Just like in the NHL, the NCHL opens its freeagency registration on July 1st 2010.
Last summer we registered over 170 freeagents and all but 10 have found a place to play that season.
If you want to play this winter but your team has either folded because not everyone plays the game we all love year around or you are just looking for a new team to play for, dip into Freeagency and keep enjoying the best game you can name this winter.
As promised the complete information package is now available online about the next winter season.
Please review it and discuss with your team account manager if you have any questions. Alternatively you can register your team right away by clicking Register My Team menu option above.
To access the pricing page you will need to request a password and if you do not yet have a team account manager, we will be happy to assign one to you once you have requested the password.
Summer just got underway this week and already we are being asked about the details for winter 2010-11 season. Complete information including all options and pricing will be released on Tuesday June 1st here on http://info.nchl.com
We will be offering the same options as we did last year, Home Ice Prime, Home Ice and Regular. In addition to that we will offer a limited number of Regular prime schedules. More information on that will be available later.
“NCHL – A Better way to play”
The Pirates Hockey Club is one of many club teams playing in the NCHL. In April of 2010 they became champions of their division.
The NCHL is now offering a new club team credit – $200 off team registration to new club teams registering after April 15th. Your team must be affiliated with another team that is already playing in the league in order to qualify for this credit. Only new club teams can receive this credit. Existing club teams are not eligible for this promotion.
This credit expires May 15th. The credit can not be combined with another offer.
Club – “A group of people organized for a common purpose, especially a group that meets regularly”
What is a club team?
A club is a collection of affiliated teams. The NCHL has many hockey clubs, the Sun Hounds, Demons, Eagles, Hosers and several others.
A club has these key benefits:
- Play twice a week, once with your buddies on a lower team and once with better players
- Calling spares becomes redundant
- Use your rosters on both teams to make sure you have enough players for the game
- No need to collect cash from spares as each player is already paid
- Share the same jerseys so you always look like a team even with spares out
- Qualifying for playoffs becomes easier
- Each game on the bottom team counts as 1/2 game on the top team
- A player with 20 games on the bottom teams auto-qualifies for the top team
- Save money – $200 New Club Team credit is available (expires August 10th)
The idea of a hockey club is not new and it addresses several issues that can bubble up during a hockey season. Most of the time a hockey team would start of with 3-4 groups of friends that make up the core of the team. If it gels well and guys like each others’ company other players want to join the team. This creates a “good” problem for the GM, too many players not enough roster spots. Instead of rejecting these potential team members the GM can form a second team to be part of the club.
Secondly each team consists of players of different skill levels and ages which may create a rift. Better players want to play better hockey and lesser players want to have fun and player hockey at their level. Sometimes teams like this fold and are reborn as two separate teams. Wouldn’t it be more fun to have two affiliate teams in the club where you get to play with your buddies on a lower team, encourage and help them get better while at the same time play on a better team in a higher division with similarly skilled players?
A typical team consists of 16 full time roster players that pay their dues, however as soon as there are 22 players that wish to play on the same team a club is possible. If a club has 10 core players that play on both teams and 6 players who play only on a higher or lower team a club is born. Of course the more interested players you have the easier it is to form a club. It also helps to know that more than half of players in the league want to play twice a week or more.
“NCHL – A Better way to play”
As of today more than 70 teams have taken advantage of the DirectPay system and why not, when you can collect money in your sleep from your players. We are the only organization to offer this service to players.
Many of you have asked us when you get to pick your schedule for the summer 2010 season.
Here is the short answer:
The schedules will be available for selection 1 to 2 weeks before the start of the season (May 1st this year).
Why are we not able to do this sooner?
Creating schedules is a complex task, it requires securing enough ice from the various arenas, divide it into north and south conferences and finally creating schedules for each division and potential teams. One of the main reasons why we are not able to release schedule selections sooner is because we do not know the specific ice we are getting from each arena until the first or second week of April, in some cases.
When creating schedules we want to make sure that all available ice we can get is incorporated into the mix. Otherwise what can happen is this. We get a good ice slot or series of ice slots in April but if the schedule is already circulated to teams for ranking it becomes very difficult to change these schedules after the fact and your team misses out on better ice that was not available before April.
Once we have created the schedules they are circulated to each team and you have about 2 days to return it to us with your preferences. Then based on when you registered your team (provided deposit) we will assign one of your schedule selections. The ranking works in the same order we receive deposits, the sooner you have the deposit in the more likely you are to get your first pick of the schedule and so on.
Congratulations to team Canada on another Olympic gold medal, first on home soil.
Now that the Olympics are over, sad as it is, the dream does not have to die here. Freeagent frenzy starts today, March 1st, 2010.
Last summer we registered over 100 players as freeagents and all but three have found a place to play that season.
If you want to play this summer but your team has either folded because not everyone plays the game we all love year around or you are just looking for a new team to play for dip into Freeagency and keep enjoying the best game you can name this summer.
GO Canada GO!
In our effort to ease the process of player registration we have moved the player waiver & contract form online. No more paper waivers are required. Each player in the league must fill out a waiver form online before he/she is allowed to step on the ice. The new form is available at http://www.registration.nchl.com