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More Good News We Heard – Day 356 Since First Shutdown

Dear Diary, today was a nice day outside. Finally it feels like spring is just around the corner. The sun was shining, and it was warm. Hope is in the air.

The best news we’ve heard so far, everyone who is 18 and older will have a chance to receive a COVID-19 vaccine by June 30th, 2020. The minster of health and Dr. Hinshaw announced this today.  And by fall everyone will get their second dose! Of course deliveries will have to be kept on time for this to happen.

So will there be a summer hockey season? You will have to judge for yourself. We think the odds are heavily on our favor now. There is little chance the season will get cancelled if enough people are vaccinated. In fact we expect the restrictions to begin loosening sooner than later.

Will the summer hockey season start on time? That we do not know yet. We certainly hope so, and we see the trend moving in the right direction.

There is even talk of fans at Flames and Oilers game, skip to 16:30 to listen to the question/answer about that.

But here, listen to the news conference for yourself.

 

Everyone, 18+ Will Get A Chance At Vaccine By June 30th

As far as the stats go. As of today, there are 245 people in hospitals across Alberta, including 47 in ICU. This is a decrease of 6 hospitalizations and a drop of 1 in ICU patients. So things are moving in the right direction there. These of course are lagging indicators.

And now to the leading indicators. 331 new cases were reported with a positivity rate is 3.6%. This is also a decrease from yesterday. Strangely the R rate was not mentioned in today’s presser. Must not be too concerning then?

As far as March 22nd date for moving to step 3 goes, the minister said, hospitalizations as well as leading indicators need to be stable. We are optimistic! Watch for Jonson & Jonson vaccine to speed the vaccination pace up as it should be approved withing a few weeks, if not sooner in our opinion.

 

What about BC?

According to CBC, “There are 248 people in hospital, 63 of whom are in intensive care. There are currently 4,743 active cases of COVID-19 in B.C. and 8,659 close contacts of confirmed cases are being monitored by public health. “

BC government has not really said what things will look like going forward as far as reopening goes. Last update was on November 18th, 2020. So we wait and see.

That’s it for today. Have a safe night.

Hockey, we miss you!

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Things We Learned Today – Day 355 Since First Shutdown

Dear Diary, it has been 355 days since Winter 2019-20 season has come abruptly to an end on March 13th, a.k.a Pandemic Friday.

So where are we at?

Well, things are starting to look up for summer hockey. We are getting vaccines, and vaccines are freedom. Today we heard that Alberta will be following BC’s lead. Any adult, 18+ according to Dr. Hinshaw will be vaccinated with the first dose by early summer if they so choose.

That is awesome, awesome news. If everyone has protection against the virus, restrictions will be eased sooner than later. Who needs cohorts when everyone is immunized? We don’t know that this will be the case, but things are leaning this way.

Hospitalizations are steady, as of today, there are 251 people being treated for COVID-19, a reduction of 10 from the day before. There were 48 people in ICU in the province. Positivity rate is 3.92 percent and R value is 1.01. So overall things are improving.

We think the government is going slow with step 2 relaxation of restrictions to buy time to jab more arms. This should prevent any notion of further lock-downs and cancellations. Majority of active cases are now in people who are 50 or younger, who experience less severe outcomes and tend to not get hospitalized.

 

The bottom line, we know things seem uncertain, but we are optimistic that summer hockey will happen. It will be safer than it has ever been in nearly a year. It might not start when we think it will, but it will start. And we will play! We hope you join us.

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Summer Interest Payments Delayed

Hello NCHL Family,

If you missed the news last week, we unfortunately made the tough decision to cancel the Winter 2020-21 Season. All teams will be credited for any games that they did not play because of the COVID restrictions.

You can see the full announcement and how to get refunds here.

We also have good news though, as we officially opened registration for the Summer 2021 Season, and already have lots of teams signed up!

We also made the decision today to extend the non-interest deadline to March 15th, which means that all players’ payment plans come with zero interest if you sign up before that date. Starting on March 15th, monthly payment plans come with a 10% interest fee.

You can see all the details for the Summer Season here.

Please let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info [at] nchl.com

Thank you for choosing the NCHL!

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Winter 2020-21 Season Cancelled

Hello NCHL Family,

We held out hope, but unfortunately there is no feasible way that we can continue the Winter 2020-21 NCHL Season. Your team will be credited for any games that they did not play because of the COVID restrictions.

Because of our money collection policy, we will only be giving Team GMs refunds, and they will be responsible for distributing refunds to their players.

GMs can fill out this form here to request a refund, and refunds will be processed in the order they are received. Please allow time for us to process these.

We also have good news though, as we are officially opening registration for the Summer 2021 Season! You can see all the details for the Summer Season here.

If you would like to keep your team’s funds on account, you can use these towards the Summer Season or next Winter Season if you will not be playing this summer.

Please let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info [at] nchl.com

Thank you for choosing the NCHL!

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The Results Are In, What To Do About The Winter Hockey Season In Alberta?

Just as we thought we knew what’s going on, the government threw a new curve ball at everyone and allowed minor sports to continue their seasons in development mode.

In the meanwhile we asked you the player, what should be done about the remainder of our own winter season and the response has been overwhelming! We received over 1,000 responses. Thank you for participating and giving us your thoughts.

So without further adieu, here they are.

 

Calgary

 

Calgary Results – What should happen to this winter hockey season?

The first question we asked was, what would you rather do this winter, get your money back, finish the season off or try to fit as many games as possible into what is left of winter if restrictions are lifted. The results are at best mixed, but most people want to play in some fashion.

 

Calgary Results – What should the summer season look like?

The second question we asked was, what should the summer season look like. Some of you don’t play summer hockey which is fair. Though this summer will probably be quite different than most, travel is still unlikely. Why not play summer hockey?

Clearly, there is no consensus here on what the season should look like, we will do our best to figure it out so you can have a great time playing hockey this summer!

 

Edmonton

The results in Edmonton were not much clearer and were quite similar to what we saw in Calgary.

 

Edmonton Results – What should happen to this winter hockey season?

More of you wanted to start the summer on time than cram the winter season into a few months left in the season, and of course some of you wanted refunds but the majority wants to play some kind of hockey. Of course this is a personal decision for each person.

 

Edmonton Results – What should summer season look like?

Again some of you do not play summer hockey. Which is fair. Though if normally don’t maybe you should give it a try? The commitment is not huge. And again there are many opinions on what summer hockey should look like, but it is clear we all miss playing!

We also received all kinds of comments about what should happen, we read them all and they will factor into our decision making process. There were some real good ones in there, and some really entertaining ones.

Regardless, we are nearly there with the plan of what will happen next. Once we have the quirks ironed out, we will put it out there for everyone to see what is next. There is one thing for sure, we will continue playing hockey at some point, and we hope you do so as well.

Thank you for your patience with us while we navigate our way out of this mess. It is much appreciated.

The NCHL – A Better Way To Play!

 

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Winter Season Update – The Results Email We Sent

Thank you for your patience while we try to figure out the updated government restrictions, what that means for recreational sports, and how we continue going forward. We reached out to our players and got an overwhelming response of over 1000 players, so we really want to thank you for that!

The funny thing though, is that it didn’t really provide much in terms of a consensus, and it is very clear that players want different things. You can see the responses we got here:

We told you that we would have an update by the end of the week, and we have not come to a final decision yet, but we are working hard on the many options we have, and we do appreciate the feedback we got. We will try to address everyone’s concerns as best as we can and as quickly as possible.

We will be giving team refunds for games missed, so we are putting a plan together on how that will go as well. We appreciate your patience as we navigate through these difficult and unfavourable circumstances.

Please stay safe and healthy so that we can all get back to normal and back on the ice as soon as possible!

The NCHL – A Better Way To Play!

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What to do about Winter Hockey Season? Help us decide, your opinion matters!

By now you probably have heard that Government of Alberta announcement on January 29th, 2021 and hockey is not looking like it’s in the cards for a while.

We are working on the best options for the NCHL to move forward and we need your help!

Please take 1 minute of your day to fill out this short, anonymous survey. Answers will be accepted until Thursday, February 4th. Your opinion matters greatly to us.

DO THE SURVEY

After that will have another update by the end of this week with more info on what we will happen with the 2021 Winter and Summer Seasons.

Customer Guarantee: As always, we guarantee that when we cannot provide the product you registered for, your team account will be refunded the difference of the games that you did not receive.

Thank you for your patience in these trying time, and for playing with us all these years.

The NCHL – A Better Way To Play!

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HOCKEY IS ON PAUSE UNTIL JANUARY 11th, 2021

The Alberta Health Authority announced a list of new restrictions for the province today. Even though vaccines are just around the corner, today’s reality is rising hospitalizations and cases. Unfortunately, these restrictions also include team sports, and hockey specifically.

This is a regrettable situation, and we understand how you feel, but we all need to do our part in flattening the curve and stopping the spike, so that we can resume playing the game we all love as soon as possible. The announcement today does not mean the winter season is cancelled. All nightmares end eventually, and so will this one.

We anticipate that things will be looking better in the new year, as more people are inoculated. What does it mean for this hockey season and the games you have missed, and will miss under the new restrictions? It is our full intention, for the games that would have occurred during the time that restrictions are in place, to make up as many games as possible prior to the end of the current season. We recognize that it may not be possible to make up all the games missed.

As you can see, this is a fluid situation and anything can happen. There is one thing you can be certain of, no matter what happens, we will make sure things are right for you and your team. If we are unable to make up the games affected by the restrictions during the Winter 2020-21 season, we will apply a credit to your team’s account balance, for your GM to manage for every game we are not able to reschedule. We will not know what these credits are until the end of the season, at this time your team GM can request a refund of the credit, or leave it on account for future season. This is our guarantee to you. Once we have more information, we will further update you.

From all of us here, thank you for choosing the NCHL and your patience with us as we navigate these unprecedented times together.

The NCHL – A Better Way To Play!

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HOCKEY IS ON PAUSE FOR 3 WEEKS IN ALBERTA

Today, November 24th, 2020 the Government of Alberta announced a list of new restrictions for the province that will come into effect on Friday November 27th, and will last for 3 weeks. You can see the full list of restrictions here: https://www.alberta.ca/enhanced-public-health-measures.aspx

Unfortunately, these also include team sports, and hockey specifically. This is a regrettable situation, and we understand how you feel, but we all need to do our part in bending the curve and stopping the spike, so that we can resume playing the game we all love as soon as possible.

What does it mean for this hockey season and the games you have missed, and will miss under the new restrictions?

It is our full intention, for the games that would have occurred during the time that restrictions are in place, to make up as many games as possible prior to the end of the current season. We recognize that it may not be possible to make up all the games missed. As you can see, this is a fluid situation and anything can happen.

There is one thing you can be certain of, no matter what happens, we will make sure things are right for you and your team. If we are unable to make up the games affected by the restrictions during the Winter 2020-21 season, we will apply a credit to your team’s account balance for every game we are unable to reschedule.

This is our guarantee to you.

We are aware that Premier Kenny said this in the conference: “Sport leagues are also impacted, but can apply for exemptions, if they have “well-developed COVID safety plans”. We are not sure what this means exactly, and will do our best to find out whether we qualify for such an exemption, or what needs to be done so that we can. Once we have more information, we will further update you.

From all of us here, thank you for choosing the NCHL and your patience with us as we navigate these unprecedented times together.

A Better Way To Play!

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The NCHL Welcomes Its New Lead Ambassador

The NCHL would like to introduce Jen Dorward as the new Lead Ambassador for the league.

Jen has been working with the NCHL for the past 5 years as a time keeper and league ambassador. She will now be the main point of contact for team GMs in regards to any concerns you may have. Jen will be helping you directly, or will make sure that you are connected to the right person who can best help with what you need.

She will also be checking in after your games occasionally to find out more about how the game went, and how your team’s season is going overall. This helps us best identify teams for realignment and to improve the overall league parity. Your experience matters a great deal to us, and we are working every day to improve on what we do.

Normally Jen would be in charge of coming to your dressing rooms, and scheduling other ambassador visits in all cities. Unfortunately with the COVID-19 restrictions, she will not be able to come visit your dressing rooms throughout the season, so we are doing our best to still stay in contact, address your concerns, and communicate any important information you may need about the season.

With all of her experience and her passion for the game, we know that Jen will be a great fit for the position. This is one of the many little things we do for you as a player, and team GM to make your league experience with us amazing.

If you have any questions or concerns about your games you can fill out a form here (Calgary, Edmonton, Richmond). If you have general questions please email info at nchl.com

The NCHL – A Better Way To Play!