esquire Club.

This orientation is for new players and their mentors.  The eagle-eyed among you have likely noticed that this is the same day as our first on-ice clinics; orientation is an off-ice introduction to the culture and quirks of our league. We strongly encourage you to attend. You do not need to bring anything with you, although we recommend you have your gear with you and ready for on-ice practice, which starts at 6pm (5:30-6pm will be for folks to get dressed to get on the ice).  We have a guest speaker, Erica Hagen, to talk about implicit bias, and we’ll also cover what makes our league different from traditional leagues.

Kavanaugh’s is a supper club located at 1025 Sherman Avenue, just around the corner from Hartmeyer. We will be providing light snacks; please feel free to purchase your own refreshments. We strongly discourage you from drinking any alcohol prior to getting on the ice for clinics.  There will be time to get to Hartmeyer and change immediately after orientation, for those of you going to the beginner clinic.

The Ironman is taking place on Sunday, so many downtown streets will be closed through midnight.  Avoid downtown when traveling to / from Hartmeyer!

Hey all! There are only ten spots left in the league, so if you know someone who’s thinking about signing up, or if you haven’t paid your deposit, now is the time. Log in and pay your deposit HERE. As a note, we will continue to prioritize players who meet our mission until the start of the pre-season on September 10th; at that time, we will open up to waitlisted players if there are spots available.

As a reminder, USA Hockey registration is due for returning players, and can be paid here.

Please let us know if you need assistance or have any questions!

On behalf of Recruiting (Randi, Amanda, Matthew, Logan, Patrick and yours truly),
-k8-
they/them

p.s. In writing this message, two more people have signed up, so we now have eight spots available. Get those deposits in!

It’s about time to get the upcoming 2017-2018 MGHA season underway.  To do that, there’s a lot we have to cover.  I’m going to break it all down for you here.  Anything you see in red is an action item.  Please take a moment to make sure you’ve done what’s asked before the deadline.

Let’s get to it!

USA Hockey Registration

Before you can set foot, err… skate on the ice for the upcoming season, you’ll need to be registered with USA Hockey.  We do this for liability reasons to protect those in our league.  Signing up is easy and can be done online.  Follow the link below to head to the MGHA website where we’ve got the steps laid out for you.

ACTION: Follow this link to sign up for USA Hockey… https://www.madisongayhockey.org/usa-hockey-registration-2017/

League Fees

You should have already paid the deposit for the league.  To pay the bills, we need to collect the rest of those league fees.  You can do that at the link below.  Please take care of this as soon as possible.  Deadline will be before the first clinic, which is slated for September 10.  If, for some reason, you can’t make the payment right now, please contact Shelly, our Treasurer, via email: treasurer@madisongayhockey.org.  We’ll be happy work with you on a payment plan.

ACTION: Pay your league fees at the link… https://www.madisongayhockey.org/product/2017-2018-league-fees/

Play-With Requests

If you have someone who you’ve discussed ridesharing with or even someone you do not feel safe being on the same team as, this is how you let us know.  We’ll do our best to honor these requests during the team creation process.  You do not have to fill this form out if you do not have any requests.

ACTION: Follow this link to submit your play-with requests if you have any… https://www.madisongayhockey.org/play-with-requests/

Clinics

We’ve heard feedback from advanced players that they’d like to be included in clinics at the beginning of the season.  We’re happy to announce some changes.  Clinics will take place on September 10, 17, and 24.  Each week, we’ll have a slot for beginner, intermediate, and advanced skill levels.  

We are allowing self-selection for this process, but please understand that the clinics will be run at the appropriate pace based on the level.  It’s in your and your fellow skaters’ best interests to choose the level that most accurately represents your skills.  Although ‘playing up’ is a thing for challenge games, we do not recommend it in this situation.  If we see someone who we believe has selected the wrong group, we’ll ask you to change your selection to ensure the effectiveness of the clinics for all.

For intermediate and advanced players, we will have an outside coach running the clinics.  Beginner players will work with members of our Hockey Operations crew.  For all groups, we have a limited amount of ice time.  Please be ready to be on the ice 15 minutes before the scheduled time.  If this is your first time putting the equipment on, be sure to allow even more time to get comfortable.

To give the coaches a heads-up on how many people they can expect at each session, we’re asking that you sign-up for each week.  This process will be similar to signing up for challenge games.

As we’ll be building upon clinics from the previous week, we recommend making all of the clinics for your skill group.

ACTION: Sign up for clinics using the links… https://www.madisongayhockey.org/clinic-sign-ups/

Evaluations

Similar to last year, we’ll be doing evaluations over two weeks.  The first week, October 1, will be mainly skills evaluation.  The second week, October 8, will be evaluation scrimmages.  There’s currently no action required on your part for these.  We’ll send out a follow-up email closer to the date to let you know to which slot you’ve been assigned.  Start times range from 5:15 PM through 9:00 PM and the slots last for one hour.  Evaluations are the most important pre-season activity as they allow us to evenly distribute teams.

ACTION: Attendance is mandatory!  Mark off these two dates in your calendar now.

Team Reveal and Challenge Games

Our first challenge game of the season happens on October 15th.  Due to ice time limitations, this set of challenge games will have one slot for beginner, one for intermediate, and one for advanced.  All others throughout the season will consist of a single slot for beginner and advanced and two slots for intermediate.  Sign-ups for this will be on the MGHA website a little closer to the date.  We’ll also use this night to announce teams, so make sure to mark this on your calendar!

Team Practices

Once you know your teams, it’s important to get to know the fine folks you’ll be playing with for the next few months.  That’s why we have two weeks of team practice built in before games start.  This’ll help your team gel.  This year, Hockey Operations is going to provide captains with drills and an agenda for their practices so that everyone gets even more benefit from team practices.  Please be sure to mark your calendars and be there on October 22 and 29.

Regular Season and Championship Night

We’ve heard from you and we’ve expanded our season this year.  With the first game on November 5, we’ll run through a 15-game season with a championship night immediately following.  This will give teams even more time to gel before championship night on April 15, 2018.  Mathematically, conferences worked well with the number of games scheduled last year.  This year, they simply don’t.  For that reason, we’re doing away with them.  Once the regular season wraps up, the first and second place teams in the standings will play for the championship.  On championship night, 3rd place will play 4th place and so on with games for everyone.  The full schedule will be on the website soon.

Wrap-Up

That’s about it.  I know this is a long email, but thank you for reading through it.  We’ve been told by the league that you want open, honest, and clear communication.  If you have questions, comments, or concerns, please let us know and we’ll do our best to address them.  

We look forward to seeing you all on the ice starting with our first clinics on September 10!

Tim

(on behalf of the MGHA Board and HOps crew)

It’s time to register with USA Hockey! For liability reasons, all players must register with USA Hockey. Registration covers one year of play (September 1 to August 31).

IMPORTANT: You will NOT be allowed to step on the ice at a MGHA skills clinic, practice, scrimmage, game, etc., without being registered with USA Hockey.

How to Register with USA Hockey

1. Go to: www.usahockeyregistration.com.
2. Click the red “REGISTER NOW” button.
3. For Registration Type, select “Ice Player/Coach.”
4. Complete the form. Include payment of $45.
5. You will receive a registration confirmation email with a confirmation # and bar code. Please forward this email from USA Hockey to k8 walton (registrar@madisongayhockey.org).

MGHA needs the entire email in order to scan the bar code and register you with our league.

(Note: If you play in more than one league, you only need to register with USA Hockey once per season.)

Email k8 with questions or concerns!

Hi Friends!

We hope you’re having a great summer, and that your dreams of slicing across the cool surface of the ice are getting you through these August doldrums.

I am happy to announce that we have 125 players who have paid their deposit for next season, securing their spot. That means we only have 25 spots left in the league for 2017-18. If you’re hoping to return but haven’t paid your deposit, get on it! Log in and pay your deposit HERE.

If you know someone who’s thinking about joining us, get them moving! The new player application and FAQ can be found HERE.

And as always, if you want to return but need a little leeway on the money side of things, or if you know an alum or tournament player who wants to join up for this year, please email recruiting@madisongayhockey.org. Thanks, and we’ll see you on the ice!

-Recruiting-

Join us on Saturday, June 3rd in celebrating the Madison LGBTQA community at Fruit Fest! We need enthusiastic volunteers to spread the word about our wonderful organization. Volunteers would be setting up/taking down our table, talking to festival goers about playing hockey, the history of the MGHA, and recruiting new members. There will be food, live music, and plenty of vendors to explore before/after your volunteer shift.

If you have any questions please do don’t hesitate to ask! Email me, Rainbow Kate, at sorceressrogue@gmail.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions.

Location: 924 Williamson St, Madison

Volunteers are needed from 12:30pm until 10pm (I will be on site all day). Please wear your MGHA t-shirts or jerseys!

You must be logged in to a valid account to view and sign up for scrimmages and clinics.

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Player deposit for next season is now available. The deposit is $75 dollars and due by the end of the business day on Monday, June 12th. After that, returning players will be treated as new recruits. If you are unable to pay the deposit by June 12th but intend to play with us next year, please contact Shelly (treasurer@madisongayhockey.org).

As a reminder, we will be maintaining 10 teams and expect to fill up. In following with our mission statement, in recruiting and in accepting new players, we will prioritize members of the LGBTQ+ community and other groups with historically limited access to hockey.

As a reminder, we will be sending announcements for when we have 100 players, 125 players, and a full roster.

Looking forward to next season with y’all,

-Recruitment team and MGHA board

We’re happy to announce the MGHA Members have elected a new Board of Directors for 2017-2018.

Specific roles and responsibilities will be announced over the summer, but here’s the folks in charge!

• Amanda Thornton
• k8 walton
• Matthew Dorris
• Randi “Viking Princess” Hagen
• Sara Colopy
• Shelly Kennedy
• Tim Tender

Many thanks for the service of outgoing Boardo’s – Brian Bischel, Nichole Whetter, and Christina Libs.

Next up – a league-wide survey will be sent to all players to collect feedback on the past year and help the new Board make improvements for next year.

Thanks,
The 2016/2017 MGHA Board of Directors