Manager Checklist

If you are a Team Manager, the below checklist will help you prepare for and execute the season. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to our Manager of Managers.

• USA Hockey registration: Team Managers are required to register with USA Hockey as a Manager/Volunteer. There is no registration fee for team managers.

SafeSport program training: The U.S. Center for SafeSport is an independent, non-profit organization focused on ending all forms of abuse in sport. SafeSport Training is required for all team managers and needs to be completed yearly. Completion certificates must be emailed to registrar@bloomingtonyouthhockey.com.



• For NIHL teams, prepare to schedule seeding round: Obtain blackout dates for coaches, as well as if any girls are double rostered. You will need to work with their other team manager to avoid any overlap.
• There is a MANDATORY scheduling meeting that is held in mid-September in the Northwest suburbs. Prior to the meeting, you will be given home ice slots from your ice scheduler. A NIHL representative will give you an envelope indicating which teams you have to play and whether you will play them at home or away. You must talk to the other team managers present and, using a combination of their and your ice times, schedule the games NIHL is requiring. You can't leave the meeting until you've scheduled every game and turn in a form for each home game scheduled to the NIHL representative.
• Prior to the scheduling meeting, we recommend that you:
• Know your coaches/goalies black out dates.
• Bring a calendar noting tournaments or other conflicts.
• If you are NIHL team - know the Peoria rule and how it applies to your team.
• If you are a Peoria rule team, it is to everyone's advantage to schedule with you first since you can only do after 9 am on Saturday and before 4 pm on Sundays. These are guidelines and at coaches discretion if you schedule outside of these.
• Familiarize yourself with the location of potential opponent's rinks (e.g., rinks that are close should be scheduled last and may be scheduled on a weeknight, if necessary)
• The day of the scheduling meeting, wear Thunder gear so people can easily spot you to schedule.

• Send welcome email: Work with your coach to send the first welcome email to team. You can send through crossbar. Let them know when first parent/player team meeting is - generally it follows the first practice somewhere at the rink, or in the parking garage.

• Set up team operations: Solicit volunteers from the team to fill the roles of Treasurer, Fundraising Chair, Social Chair, Tournament/Trip Coordinator, and Communications Liaison. These are suggested - you might have luck filling all of them, or you can choose to do them...it is up to you!
• Treasurer: Manages tracking of FARM hours during the season, coordinates paying the team bills (friendly games, dinners, gifts), works with BYH treasurer to pay for tournaments, assist with fundraising activities, and any other accounting that needs attention.
• Fundraising Chair: Coordinates fundraisers for the team, works with the treasurer to record the amount raised and if it will be allocated to the whole team or individual families. Communicate results to BYH treasurer to apply to player's accounts.
• Social Chair: Arranges social events for the team, plans team parties and bonding activities throughout the season, as well as an end of season party.
• Communications Liaison: Responsible for providing updates, photos, videos, etc. to the BYH Board/communications team for sharing on website and social media channels. This person sends information marketing@bloomingtonyouthhockey.com.

• TEAM COMMUNICATIONS...Ensure all parents have downloaded the CrossBar APP: This will allow families to see the current calendar, team roster, contact information of other parents, and access the chat feature. The chat feature cannot be accessed through the computer, so ensure all parents download the app so they can communicate with other parents on the team. This will be the main form of communication for your team.

• Schedule tournaments: Each team will have a budget for 2-3 tournaments. Tournaments are coaches/teams choice. Tournaments fill up quickly, so book early in September and work with the BYH Treasurer, Stacy Mavec (treasurer@bloomingtonyouthhockey.com) to get the deposit paid ASAP. Common tournament dates where you will see many options are:
• Columbus Day weekend
• Veterans Day Weekend
• Early December weekend
• MLK weekend in January
• February begins league tournaments
• You are responsible for disseminating the information about the tournament and coordinating the hotel block to your team. *Note, tournaments are typically "stay to play," meaning you must stay "as a team" at one of the hotels that they choose in order to play at the tournament.
• Coach hotel expenses for tournaments are covered by the team.
• If the team chooses to attend tournaments that have an expensive entry fee and/or does not comp a hotel room for the coach, the expenses over the budgeted tournament expenses will be assessed to the team.
• It is expected that if multiple BYH teams are at the same tournament, the managers will make every effort possible for all teams to stay in the same hotel, regardless of hotel preference. This is for the convenience of families that have players on multiple teams and to support the BYH family.
• The AHAI and NIHL tournaments are optional and would be an additional cost to the team.

• AHAI login/password will be sent to you after USA Roster has processed. You will then be able to log in and update/edit your roster with player numbers, positions, etc. This is also the site you will use to create your travel permits for out of state tournaments. Travel Permits must be requested for any games/tournaments outside of IL, except for NIHL games played outside IL.



• Weekly emails: We highly recommend sending a “Week Ahead” email on Sunday nights to communicate any upcoming events or changes. This is a good time to coordinate who will be running the clock and scoresheet for any upcoming home games. It can be easiest to link to a Google doc or Signup Genius for sign-ups. This is also a good time to reiterate arrival time for players on game days. Players must arrive 45-60* minutes before the puck drop to allow ample time for dryland warm-ups, changing, and a coach chat with the team. *Note, check with your coach on the exact time they want players to arrive.

• CSDHL ONLY - GameSheet and roster stickers: Scoring will be done on an iPad via as program called GameSheet. Parents volunteering to help with scoring should watch this brief GameSheet tutorial. As the manager, you are also responsible for providing roster stickers. Roster stickers will only be needed for tournaments. These go on the scoresheets and are given to both teams and the tournament coordinators after each game. Please be sure to bring at least 15 stickers per tournament. You should plan to create these on Avery label template #5163, which seems to work best.

• NIHL/CUHL - Gamesheets & Roster Stickers: 
• Blank gamesheets will be handled out at the scheduler meetings.
• Roster stickers are needed for all games including tournaments. For each game home or away, you will need 3 sticker per game.
• Stickers should have player's name and number. The goalie should be identified with a (G). Include the coaches name, phone number, and CEP number/level. Also include the manager name and phone number.
• Reach out to a former team manager for a template.
• For home or away games you will need to connect with the other team manager. If you are HOME, you need to get the sheet with stickers to the scorekeeper at least 30 min prior to start. After the game you will need to get a copy back to the other team manager. You should plan to create these on Avery label template #5163, which seems to work best.
• Gamesheets need to be retained for the end of the season playoffs and championship. They are used to cross reference player eligibiity for playoffs.

• Referees: CUHL?? NIHL and CSDHL will schedule referees for the initial schedule (i.e., seeding round and regular season play for NIHL and regular season play for CSDHL).
• For NIHL - If a game is rescheduled, referees will need to be requested on the AHAI website.
• For CUHL - if a game is rescheduled, ...
• For CSDHL - if a game is rescheduled... contact Glenn

• Locker room assignments: Home games are self-explanatory, as they are posted upon entry. Away games are similar but they sometimes require a driver’s license or set of car keys in exchange for the locker room key at a front desk. This can be handled by the coach or team manager, whoever is there first. The players are expected to treat the locker room with respect and clean up after themselves.

• Home team responsibilities:
• Referees: Managers should receive an email from AHAI the week prior to any home games. Double check the game times, rink locations and assigned referees to confirm.
• Time Keeper: You must provide a parent volunteer for all home games. There are scoreboard instructions in each scoring booth.
• Score Keeper: 
• CSDHL - A parent volunteer keeps score during the game on GameSheet using an iPad. Parents volunteering to help with scoring should watch this brief GameSheet tutorial.
• NIHL -
• CUHL -
• Posting Final Score: 
• CSDHL - CSDHL uses Gamesheet. It will upload/sync automatically when it is online. If the app was used offline, be sure to connect to Wi-Fi within 24 hours to ensure the score is uploaded to the CSDHL website.
• NIHL - The final score must be posted to your NIHL webpage within 24 hours of the game, otherwise the club will be assessed a fine. 
• CUHL???
• If there are any game misconducts issued during the game, notify BYH Rules and Ethics for review. For NIHL games, you will need to submit a copy of the scoresheet on the website under Manager forms.
• Enter game stats into Team Crossbar for your team - at least the score, goals/assists
• HOME team at an AWAY Rink:
• Bring a scoresheet to use for the game. As the home team at an away rink, you do not need to run the clock or keep score. This is the responsibility of the host rink. They chose the Peoria Rule, they must provide people for these duties.
• The host team is responsible for payment of referees and ice.
• Provide a parent/volunteer for the penalty box.

• Confirm fall tournament (including hotel block): Make sure fees have been paid, print the team roster from the AHAI site, print travel permits, make sure hotel rooms have been booked, including coaches rooms. Confirm head coach room is comped if applicable.

• For NIHL team managers: At the end of the seeding round, you will need to schedule the regular NIHL season games. It has been done remotely, which makes it a bit easier. It works similarly to the seeding round scheduling in that you will get a list of who you will be playing and if the games will be home or away. Many have found that a Sign-up Genius works well for scheduling these games. You will list your home ice on the Sign-up Genius and send it out to the managers in your bracket. The other managers will do the same, sending you their home ice, giving you the opportunity to take what works best.
• FOR CUHL?

• Confirm tournament for MLK, Jr. weekend: Make sure fees have been paid, print the team roster from the AHAI site, print travel permits, make sure hotel rooms have been booked, including coaches rooms.

• NIHL and CSDHL tournament: For NIHL teams, this tournament will either be a round robin or a single elimination tournament for the top teams in NIHL. The format varies from year-to-year, within each age division, and level based on the number of teams involved and how they were arranged in tiers. A separate tournament is held for each age group/level. Each tournament is hosted by a different NIHL club at its home rink. Finals for each level are held in one location. For CSDHL teams, there is typically a round robin tournament for the top eight (8) teams.

• AHAI State tournament: Around the same time as the NIHL tournaments, the state hosts the AHAI State Tournament. Invites for this generally go our around early December and are due early January if your team intends to play. It is not required to play, and each coach will make their own decisions. It will also depend on if you have budget dollars left to play, or have raised funds to play.

• Hat Trick/Shutout/Playmaker: Scoresheets will need to be submitted to the BYH Registrar for any players who had these during the season. Each player who receives one of these in a game will get a patch at the end of the season. Only one patch per type will be awarded in any given season.
• Shutout = opponents score is zero - patch goes to goalie
• Hat Trick = 3 goals in one game
• Playmaker = 3 assists in one game

• Communicate league/state tournament details: Tournament season can be busy and hared to schedule since since it often depends on how you do in each round - who you play and where you play. Communicate as much as you can up front so families are aware of the last minute nature of tournament season.

• Plan a final party: Start to plan an end of season party.

• Get coaches gifts: Discuss with team parents appropriate gifts for coaches to convey your appreciation. Nothing lavish is encouraged or expected.