House League News

Body Checking removed from NMHA House League Hockey 2012-2013 Season

There has been much debate on the topic of House league hockey offering Body checking levels. After much discussion the NMHA board of directors has made the decision at the November board meeting to remove Body Checking from all levels of house league hockey within the NMHA for the upcoming season, 2012-2013. With more and more associations moving to the non body checking structure in House League the NMHA determined that in the best interest of our players no body contact division will be offered next season, each level will be non body checking, Peewee-Midget.

Non Body Checking Request

Peewee - Bantam - Midget Players Only

This is only to be completed by players wanting to be on a Non Body Checking team.

Click here to complete request

House League Sort Outs

Novice through to Bantam sort out dates begin September 10th through to September 25th

Midget sort out dates begin September 20th through to October 4th

Your divisional director will notify you via email. If you have not received notification 2-3 days prior to the start of the initial sort out date list above, please contact them for your scheduled time.

Volunteers are needed to assist with sort out process; if you are a student looking for volunteer hours this is the perfect opportunity.

Student volunteers please contact nikki.lothian@avnet.com. Please specify if you are looking for on ice hours or off ice hours.

Volunteers for sort outs and bench staff please contact your divisional director

Sort out Volunteers are required for the following

On Ice Helpers
Registration Desk
Player Evaluators
Bench volunteers
Trainer

Team Volunteers If you are interested in volunteering for the following Bench staff positions:

Head Coach
Assistant coach
Trainer
Manager

Please forward your name to your divisional Director. Coach Selection is not made until after the sort out process.

Sort out Registration Information

Players are to arrive at the rink 45 minutes prior to their set time in order to be registered and assigned a specific pinny for that specific sort out time. These are to be returned after each sort out session.
Full Equipment is required as Players will be on the ice for these sessions.
Players without complete equipment (including mouth guard or neck guard) will not be permitted on the ice and will not be evaluated until they have the proper equipment present.
Please only attend the time given to you by you Director during the sort out process.
Player/Goalie Shared position. if you want your child to play both positions (player/goalie) they will need to attend both skill set evaluations. Please contact your director if your child would like to play both positions, full time goalies will only need to attend the goalie only sessions but it is recommended that they attend both. (Bantam and Midget are not permitted to have Player/Goalie shared position).
Misplaced or not returned your registered pinnies you will be billed $5.00 at the end of the sort out process.
Scrimmage teams are not set teams but assigned teams to assist in evaluating players.

Novice / Atom House League Sort out Process

Novice and Atom House league division begin their sort outs with skill set drills.
The following weekend begins sort our scrimmage games, parents will be contacted with their Sort out scrimmage time and arena via email 2-3 days prior to the following weekend.
Scrimmage teams are not set teams but assigned teams to assist in evaluating players.

Peewee / Midget Sort out process

Peewee-Midget sort out process consists of three scrimmage games.
Players will be contacted via email with their specific sort out scrimmage team information.
Scrimmage teams will change each weekend.
Scrimmage teams are not set teams but assigned teams to assist in evaluating players.

Player movement during sort outs/team balancing

During the sort out process there will be much player movement. This is not your set team for the season so except much movement over the next 3-4 weeks. House League teams are not set until picture day. If the player has been given a game sweater it is to be returned to Head Coach before the next session. Missing or damaged jerseys will cost you $250

Helmet Regulation

Hockey Canada, our national governing body, has a safety rule for all on-ice people.

Approved helmets are mandatory!

Coaches, assistant coaches, trainers, managers, and any parent volunteers must wear a CSA-approved hockey helmet and it must be fastened correctly. There are no exceptions to this rule.

First Offence - Any on-ice participant found to be in violation of this regulation will be given a warning by a person in authority. This warning may be verbal or written, and shall be reported to the District Chairperson.
Second Offence - An automatic suspension from all hockey activities until a formal hearing is held by the District’s Discipline and Appeals Committee.
Third Offence - An automatic suspension from all hockey activities until a formal hearing is held by the ODMHA Discipline and Appeals Committee.

House League Photographer

The NMHA is accepting bids for a House league Photographer for the 2011-2012 season. The House league photographer would be responsible for approximately 135-140 teams. We are looking for a professional photographer who is available to organize team photos , individual player photos as well provide sponsor plaques.

Please submit bids not later than July 18th to Nikki Lothian.

Interviews will begin the week of July 25th.

2011-2012 House League News - Body Checking-Non Body checking divisions in Bantam and Midget

For the 2011-2012 season Bantam and Midget will no longer have a non checking division at the B level. B level division will be body checking and non body checking will only be offered at the C level. Players will proceed with the sort out process for division placement.

Please note players still need to be evaluated to be suitable for body checking division prior to placement in a checking division, even if a checking division is requested.

Players wishing to participate in our non checking division are to advise their divisional directors prior to the sort out process.

Any questions or concerns with the regards to Non body checking or checking teams please contact Nikki Lothian (613-723-7183) directly.

2011-2012 House League News - Kanata Interlock

Currently Novice/Atom/Peewee/Bantam interlock with Kanata at the A level, this will continue next season with the addition of Midget A participating in the interlock.

2011-2012 season Peewee, Bantam and Midget developmental level (C) will be interlocked with Kanata.

Nepean Teams Shine at Big Thaw Tournament March 4-6!

On the weekend of March 4th to 6th, Nepean House A teams traveled to Rochester for the Big Thaw tournament and had tremendous success. Nepean teams advanced to the Big Thaw tournament finals in all 4 divisions, playing other Ottawa area teams in the Championship games. Congratulations to the following Nepean teams for their outstanding performances:

Atom A:
Champions: Nepean Warriors (coach Brad Lindahl)
Finalists: Nepean Ice Devils (coach Greg Wallace)

Peewee A:
Champions: Stittsville Rams
Finalists: Nepean Aces (Doug Mirau)

Bantam A:
Champions: Nepean Grenades (coach Jerry Komaksiutiksak)
Finalist: Stittsville Rams

Midget A:
Champions: Blackburn Stingers
Finalists: Nepean Extreme (coach Bob Swan)

Well done Nepean!

House League Camps and Clinics

Below are applications for several camps and clinics. Act now as registration is on now.

Nepean Dynomite Shines at Sens Skills Competition

Mike and Desmond Desmond Yeung and Michael Van Gool represented the Peewee A Nepean Dynomite at the recent Sens Skills Competition held at Scotiabank Place on February 21st. They had the opportunity to skate with the Senators' players and compete against the other house and competitive league winners of the recent shootout competition. They were both on the white team, "Team Alfie". Their teammates included Craig Anderson, Jason Spezza, Nick Foligno, Alex Kovalev and Chris Campoli.

Desmond won the accuracy shooting competition by taking out 3 of the 4 targets:

Michael stoned all 5 of the "Team Phillips" shooters that came at him in the breakaway challenge to win more points for his team:

Nice work Boys!

House League Body Checking Information - Bantam/Midget

Based on your feedback, we are excited to announce that this upcoming season 2010-2011 at the house league level we will introduce a division of non-body checking at the B level for Bantam and Midget. Bantam and Midget will consist of the following divisions:

A level
B level body checking
B level non body checking
Non contact divisions

(September 26 update) Note from the House League Chair:

Last season Bantam and Midget were both body checking at the B level. As more organizations move to non body checking Nepean sent out a questionnaire to the Peewee, Bantam and Midget players to determine the interest of Non body checking teams at the B level for Bantam and Midget, the response to this inquiry was overwhelming. 62% of the people polled want to see the number of contact teams at the B level decreases in order to create a division of non body checking teams. Nepean Executives made the decision to create a Non Body checking division within Midget and Bantam, hence setting up a 6 team division in order to avoid interlocking with another association as was the request from our members. I later sent out a request asking players to indicate which division would be their preference, in no way this meant that a players request over ruled the process of the evaluations. A player was not placed on a body checking team because they indicated this is what they preferred, this was to help in placing players where they are best suited. With regards to the Body checking teams, every player must meet the appropriate skill set in order to be placed on these teams, such as the Non body checking at the B level. Unfortunately not all players get to play where they want to play, with approximately 400 players within the bantam division we need to make the process for everyone fair and objective. Please keep in mind that a player moving up a division is not a lateral move within the division, using Peewee to Bantam as an example - not all Peewee B players will play Bantam B and so on with Peewee A - there are many 2nd year players that also need to be considered.

Any questions or concerns with the regards to Non body checking or checking teams please contact Nikki Lothian (613-723-7183) directly.

Information for Novice Parents

Equal Ice time Policy
One of the principles of NMHA is that every house league player is entitled to an equal share of ice time. The equal ice principle applies to the entire game in both regular season and playoffs. All House league coaches have agreed to abide by this equal ice time policy.

Additional Fees
As you may or may not know, your registration fee does not cover all of the costs of house league hockey. Registration fees cover the cost of the ice time and referees for regular season and playoff games, as well as the basic amount of practice ice for each team. Therefore extra money is required to cover the costs of supplies, sweater deposits, goalie equipment rental, exhibition games, tournament registrations, team parties, etc. These "team" fees are paid, to the team, in 3 or 4 instalments over the course of the season. At the beginning of the season, your team's manager and coaching staff, in conjunction with the parents, will create a budget for your team. Additional team fees would be approximately $350 per player in Novice House league.

Referees
Our referees are young and are still learning and they deserve respect from the coaching staff, players and parents. There is zero tolerance for any verbal or physical abuse of game officials, and we ask coaches and parents to assist us in ensuring that all game officials are shown the utmost respect at all times.

Sweaters and Socks
Each player will receive 2 sweaters to use during the season for games. The sweaters are NOT to be worn for practices and must be returned in good condition at the end of the season. As well, each player will receive one pair of NMHA hockey socks. However, the socks may not be available at the beginning of the season, so please be prepared to bring your own to start the season.