As our new President, Frank Toner, emailed to all NCYHA members the SNEHC is undergoing a major overhaul that will effect our late summer hockey schedule. Please take a moment to read here about some of the important changes coming for the 2014-15 season and starting mid-August!
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Message from Frank Toner:
I hope everyone is doing well and I just wanted to first introduce myself. My name is Frank Toner and am the new President of NCYHA. It may only be June, but the Board of Directors is busy at work handling some BIG changes that will be taking place next season. As most of you are aware the Southern New England Hockey Conference is undergoing a major overhaul for next season. Here are some important details that I would like to pass along.
First the league will be run privately next year for the first time, no longer will the RIAHA be in charge. The presidents from the organizations around the state voted unanimously to go in this direction. The goal of the league is to grow the number of organizations which should make it a much more competitive league in the future.
What does this mean for Newport Youth Hockey and what changes should we expect?
* The league schedule will be completed and posted for the entire year including playoffs in late August.
* League Games begin the weekend after Labor day (Sept 6th) and yes they count in the standings.
* Practices (limited) will begin in August so call-ups can be completed. We need to finalize the rosters prior to Aug 20th and also select Coaches for some teams.
* Practices in September will be at away rinks. St George's and Portsmouth Abbey are not open until October.
* Games will be mostly on the weekends and there will be "blackout dates" around the holidays.
* The top four teams from each Division will make the playoffs.
* There will be additional travel with the new teams that have joined the League. Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Lower Cape Cod, and Yarmouth Dennis. We will not have to ferry out to the Islands, but if teams are interested they are happy to host games. Personally I think that may be a great weekend outing for teams.
* Coaches that may be considering tournaments need to get dates to me ASAP so they will not schedule league games.
I expect some concerns with Fall sports given we will be in full season mode in mid September and I wanted to pass all the information I have so far. Practices will be limited in August and September, but everyone should expect to have games every weekend starting September 6th and some practices. We are working on the practice ice time now and will update the website soon.
We expect a few bumps in the road but we hope they will be minor and can be sorted out, but the future for the Southern New England Hockey Conference looks very bright.
Frank Toner
President
