ice bills

[DMom]

just curious how other associations deal with an "odd" number of players.
If you fill up the A and B teams (to 17) are you left with 13 or 14 on the C teams or do you fill the teams and cut kids? We have parents at the B2 and C level complaining about ice bills because there aren't 17 kids on the team, but even more parents would complain if the A and B teams were held to 15 or less and, cutting kids has never been, and I don't believe should be, an option

[hiptzech]

just curious how other associations deal with an "odd" number of players.
If you fill up the A and B teams (to 17) are you left with 13 or 14 on the C teams or do you fill the teams and cut kids? We have parents at the B2 and C level complaining about ice bills because there aren't 17 kids on the team, but even more parents would complain if the A and B teams were held to 15 or less and, cutting kids has never been, and I don't believe should be, an option

Typical problem with parents. Tell them there is no return on the investment. The $25 difference should be considered a donation to the association.

[Marty McSorely]

How about a flat registration fee and then breakout traveling and house fees based upon the number of hours skated each week. Simply only budget for 13 kids on a B2 or C team and give them less ice. Or add anther sponsor to those teams.

[hockey234]

I think every hockey parent is fully aware of the fact that hockey is NOT a cheap sport. Get a grip or quit.

[O-townClown]

The kids on the team with fewer players actually get more ice time during games. Isn't that a good thing?

[tomASS]

I worry about heating bills more than I do ice bills.

Dmom - Otown makes a solid point. It all washes out in the long term and very few associations are out trying make the cost unfair.

Most try to project and budget out like Marty says because of the need to commit to ice and buy it early.

[DMom]

O town, I agree, nobody in the stands complaining about short shifts on those teams. We have heard of a proposal to have all team members at each level pay the same amount.....obviously that wasn't well thought out because their ice bills would be higher if they pay a portion of the A bill (flat registration fee, all ice billed by the sheet or half sheet used).

I think this new complaint comes from all parents wanting to be competitive in hockey now. It used to be that C team players were playing for fun and the love of hockey and they didn't want the additional commitment that comes with the A and B teams. Now we have C players who play hockey in the summer (AAA too) and expect more than "somebody's Dad" for a coach (not my words). Is the answer more B teams, and less C teams? that takes more ice time, at this time of the year ice is at a premium. Suggesting that they take as many outside ice slots as they can, is taken as an insult......

Sometimes I guess you just have to walk away, BUT I am still hoping someone suggests a miracle that will make all hockey parents happy

[tomASS]

BUT I am still hoping someone suggests a miracle that will make all hockey parents happy

Not in anyone's lifetime, but a nice thought.

[sorno82]

BUT I am still hoping someone suggests a miracle that will make all hockey parents happy

Not in anyone's lifetime, but a nice thought.

Simple-just ask if your kid is having fun. If they are, sit back and enjoy the moment. The kids fun factor seems to be inversely proportional to the parents angst factor.

[tomASS]

BUT I am still hoping someone suggests a miracle that will make all hockey parents happy

Not in anyone's lifetime, but a nice thought.

Simple-just ask if your kid is having fun. If they are, sit back and enjoy the moment. The kids fun factor seems to be inversely proportional to the parents angst factor.

nice sentiment and right approach. I know many on the "bored" believe and implement that strategy, but her comment was "all" and you know there will always be those pockets and certain factions that do not get it and have a logic chip problem.

[O-townClown]

Mom, you won't be able to make all parents happy no matter what you choose because of the divergent expectations.

Some parents want their kid to have another activity and view hockey like piano lessons or tae kwon do.

Some parents are concerned about the cost of participating while others don't really care how much it runs.

Some parents really want their children to achieve successes in athletics.

Some kids really want to take it seriously and their parents feel obligated to facilitate this.

What is fair? It depends how you define fair. And fair is usually viewed by at least some parents as, "what I want."

Don't even try to please everyone because you can't. The best you can hope for is to validate their feelings so they know they've been heard and explain the policy - how it came to be and what other alternatives were considered.

What is the gripe? Is it really about the money or is it about playing on a lower level team or is it about not having as many hours of ice? Hard to tell because frustration over one could be referred to another and what comes out of their mouth may not be exactly how they feel.

You're dreaming if you think there is a magic elixir. That said, one hopes that you can reason with adults and at least bring them to share your views.

[bigpoppababy]

Imagine this:

- Parents pay a one time registration fee. Example Peewees $135 a year.
-$250 cap on family registration.
- Parents pay a $200 deposit that is returned at the end of the year if volunteer hours are completed.
- Rent equipment for $20 a year.
- Parents are responsible for signing up for timekeeper, penalty box, concessions, making ice, etc and getting points for them. Only needing 20 pts to receive their deposit back. Example: Penalty box-2pts.

Is it possible?

[Air Force 1]

Imagine this:

- Parents pay a one time registration fee. Example Peewees $135 a year.
-$250 cap on family registration.
- Parents pay a $200 deposit that is returned at the end of the year if volunteer hours are completed.
- Rent equipment for $20 a year.
- Parents are responsible for signing up for timekeeper, penalty box, concessions, making ice, etc and getting points for them. Only needing 20 pts to receive their deposit back. Example: Penalty box-2pts.

Is it possible?

Yes it is

Our fees are:
- Blue Line Club membership (optional) $35
- $275 for my Pee Wee ($50 more if not a BLC member) and $150 for my Squirt (also $50 more if not BLC member), or a $525 family cap ($625 if not a BLC member), plus USA hockey fee/insurance
- No equipment rental, but we must pay $20 for home and away leggings that are ours to keep at season end. If you need goalie pads or something like that, you write a $100 check and that is returned to you when you turn the gear back in
- No deposit for volunteering
- Must work 3 of our own games per player either in the concession stand or in the box doing clock, stats or penalty box doors, I have two players so we are responsible for 6 slots
- Must work 3 home boys or girls varsity games per player in the concession stand so again, I have two players so we must work 6 slots in during the season
- If we host a tournament, we fill all positions plus tickets/greeter, our family had to work 5 slots during our recent home tourney
- Arena staff take care of all ice maintenance

This is a City Park Board program, the city owns the two rinks and schedules the practices and games for both the high school and youth hockey programs as well as the figure skating program. We also have open hockey sessions for each level on a two week cycle. Sometimes we need more ice and have to rent from another town and the Blue Line Club picks up the tab on that. The BLC also pays for all uniforms, referees, and tournament fees.


We also have a spring raffle and currently are selling cookbooks to raise funds to put artificial ice in our third rink, we have been running it as a natural ice facility for the past two years since we got the building set up. That project will cost us about $350,000 because we have a generous community and we are getting a lot of donated labor and machine work.

We get by but we could always use more ice and we will have it later this spring when the floor goes back in the third arena.
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[My_Kid_Loves_Hockey]

Do you get people to fill your slots for all the items you mentioned? If you do, congratulations on having an association that is involved!

We(northwest metro, D5 association) do not get that much involvement, I forget what the volunteer $ is(coaches/board get it returned), but I am pretty confident that at least 1/3 get cashed because they do not even attempt to fill their hours. That leaves the few to fill in for the many who don't do their part........pretty sad.

[Air Force 1]

Yeah, for the most part we do. It sucks to be a parent rep because they truly have the hardest job, they have to beat the bushes to find the bodies to fill those slots because NOT filling them is NOT an option. I'm not going to blow smoke, we do have parents that do not do anything at all, and we have some that only participate when put on the spot, but we are at 80-90% compliance. If there is an empty slot (which isn't often) or someone ends up not being able to show up due to work, I've seen grandparents of that player jump in or other parents and the parent that wasn't able to show up makes up the shift.

My favorites are taking stats and penalty box doors and I also make a pretty mean taco in a bag!

Anyone want to buy a cookbook? $10 ea

[goldy313]

You complain about a couple of kids.....

How about this, $300 to sign up for PeeWees, the traveling teams paid an extra $50, but they were in districts and went to at least 3 tournaments. The traveling teams had 15-17 kids on a team, practiced by themselves, and had 3-4 hours of ice a week. The house kids paid $300, had 18-20 kids on a team and had to share ice, only had ice twice a week 1 was usually late on a Friday, they had 1 tournament, in town in which they made up 4 of the 8 teams.

That was the last year my youngest son played, the fee might have been a little less, but it was only $50 less than the A teams. Then the powers that be wondered why all the kids quit and their retention is so poor.

[DMom]

ouch... that last one hurts. BUT would you rather have had 13 skaters with 4 mites moved up for two squirt c teams? can't you book your own tournaments? have a fundraiser and book an extra tournament or two. Sometimes there't just no one to do it for you.