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APHA Newsletter
Greetings to all the Allen Park Huskies!
I hope you are all having a great summer. The delivery of this newsletter is a sign that the 2011-2012 Hockey Season is about to start. We are diligently preparing for a start of another hockey season. Let me take this opportunity to highlight a few new items of interest for this upcoming season.
First, let me tell you the Civic Arena is alive and well. With the financial issues the City of Allen Park has been facing there was talk of closing the arena. Thru hard work from Tony Napolitano, Parks and Rec director, Tony was able to justify to the city council that the Arena is a revenue stream for them. The City Council explained to attending citizens at the June 28th,2011 City Council meeting that the Parks and Rec programs must support themselves. The Civic Arena generated a positive cash flow last yeat and it is not losing money therefore it will stay open. Now, this means we as an Association must support the arena to the best of our ability without jeopardizing our hockey association. What this means, is the following
· Ice rates are going up $10 per hour. This is in line with other rinks downriver and is still lower than theirs. The APHA was informed of the increased ice fees at the end of last season long before the discussion of closing the rink occurred.
· We will be reducing ice contracts with 2 additional external rinks and only utilizing 1 rink which is Lincoln Park.
With these action items, the Civic Arena should still operate in a profit for next season. This is to avoid any discussion next year with the city council about closing the civic arena. If you have any questions and or concerns about this please feel free to e-mail me at President@allenparkhockey.com
Now on to hockey business. First, if you have not seen it, the Allen Park Hockey Association has a new Web site. Each team has their own team site to post pictures, calendars, shared documents and other things on. The calendar can be used to manage your team schedule and can be sync’d to your phone thru iCal. If you have multiple kids in AP hockey, the calendar can be used to combine schedules for a single view. These features are available to teams which take over there team site. Your initial schedule for the season will be uploaded once the association schedule is completed.
Next, the Allen Park Hockey Association has endorsed General Linen and Uniform Services to sell Allen Park Hockey Association logo apparel. This is the Board approved Apparel for our hockey association. On the APHA web site under APHA Sports Wear, you will find the apparel Brochure and how to place orders. The Allen Park Hockey Association will receive a fundraiser check from any APHA apparel ordered thru General Linen. So, if your team or parents are considering ordering APHA Apparel, please direct them to the web site and the ordering process. Finally, during our 1st Coaches and Managers meeting, General Linen will be present to display samples of the apparel.
The APHA will hold its first General Membership meeting of the year on Sept 13th from 6:30 -7:30 PM at the civic arena. APHA will hold 3 additional General Membership meetings throughout the course of the 2011-2012 Season. The dates will be posted on the web site and in the lobby arena for you.
Every year USA hockey adopts and changes rules, this year is no different. However, I feel it’s important to identify several new rules for you.
· Removal of checking from the PeeWee Division. The USA Hockey organization has approved no checking in the PeeWee Division. The intent of Rule #604, is to encourage more legal body contact in the PeeWee Division and move the checking up to Bantam age and above.
· Offsides rule change (#630) allows for delayed off-sides with “Tag-up” option to be used in the Youth and Girls 14 & Under age classification and up.
· MAHA has adopted ½ ice for the Mite Division. The way the rule has been written for next season (2011-2012), full ice play for players with a 2003 birth year is allowed at both the AA and house levels. In 2012-13 all full ice play for 8U mites will be phased out. This provides a transition for those already playing full ice and keeps those 7 year olds coming out of 6U hockey playing in the appropriate cross-ice environment.
o The Presidents of the District 2 (D2) Associations will be meeting on July 26th to discuss how the D2 Associations are going to handle this new rule. If you have concerns for your son/daughter with this new rule, I am encouraging you to e-mail me with them (President@allenparkhockey.com). I want to hear your voice before the July 26 meeting. As details emerge on how this rule is unfolding in D2, I’ll be keeping you updated by posting information on the main page of the APHA Web site and emailing the updates to our general membership.
Finally, our conditioning skates are scheduled for Aug 8th thru Aug 11th the times and coaches are listed on the APHA web site under 2011 conditioning.
For additional information, please visit www.allenparkhockey.com . Good luck to everyone on a successful and enjoyable season.
Doug Davis
President
Allen Park Hockey Association
