ANNUAL REPORT
POTOMAC VALLEY AMATEUR HOCKEY ASSOCIATION
JUNE 2008
Player Registration
As of May 22, 2008 Affiliate player registration was up by 550 players over registration figures from May 22, 2007. The total number of players registered within the Affiliate as of May 22, 2008 was 13,791. This represents a 4% increase over player registration totals from May 22, 2007 (13,241). Registration for the 2007/08 season continues through the summer and the Affiliate registration numbers will increase.
There is good news and bad news in the increase in Affiliate registration numbers. The Affiliate Adult registration was up by 888 over the registration numbers for the same time period in the 2006/07 season. Total youth registration was down over the registration numbers for the same period from last season. The Affiliate registration numbers for the 7-8 year old age bracket were up by 92 players over registration numbers for the same period from the 2006/07 season. Hopefully the Affiliate can continue to increase registration numbers at the base for long term growth of hockey within the Affiliate.
Online registration was heavily used for player registration within the Affiliate and we will continue to encourage 100% online registration
Background Screening
Chris Dernetz has taken over responsibility for the Affiliate Background Check Program for coaches. The cost for background checks for coaches is paid by the Affiliate. A listing of coaches who have completed a background check is posted on the Affiliate Web page – www.pvaha.org. The Southeastern District has also initiated a screening program for referees.
Ice Rinks
Two additional skating facilities opened during the 2007/08 season. The McMullen Hockey Arena http://www.usna.edu/NavyHockey/NavyHockeyMainPage.htm in Annapolis is the new home of the United States Naval Academy program, and the Navy Youth Hockey program. The Reisterstown Sportsplex also opened during the year. This facility is approximately 25 miles northwest of Baltimore. http://rtownsports.com/index.htm.
Tournaments
The Carolina Affiliate hosted the Tier I and Tier II District Tournament. The Virginia Wild team won the Tier II Midget 18U District Tournament and Team Maryland teams won the Tier I 12U, 16U and 18U District Tournament. Those teams all advanced to the USA Hockey National Championship Tournament.
The Florida Affiliate hosted the Southeastern District Girls/Women’s Tournament. The Montgomery Girls 14U team and the Washington Pride 19U teams won their age levels at the District Tournament and advanced to the USA Hockey National Tournament. There was no District Tournament at Girls 16U and the Maryland Monarchs advanced to the National Tournament after winning the Affiliate playoff. The Chesapeake Bay Lightning and the Baltimore Blizzard represented the Affiliate at the Women’s B and Women’s C District Tournament. The Cheaspeake Bay Lightning also participated in the USA Hockey National Championship at Women’s Senior B since the District was allowed to send 2 teams at that level.
2009 District Tournaments
Our Affiliate will host the Girls/Women’s Southeastern District Tournament in March 2009.
High School Hockey
The majority of High School teams played in the Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey League and the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League. Several private high school programs pulled out of the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League prior to the start of the 2007/08 season and formed the Mid Atlantic Prep Hockey League. The teams playing in the Mid Atlantic Prep League followed National Federation Rules and were not USA Hockey programs for the 2007/08 season. Many of the players who played for schools in the MAPHL also played for USA Hockey registered club programs so total registration loss as a result of the formation of this new non USA Hockey league was probably limited. The Washington Post honored Washington area high school hockey players in a winter sports edition featuring photographs of the First Team All Met Hockey Team in the newspaper.
Tier II Youth
A total of 185 youth tier II teams and girls teams participated in CBHL league play during the 2007-2008 season. Final League standings for 2007/08 are available at www.cbhl.org. The Girls Division of the CBHL continues to grow. The CBHL added an additional club from north of Baltimore – Harford. The growth of teams continues, with major groups of teams at Pee Wee and Bantam.
Affiliate rule changes at Tier I has improved both the quality of Tier II hockey, and has fostered a “team” approach to promoting our better players. There is now more support in Maryland and Virginia for their respective Tier I programs.
A few years ago, the CBHL worked on improving sportsmanlike conduct via tough suspensions for fighting, and quick, fair and meaningful disciplinary hearings to address unsportsmanlike conduct. It has taken a few seasons, but the league believes the message is getting through. Last season saw a major reduction in Match penalties – the majority of which were “kicking” incident related. Non-kicking related Match penalties significantly dropped. The league is calling more Supplemental Disciplinary Hearings for those reported incidents or penalties that appear to justify discussion with the offender and in many cases supplemental suspensions have been assessed.
The CBHL will continue to conduct pre-season team placement jamborees this season. The placement jamborees have been instrumental in ensuring that league teams are more equally matched. This season, playoff seeding for 17 of the 19 divisions where decided on the last weekend of the season. Of those 17, there was a dramatic increase in the use of the placement tie-breaker rules. Two of those tiebreakers were determined by the league third level tiebreaker rule. The balance of divisional competition was also reflected in league playoffs where many games went to overtime and shootouts to determine the winner.
The CBHL is also blessed by the SE District Tournament structure. This structure permits two affiliate teams to be represented – determined by the First Place champion and playoff champion (or runner-up if it is the same team). This has helped with quality of play since it permits a team who is “middle of the road” in their division to improve to make playoffs and continue that improvement into the playoffs. The result is many teams are now willing to “play up” a level and improve their game, instead of taking the easy road against weaker competition.
Tier I Youth
Affiliate Rules regarding Tier I hockey programs were significantly changed two years ago. The Affiliate now recognizes only 2 Tier I programs as eligible to advance to Affiliate Tier I playoffs leading to the Southeastern District Tournament. The Washington Little Capitals are located in Virginia at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex and Team Maryland is in Maryland at The Gardens Ice House and at the Rockville Blades. The Little Capitals program was not able to field teams at all age levels for the 2007/08 season, but will field a full set of teams for the 2008/09 season. The Affiliate changed its Tier I Rules during the season to authorize Tier I play at the Squirt age level.
Girls Hockey
The CBHL was able to field a 16U Girls Division this past season. There were 19 Girls teams playing in the CBHL. The CBHL Girls teams were non National Tournament Bound teams. The Affiliate also had 3 programs with National Tournament Bound teams – Montgomery/Washington Pride, Susquehanna Rapids and the Maryland Monarchs. Affiliate playoffs were held at all 4 age levels with Montgomery teams advancing to District Tournament play at 12U and 14U and the Washington Pride advancing to the District Tournament at 19U. There was no District Tournament at 16U, and the Maryland Monarchs advanced directly to the USA Hockey National Championship after a 3 team Affiliate playoff at 16U. The Montgomery 14U team and the Washington Pride 19U teams also advanced to the National Championship after winning their age division at the Southeastern District Tournament.
Seven girls from the Affiliate will be attending USA Hockey National Player Development camps this summer.
Junior Hockey
There were 9 Junior teams playing within the Affiliate during the 2007/08 season:
· Washington Junior Nationals – AJHL
· Washington Junior Capitals – Met League
· Virginia Express – 3 teams Continental Junior League
· Frederick Freeze – Continental Junior Hockey League
· Hampton Roads Junior Whalers – 3 teams (2 in Continental Junior Hockey League and 1 Independent Junior team).
The growth in the number of Junior teams within the Affiliate has likely impacted the level of play at the Midget age levels within the Affiliate.
Coaching Program
A level IV Coaching Clinic was held in the Affiliate on May 16-18, 2008. Approximately 125 of the 150+ coaches attending this clinic were from the Affiliate. During the season Ty Newberry and Scott Souter led the Affiliate CEP program with the following clinics:
· Level 1 – 9 clinics with 359 attendees
· Level 2 – 9 clinics with 292 attendees
· Level 3 – 10 clinics with 274 attendees
After many years serving as the District Coach in Chief Bob McCaig has announced that he will stepping down from that position. Bob has served the District well during his years of service and he will be hard to replace.
Referees
Referee registration for the 2007/08 season was approximately the same as during the 2006/07 season. While the total referee registration numbers were the same there was a drop at level 3 referee registrations. Referee retention continues to be an issue.
A referee training seminar was held at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex as part of the Southeastern District Player Development Festival.
Kevin Upton resigned as the Virginia Supervisor of Officials at the end of the season. Kevin served as the Virginia Supervisor of Officials for 15 years. Henry White will now serve as the Virginia Supervisor of Officials.
John Crerar Hockey Development Grants
The Affiliate revised its grant program during the year in an effort to promote the growth of hockey within the Affiliate. The Affiliate will award a number of grants to programs that offer the best plans for:
· Growing participation in recreation ice hockey
· Bringing new players age 8 and under into hockey
· Promoting the growth of Disabled Hockey within the Affiliate
· Promoting the use of cross ice at our lower levels of play
· Promoting Diversity Hockey within the Affiliate and
· Bringing new adult players who have not previously played into the sport.
Disabled Hockey
The Affiliate supported disabled hockey programs during the year making affiliate grants to Special Hockey Programs and to Sled Hockey Program. There are now 2 Sled Hockey Programs – the Bennett Blazers at IceWorld and a new sled program at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington. There were 3 Special Hockey programs within the Affiliate during the 2007/08 season – Special Hockey Washington, the Nova Cool Cats and the Montgomery Cheetahs. The Baltimore Saints is another Special Hockey program formed in Baltimore that will be active for the 2008/09 season.
On May 17th there was a clinic at the Gardens Ice House in Laurel, MD for wounded soldiers receiving treatment for injuries at area military hospitals. A news article regarding that clinic can be read at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49944
Bob Banach and Mike Hickey continue to advise the Affiliate Board on Disabled Hockey issues.
Adult Hockey
As mentioned earlier USA Hockey adult registration grew this past season and has increased over the past few seasons. A USA Hockey Adult Classics Tournament was held May 16-18, 2008 at the Gardens Ice House in Laurel. Tom Hendrix, the manager of the Gardens Ice House, will receive the USA Hockey Adult Ironman of the Year Award at the USA Hockey Annual Congress in June for his contributions to adult hockey. The Affiliate has also appointed the Tom as an adult hockey representative to the Affiliate Board. Tom will advise the Affiliate Board on increasing adult registration and on how the Affiliate can better serve the adult hockey players within the Affiliate.
Goals for 2008/09
· Promote growth of hockey at our younger age levels through the Affiliate grant program
· Encourage the growth and development of Disabled Hockey within the Affiliate
· Promote the growth of Girls hockey within the Affiliate
· Seek more input from Adult programs and representatives on how the Affiliate can better serve our Adult hockey community
· Encourage more goalie development to address the shortage of goalies at some of our Tier II age levels.
· Continue to monitor Tier I hockey and review the Tier I player geographic restrictions with the programs on an annual basis.
Submitted By:
John Coleman
President
Potomac Valley Amateur Hockey Association
Jkcole214@aol.com
703-536-3897