AMHA Spring 2020 Newsletter

AMHA Office Update Due to the current CoronaVirus, and the recommendation for social distancing, the AMHA office has been closed. The AMHA staff have moved their offices to their homes and are still available Monday to Friday, to answer any questions. You can call the office number, 403-912-2680 and choose which staff member you would like to speak to and your call will be forwarded to their cell phone. You can also check the AMHA website for any new updates at www.airdriehockey.com.

2020 - 2021 Season Changes

Hockey Canada Division Titles
Hockey Canada has changed the division names to age related names like U7 etc. Below is a link to all of the new Division Titles. https://www.hockeyalberta.ca/news/112019/hockey-canada-announces-change-age-division-names-1077/

U11 (Atom) Pathway
Hockey Alberta has created a new document describing the new U11(Atom) Pathway model. The link below will take you to the document. https://www.hockeyalberta.ca/players/u11-pathway/

Prep Skates
In order to follow the Intro to Hockey Model for U7-Initiation and U9-Novice and the U11-Atom Pathway, AMHA will be providing 4 Prep Skates for each player in the above divisions. These prep skates will take place in August and will be included in the cost of registration. We will release the specific dates and times once they are finalized, but they are tentatively scheduled for August 28,29,30 and 31. The Monday and Tuesday sessions will be daytime hours between 8:00 am and 4:00 PM, so please plan accordingly.

Pee Wee to Midget players will still be able to register for our regular Conditioning Camps, but we will be renaming these camps “Prep Camps”.

New Teams
SCAHL U16-Midget AA 15 Team - AMHA is in discussions to be the host association for a SCAHL U16 Midget AA all 15-year-old team. Please stay tuned for more information.

CAHL U16-Midget 15 Team - AMHA is currently planning to have a CAHL U16 Midget 15 team, subject to registration numbers.

Power Skating
AMHA is currently looking into providing power skating to U9-Novice City and U11-Atom City teams. Please stay tuned for more information.

Player Development
AMHA is currently seeking out RFQ’s for a player development provider(s). AMHA has budgeted in player development sessions for U9-Novice to U18-Midget Travel, Female and AA teams. Please stay tuned for more information.

Extra AA Practices and Pee Wee AA News
Hockey Alberta has given AMHA permission to have just one Pee Wee AA team for the 2020-2021 hockey season. In addition to the regular 2 practices per week for AA teams, AMHA will be adding the following practices. U13-Pee Wee AA - one additional 1.5 hour shared practice every 2 nd Wednesday and additional Friday practices when game schedules permit.

U15-Bantam AA, U18-Midget AA, U18-Midget AA Female, U16-Midget AA 15(if we are the host team) - one additional, 1-hour Monday practice once per month and additional Friday practices when game schedules permit.

U15-Bantam City
U15-Bantam City teams will go down to one practice per week. U15-Bantam City teams will be contacted first when ice is available for free or purchase.

Dryland
AMHA will provide teams with approved dryland vendors. It will be up to the teams to schedule their own dryland and to fundraise or collect funds via cash calls to pay for their teams dryland sessions.

Recreation
Will move from Fridays to Sundays.

Novice
AMHA is currently discussing options to have game sharing weekends with other Minor Hockey associations for some of our Novice teams.

Registration Deadlines
AMHA plans to open Registration June 01, 2020 for all existing members.

The deadline to register for existing members is July 31st , 2020, NO EXCEPTIONS. If you are an existing member and you do not meet the registration deadline of July 31st, 2020, you will be placed on a wait list. Being put on the waitlist will mean that your player may not have the opportunity to try out for the team that they would like and will only be placed on a team where we have space.

If your family uses any fees from groups like Kidsport, Jumpstart or Lace Em Up, it will be very important to contact the office regarding your child's registration before July 31st.

If you are experiencing financial hardships due to the CoronaVirus pandemic, which may result in issues with registering and paying at this time, we encourage you to call the office prior to July 31st, 2020.

New members, U7 Initiation and U9 Novice will be allowed to register past the July 31 st , 2020 deadline.

Registration Payments
Our new payment schedule allows you to register with a smaller fee, allowing you to keep your money until closer to the start of hockey season.

When you initially register your player, you will be charged a $75.00 non refundable fee as well as any Elite (AAA, AA) level Tryout Fees or any Conditioning Camp/Prep Skate fees that you select to participate in. You will choose the “pay in full option” now or due on August 1, 2020 or choose the “3 payment option” with payments due August 1st, September 1st and October 1st, 2020 and this amount will be based on the City fee for your division. If your player makes AA or Travel, your family will receive a link to register and pay for the remaining fees for that team due on November 1.

We will have more detailed information closer to the time of registration online but if you have questions, please call the office.

Registration Changes
AMHA will be changing the way we ask you to register for AAA. For AMHA members you will need to register in two registration sites. One for the AAA Camps and Tryouts and the fees that apply and the other will be for AA or Competitive and the fees that apply, in the AMHA Registration Site. For Out of AMHA Boundary Elite Draw zone players, you will just register in our AAA Registration. AMHA members please make sure you register in both registration sites. If you have questions please call the office.

AMHA First Annual Coach Symposium
AMHA will be hosting our first annual Coach Symposium on September 11-13. Please mark your calendars if you intend to be a head coach or assistant coach.

We are working on having a Friday night social, vendors, and a weekend of Hockey Canada Clinics, Specialty Clinics and sessions including “conflict resolution”, “anti-bullying” and “invitation to female coaches”.

When you register your player please indicate your desire to coach or assistant coach so we can send you further information and registration information about the Coach Symposium.

New for AMHA Team Managers
AMHA currently uses One Click Ice Scheduling Software and we are happy to announce that we will be using the One Click Ice Trading Tool for our team managers to easily view their ice schedules, look for available ice, give away ice and trade ice with other teams. Training for the One Click Trading Tool will be offered at the managers meetings in the Fall.

Airdrie Hockey Life Magazine
We have been working hard to create this season's Airdrie Hockey Life Magazine. The magazine will be ready in May, and we will share a link to the online version to our members at that time. For those members who will not be returning to AMHA, we will have hard copies available for pick up at the AMHA office. For all other members the hard copy of the Magazine will be handed out at the Jersey Pick up night in October.

Airdrie Minor Hockey’s Annual General Meeting and Board Elections
AMHA is in the process of planning our first ever Virtual Annual General Meeting on May 20th. We will be sending out information via email to our members as well as posting to our website and social media.

If you are interested in becoming a board member, please watch the website for more information on how to express your interest.

Thanks for being a part of the AMHA Family, stay safe and healthy and we look forward to seeing you soon.