TL;DR: Please read every word of this announcement as it’s all important! Also, hockey is starting!

It’s about time to get the upcoming 2021-2022 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.  Please read EVERY WORD. 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. If possible, do it all now so you don’t forget.

Hey everyone!

Even more than previous years, this season will be different and there are lots of moving parts, so please pay attention and if you run into questions along the way, email the board.

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-2021/

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 Friday, October 1. Please also know that the MGHA is committed to making hockey accessible to all members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and funds are available to provide financial assistance to players in need. To request financial assistance to help cover the cost of your league fees and/or gear, please complete our financial assistance form.  If you have any questions, please contact Gene, our treasurer, via email: treasurer@madisongayhockey.org. We’ll be happy to work with you.

ACTION: Pay your league fees at the link… https://www.madisongayhockey.org/product/2021-2022-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.  This year there are three options including must play with, would like to play with, and would not feel safe playing with. All of this is detailed in the link below. 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/

Preseason

This year, we’re offering various paths for skaters to take as part of the preseason. All of these will take place over a 7-week stretch between September 26th and November 7th. We are doing our best to give options for returning players of all skill levels while also focusing time and effort on those new to the MGHA and new to skating. At this time, you’ll only be signing up for the first 3 weeks of clinics.

The second part of the preseason will consist of skills-based scrimmage games for all players in the league. You will have a chance to sign up for scrimmages at a later date.

It’s also worth noting that we’re also striving to limit the number of attendees at each session. When you sign up, you’ll notice only 20 available roster spots for each ice slot. If, during your clinic enrollment, you run into an instance where you are stuck and unsure what to sign up for or if all slots in a particular time are full, please reach out and we’ll do our best to help. We have extra ice available, but we need to see what levels will need the ice time before offering it as an option.

NEVER SKATED BEFORE

Who: Anyone new to skating

When: 9/26 at 4:30 PM or 6:50 PM*, 10/3 and 10/10 at 4:30 PM or 6:50 PM

Description: All three weeks will be run clinic-style. During these weeks, we’ll focus on the basics of skating progressing through passing and skating with the puck. We’ll also work on shooting and positioning. There’ll be some ups and downs, but trust us… you’ll get through it! (If you don’t believe me, ask some of the skaters who started last season!)

ACTION: Sign up for a slot here… https://www.madisongayhockey.org/never-skated-before/

NEW-TO-MGHA BEGINNERS

Who: Anyone new to the MGHA that knows how to skate

When: 9/26 at 5:00 PM*, 10/3 at 5:40 PM, 10/10 at 5:40 PM

Description: All three weeks will be run clinic-style. This clinic, geared towards beginners to hockey, will focus on the fundamentals of the game at a slightly faster pace than the ‘never skated before’ group. We’ll work through skating skills, passing, skating with the puck, shooting, and positioning.

ACTION: Sign up for a slot here… https://www.madisongayhockey.org/new-to-mgha-beginners/  

RETURNING BEGINNERS

Who: Anyone who has participated in the MGHA that knows how to skate

When: 9/26 at 7:20 PM**, 10/3 at 6:10 PM, 10/10 at 5:00 PM

Description: All three weeks will be run clinic-style. This clinic, geared towards beginners to hockey, will focus on the fundamentals of the game with the assumption that the skater has played with the MGHA in the past. These clinics will focus on skating (working with edges, accelerating safely, stopping safely), stick and puck work (passing, shooting), and will feature some individual time with a number of coaches and mentors. Depending on time, scrimmages may occur as well.

ACTION: Sign up for a slot here… https://www.madisongayhockey.org/returning-beginners/

INTERMEDIATE SKATERS

Who: Anyone experienced at hockey but does not consider themselves advanced

When: 9/26 at 5:40 PM** or 8:30 PM**, 10/3 at 7:20 PM, 10/10 at 6:10 PM

Description: The first week (9/26) will offer open ice time to shake off the rust. Various coaches will be available should you need help. Halfway through, we’ll organize an informal scrimmage. The second and third weeks (10/3 and 10/10) will consist of a clinic. The clinic will run at a faster pace with the assumption that all players can comfortably skate forward, change directions, and stop. The focus will continue to be on skating in control, stickhandling, passing, shooting, and general game awareness. These sessions will be led by advanced players in our league with years of hockey experience.

ACTION: Sign up for a slot here… https://www.madisongayhockey.org/intermediate-preseason

ADVANCED SKATERS

Who: Anyone experienced at hockey that considers themselves advanced

When: 9/26 at 6:10 PM**, 10/3 at 5:00 PM, 10/10 at 7:20 PM

Description: The first week (9/26) will offer open ice time to shake off the rust. Halfway through, we’ll organize an informal scrimmage. The second week (10/3) will be run clinic-style. Led by an advanced skater in our league, this clinic is for those who can comfortably and safely maneuver around the ice, skating forward and backward with ease. Expect more advanced skills to be worked at a much faster pace. Please only consider this group if you feel you can safely participate.

ACTION: Sign up for a slot here… https://www.madisongayhockey.org/advanced-preseason/

Each ice session will last 1 hour. As we have limited 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. MGHA representatives will be around to help with the gear process.

Hockey Operations reserves the right to make changes if there is any question of safety. It’s in your best interest to choose the level that most accurately represents your current skills.

Evaluations

While evaluations will be ongoing throughout the preseason, we will also have a night dedicated to evaluations. Hockey Operations will work to give everyone a ranking and these will be used during team creation. Have no fear, though, because everybody will be placed on a team. The MGHA does not cut players!

Please keep the night of October 24th free. We’ll offer signups to allow you to pick your time at a later date.

Team Reveal

Team Reveal will be held on November 7th. There will be other activities planned for this night so be on the lookout later. All groups will have a scrimmage as well! Put this on your calendar because it’ll be a fun night!

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.  Like past seasons, Hockey Operations will work 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 November 14th and 21st.

Regular Season and Championship Night

This year, we’ll play the first game on December 5th and we’ll run through a 13-game regular season with a championship night immediately following.  The final game will be held on April 3, 2022.  We’ll give more details on how the championship works later in the season.

Regular season games will mainly take place at the following times. There will be several weeks where our schedule will shift due to tournaments at Cap Ice. We’ll have a full schedule available soon.

Rink A: 5:00 PM, 6:10 PM, 7:20 PM, 8:30 PM

Rink B: 4:30 PM, 5:40 PM, 6:50 PM

Wrap-Up

That’s about it.  I know this is a long announcement, but thank you for reading through it.  We’re doing our best to provide 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.  This is important. To get in touch with us, please email the Board or reach out to me directly.

We look forward to seeing you all on the ice soon!

Tim

(Hockey Operations Commissioner, on behalf of the MGHA Board and HOps crew)

TL;DR: 

• We are now indefinitely requiring masks for the hockey league in all areas of the ice, GOALTENDERS INCLUDED.
• Take this survey to help inform the board on the league’s thoughts on COVID-19 for our fall season.

Hey all!
We will keep this coming e-mail brief but there are two important items to cover in this e-mail.

Mask mandate: to further facilitate safety and in tandem with our vaccination requirement for all players within the league, we will be requiring masks in all spaces of the rink. This includes in the lobby, the locker room, and the ice. We understand that some goaltenders have trouble playing with a mask on the ice due to helmet fastening issues, however, given the indoor mask mandate from Dane County Public health (effective 2021-08-19), goalies will also be required to wear a mask at all times in the rink.

Survey: Last year, we used a league-wide survey to inform a number of decisions the board made last season and will be conducting a survey this season, as well. You can take the survey here. We understand that some members may wish to share their thoughts anonymously. If this is the case, please respond to an e-mail that is not linked to your MGHA account to the e-mail on the CC line (board@madisongayhockey.org). We will be evaluating this survey next week Sunday, so please take it by end of day Saturday.
Thank you all for your thoughts and respecting the updated mask mandate!The MGHA Board

As I’m sure you’ve heard around, cases are rising, and the delta variant leaves some COVID question-marks.

• As of right now, we are continuing our season as planned.  The 6 week preseason is optional, and we will be focusing on activities in smaller groups.  However we are aware of changing conditions, and the possibility that it may not be safe to return to play in a few weeks
• AS A REMINDER: VACCINES ARE REQUIRED, with exceptions for medical conditions
• We are recommending masks in rink common areas and locker rooms.  Masks on ice are optional right now, but may be mandated as conditions change
• Should a season cancellation/postponement be necessary, or if the changing COVID situation changes your personal comfort and ability to play hockey, we will work out a system to give prorated refunds of ice fees
• If you have public health and/or other COVID-relevant expertise or experience, and are willing to discuss the COVID situation with the board, please reach out, we’d love to hear from you
• We have an existing set of comprehensive COVID guidelines, and we are working on updating those guidelines to better reflect the current ever-changing landscape of the pandemic

Keep in mind that this is subject to change as conditions, regulations, and rink policies are updated.

It’s the summer time and many of us are getting the opportunity to breathe fresh air and experience the waters, see members of our hockey family for the first time in a long time, and to get excited about hockey for the upcoming season!!
If you’d like the TL;DR: 

• We’re planning on proceeding with a normal as season as possible. More info will come out in the coming months, but for the safety of the league and those around you, please get the vaccine if it is safe for you to do so! We’ll be providing more COVID-19 precautions and review structure for the upcoming season in the coming months.
• The deposit to play this year is $100 and dues will be $325 total. If you are experiencing financial hardship, please fill out a financial aid form here.
• If you’d like to play in the Fall season, deposit here! 
• Have a friend or loved one who wants to play? Have them fill out a new player application here.

Deposits and DuesThe deposit for the upcoming season is $100. To pay that and secure your spot, go to this link. If you were new with us last season (2020-2021) and paid a deposit, you are considered a returning player and able to register as a returning player even if you never got a chance to get on the ice with us

Dues for the upcoming season will be $325. The increase in cost reflects the increase in ice costs and allows for providing more financial aid for folks who need it, especially in light of the past year. We also are hoping these additional funds will also allow us additional latitude to support BIPOC organizations to meet our commitments we made last year.
Speaking of financial aid: If you are experiencing financial hardship, please fill out a financial aid form here. We’ll work with you so cost is not a barrier to you playing hockey!

Logistics and other info:We are firming up our season dates for September now and are working on ice reservations with the goal of keeping our Sunday evening hockey times. We’re this close to firming up dates and times, but will keep you all engaged over the course of this month as we finalize the dates. We will be finalizing COVID-19 precautions over the course of the summer, but you are welcome to provide feedback to the board on your expectations for the league and how we can best keep people safe. We encourage everyone to get vaccinated if it is safe for you to do so.

We will open registration for new players on July 5th, and are actively beginning recruiting in the coming weeks. If you have friends who want to play, get them excited and fill out a new player application here.

Summer ice: We’ve gotten ahold of Cap Ice for summer ice availability and are finalizing securing ice and schedule for this. High level goals are to have 2 hours of ice a week, 1 hour of skills and 1 hour of scrimmaging. Look for an announcement about summer ice in the next couple weeks.

Finally, we are excited to announce our new board of directors for this upcoming season.
The new Board of Directors:

President – Avery Cordingley

Vice President – Ian Leach

Secretary – Karoliina Bursian

Treasurer – Gene Zadzilka

Miracle Whip  – Bront Rojec

We’re excited to see everyone again soon! Get excited about hockey and take care of yourselves in the meantime.

Hello everyone! It’s that time of year again! Time to call for new members and nomination for the 2021-2022 board. Membership is the next level of involvement in the MGHA community. Members apply, get voted in, and then can vote on board members and referendums. More details below.

TL;DR: Want to be a member? Go here and apply by April 27th. You’ll need a sponsor, there is a list of current members on the page. We will confirm your application so if you don’t hear from us after 24 hours, please email board@madisongayhockey.org. Last year we noticed a few applications went missing.

Want to be a board member or know someone who should be? Send an email to board@madisongayhockey.org with “Board nomination” as the subject. Remember the nominee needs to be a member by May 16th.

Voting for new members by current members will take place online from April 29th – May 9th

Voting for board members will occur at the annual member meeting via Zoom on May 16th (tentative)
Questions? Email the board anytime and/or attend the Board/Membership 101 session on April 25th at 6:30pm – details to follow.

Longer version: For those unaware, about a month after the season ends, we have a membership season wrap-up meeting. This is where we welcome new members, elect board members, and vote on any referendums that will likely affect the coming season.   

What we are looking for: Membership Nominations for Membership! Membership application is open to anyone who has completed a season with us (no, the 2020-2021 season does not count). If you would like to become a member, you will need to have an existing member sponsor you. If you don’t know who is a member or you haven’t heard of this already, please go here: https://www.madisongayhockey.org/resources/membership/ That is the explanation of membership, the list of current members, and the form to apply, how convenient!
We will be taking membership nominations up to the end of day April 25th, so you have some time, but do it sooner rather than later! This is so members have time to vote on new members to confirm if they can be board nominees or not. Membership voting will be from April 29th to May 9th.

Board Member Nomination Second, we are looking for Board Member nominations! If you’d like to nominate someone other than yourself, please do so by April 25th. This will allow nominees some time to consider and accept or decline.  Please note, you MAY nominate yourself. If you are currently not a member or the person you are nominating is not, that is okay, just note that you/they must be voted in as a member first to be considered for the Board (ie, fill out the membership application form above).   Please submit your nominations via email to the Board with the subject “Board Nomination.” We will inform nominees and if they wish to accept, they can submit a written statement to be placed on the website. Nominations are allowed up to and including the member meeting.

Voting Membership voting will be done as usual through the website by current members from April 29th-May 9th.
Board member voting will be done in person remotely at the End of Season Meeting. This is tentatively May 16th remotely. A confirmation of this will follow as well as reminders of voting and the meeting. With the current pandemic, attending the remote meeting will need to suffice as “in-person” for purposes of voting for the board.
Accepted new members and the board nominees (if they accepted the nomination) will be placed on the website on the 9th of May. Listed board nominees will only be posted if they were accepted as a member. Please review their statement on the website and be prepared before the meeting. The goal here is to remove the nomination/discussion piece that elongates the end-of-season meeting and has been a source of discomfort in the past. This removes some of the social engineering and allows for more careful consideration of all nominees. We will still permit in meeting nominations to the board. We will still permit a short speech by each nominee if they wish to have the floor (the Whip will keep this on a time limit equal to all). This structure may of course be discussed at the meeting during open floor discussion.

Looking at the growth in cases over the last few months together with Dane County Order 10 and the spike in cases that prompted it, we will be postponing our 2020-2021 season indefinitely and suspending on-ice activities until the attached Return to Play Guidelines and conditions can be met in Dane County. Thank you for your support and patience with this process as we try to find what is best for the league, the health and safety of our hockey family is our top priority. 

While this may feel like crap news, it is with hopeful hearts that we publish this document in that it presents a path to getting back on the ice together safely in the future. The most recent hint of baseline conditions (19 or fewer daily cases) was this past June, so it is not impossible! We will play again!

Please see our Covid Updates page for more information.

First, we’d like to thank you for filling out the survey, coming to our town hall, and sending us feedback as we work through what has been one of the hardest decisions to make as an organization. In coming to a decision as to whether to have a season start in September, we evaluated survey feedback, town hall feedback, Dane County metrics and USA Hockey guidelines, and, as always, our mission of being an inclusive, intersectional, and community-driven organization.

We are postponing any form of games until, at minimum, January. We are exploring the possibility for some level of on-ice, socially distant activities starting in November, and will be providing you with an update by October 1st if these activities will occur.

We know that this decision likely comes with a mixture of feelings – sadness for the season being postponed, anger that the coronavirus has taken our hockey time away from us, and relief that we can make sure we keep our community safe in the midst of this pandemic. We feel many of these things with you, and are here to support you along with the rest of our hockey community. 

This league has always been more than just playing hockey; our goal from the start has been to create an intersectional community in support of our shared, common identities to bring us all together. Although hockey may not be happening, we are staying true to our mission. In the coming weeks, we will be creating a format for you to create virtual events to share with the whole league, titled “Living Room Lives.” Anyone can host these events, and we’re hoping to kick off a grand unveiling by the middle of August. Interested in being a part of the social squad? We need your help! Reply to this email, and we’ll be in touch.

We know there has been much interest for socially-distant dryland events. For the safety of those in our league, we are only sanctioning virtual events as an organization for the foreseeable future. Of course, this does not prevent you from meeting up as individuals to do socially-distant activities. For all social events, including our “Living Room Live” events, we will ask that you have a virtual format that is accessible to those in the league.

Although this decision has been tough, we have been truly inspired by the passion in our league and the thought and interest the community has had for our favorite sport. Please be well, check in on your hockey family, and stay healthy.

In solidarity,
The MGHA Board