Where men and women can play ice hockey in a fun and safe environment!
This Sunday October 4th is the last placement skate for the Black Aces program in Calgary.
If you have not yet found a team to play for, come sweat out the rust and become a Black Ace.
League games are starting on Sunday October 11th. All games for now will be at 10PM on Sundays.
Need more details? Contact us now.
We recently published how we are going to play this winter season with full (16 player) rosters here and have received many questions about it, please see the answers below.
We are getting lots of questions about the size of a teams roster and what is/is not allowed for play during Stage 2 Relaunch.
The answer to this question is two part, please read it carefully.
‘On Ice Roster’– your team can ice a total of 16 players from your Paid Team Roster (see below) per schedule rotation (4 games) based on the AHS cohort rules. These are the only 16 players that may participate in game play for that specific schedule rotation. In addition to these players, your team may also use spares from the other teams in your schedule cohort during the schedule rotation you are in.
For example you may play your first game with 11 players (10 skaters and a goalie because that is all you could get to come out from your “Paid Team Roster”), then for your second game you may have 13 players, but 10 of them are the same as the ones you had our for game one, and three are “new players”.
You now have room for 3 other players to bring to game three from your “Paid Team Roster”. Lets say you need a spare goalie and two spare skaters for game three, you have now used all of your “Paid Team Roster” players for the schedule rotation. For game four you will now need to use only players from your On Ice Roster or from the other team you are not playing in your cohort.
You should probably leave yourself some room for a spare goalie on the On Ice Roster for game four in the set if you are concerned you will need a spare.
After the 4 game rotation is finished, cohorts can be reset and On Ice Roster will be as well. Players must isolate from play for 2 weeks during the break.
‘Paid Team Roster’ – Although each team can only ice 16 players per schedule rotation of 4 games, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a larger roster of paid players. Lots of teams have larger rosters to help manage league fees however it is unlikely that these teams have all members in attendance every game.
After each schedule rotation of 4 games, teams enter into their “quarantine period” of 14 days (minimum). After the 14 day period the next schedule rotation begins, teams can start with a fresh slate of players if they choose to do so or continue with the original 16 they had in the previous schedule rotation. When cohort sizes are increased or removed all together, you will already have your rosters in place to resume the season as usual.
We know that this is not ideal but neither is trying to navigate a world in the midst of a pandemic. We heard that a bigger size of on ice rosters is extremely important to you. This is not something we chose on purpose, rather we have to work within the onerous AHS regulations placed on hockey in Alberta in general. It is the best possible option out of all sub optimal options.
The alternative is to have smaller rosters, less games, reduced parity (we are able to rejig divisions every 4 games in our format) and more expensive league fees. We believe this is a better way to play, because when things go back to normal, we don’t have to skip a beat and can resume the season without much interruption or having to expand team rosters and charge additional team fees.
You will play 30 regular season games and at least 1 guaranteed playoff game. If your team continues to win, you continue playing. The final is going to be best of 3 series, same as in previous seasons. To see more details about the winter season please go here: https://www.nchl.com/winter-hockey-season-league-information-and-team-pricing/
During your schedule rotation your On Ice Roster is NOT at 16 players – You may use any spare goalie. However, that goalie can not be playing on another team in a different division or anywhere else.
Once an appropriate goalie has been added to your roster, that goalie may not play for any other team outside your cohort until the current schedule rotation is complete. After the schedule rotation is complete this goalie now needs to take a 2 week break from play.
During your schedule rotation your On Ice Roster is already at 16 players – In this situation you may dress a current skater on your team as a goalie or you may ask to use one of the goalies currently playing on another team WITHIN your current cohort.
If neither of these work, each division has a couple of emergency spots. Although not a guarantee, you would try and find an appropriate “fill in” goalie after getting permission to do so from the Director of Player Safety. We will need a sufficient amount of time to organize this, so last minute goalie additions will be nearly impossible to accommodate.
The answer to this is YES, but we need to qualify how.
If a player plays on multiple teams within the same cohort during the schedule rotation, that player can play on any team in the cohort.
If player is on multiple teams in different cohorts the answer is still yes however that player would have to commit to one team for the duration of the schedule rotation AND complete the 14 day “quarantine period”. Once that has been satisfied, the player may play for another team in a different cohort.
Prices are based on a per game basis not a per player basis, the ice costs the same if there is 1 player or 40 players on it, same is true for officials. As the season is still the same amount of games we can not change the pricing. If you are registered for a schedule package above REGULAR your team would receive credit for any games played during the Stage 2 Relaunch phase.
In essence, during the cohort type schedule you will be receiving a REGULAR schedule. All team with HOME ICE or HOME ICE PREMIUM packages will receive credits or refunds prorated for the number of games you were downgraded and did not receive as part of your package. You will only pay for the package you receive!
Absolutely, there are two ways we can help. You can join the special, private FreeAgent Facebook group for your city and post a call for players on there, and/or we can also send you the spreadsheet with all available FreeAgent players we have.
Please contact us (email or the contact form on the website – https://www.nchl.com/contact/) and request access to either one, or both.
YES. More info to follow, we will communicate these as they are finalized.
We are just days away from returning to the Ice and all playing the sport that we love. With that in mind I will need to go over some specifics when it comes to West Hillhurst and their COVID protocols as well as a couple rule adjustments.
Arrive at the arena no sooner than 20 mins before your scheduled ice time. Ideally come as dressed as possible or change in the parking lot.
You will have an assigned dressing room so you can put on your skates and store personal items. Dressing Rooms are max occupancy of 9 people. There will be overflow designated areas in the hallway and will be marked for any extra players.
Bring your own water as sinks/fountains will be restricted
There will be no use of Showers and you must leave the arena 20 mins after your ice time is completed. When you leave please follow signage and exit out the appropriate doors.
There are no Spectators allowed
Please stay in your designated dressing rooms and designated areas of the hallway until your ice time starts, do not line up and congregate in the hallway to the ice surface.
*Please respect and follow all signage, floor markings or social distancing measures to ensure we protect one another *
We will follow all rules of the NCHL except for;
There will be no jersey infractions but players must have a similar color with its own unique number
There will be no playoff Eligibility. All players that are registered with your team and have completed the NCHL waiver as well as COVID waiver are eligible for ALL games.
No players are to approach or go near the scorekeeper. We must ensure social distancing is adhered to. If you have a sub from your cohort or a jersey # change please approach a referee and advise them of this.
You can play the game if you don’t have a goalie. If your goalie is injured or does not show and you have enough players (6) you can play the full game. Just know that if you can not field the proper number of players due to penalties or ejections the game will end in a forfeit
At the discretion of the team GMs and in fairness of fun, YOU can swap players mid game. This means that if you are short players, or the game is uneven, you can swap individual players or even Goalies to ensure the game is fun and can be completed. If this does happen your players will still be created playing for your team as well as the team they swap too and all stats will be counted
There will be no re-alignment. Due to COVID restrictions we must play within the same Cohort for all 5 games. If your team truly feels they cant compete, speak to the other teams GM about swapping players and/or bring out Subs from the other teams in your cohort to compete.
Player penalty minutes. If a player receives a total of 10 PIM they will be suspended 2 games. If a player exceeds 14 PIM they will be suspended indefinitely. As normal Summer season is 15 games, player PIMS are 30 PIM = 2 game suspension and 40 PIM = Indefinite suspension, we adjusted these numbers by 1/3 to fit the 5 games. Team total PIMS is set at 50 PIM. If your team exceeds 50 PIM your team will be suspended for the remainder of the World Cup of Hockey and no refund will be given.
The last 2 games of the World Cup of Hockey will follow Playoff rules of the NCHL
ALL teams will be limited to 13 Players and 1 Goalie during any game. If you have more than 13 Players, any extras players will not be permitted to play and will be asked to leave.
Reminder that Teams must only have 10 players and 1 goalie on their official roster. Any extra players are Subs from the same Cohort.
Please remind your players to complete all waivers and please submit your rosters ASAP. Failure to do so will result in your team not being allowed to play. These waivers and rosters are crucial in the NCHL abiding by AHS health protocols and for Trace Tracking in the off chance a COVID positive case comes forward. Please respect this and have it completed.
Thank you and welcome back to the World Cup of Hockey!
Mike Calhoun
NCHL Director of Player Safety
We are just days away from returning to the Ice and all playing the Sport that we Love. With that in mind I will need to go over some specifics when it comes to Trico Arena, South Fish Creek Arena and their COVID protocols as well as a couple Rule adjustments.
Arrive at the arena no sooner than 15 mins before your scheduled Ice Time. Ideally come as dressed as possible or change in the parking lot. You will have an assigned dressing room so you can put on your skates and store personal items. Dressing Rooms occupancy is listed on each dressing room.
Bring your own water as sinks/fountains will be restricted
There will be no use of Showers and you must leave the arena 15 mins after your ice time is completed. When you leave please follow signage and exit out the appropriate doors.
No Spectators allowed
Arrive at the arena no sooner than 30 mins before your scheduled Ice Time. Ideally come as dressed as possible or change in the parking lot. You will have an assigned dressing room so you can put on your skates and store personal items.
Max occupancy in the dressing room is 10 people
Max number of players on a each bench is 8. This does not include the players already on the ice surface for each team
-You must leave the arena 30 mins after your schedule Ice Time is complete
There will be no use of showers or dressing room washrooms. If you need to use the washroom please use the central washrooms at the front lobby area. Please also bring your own water.
No Spectators allowed
Players must also fill out this waiver if you are to use the South Fish Creek Arena. The link to the waiver is found below. Please have your players complete ASAP.
*Please respect and follow all signage, Floor markings or social distancing measures to ensure we protect one another *
We will follow all rules of the NCHL except for;
There will be no jersey infractions but players must have a similar color with its own unique number
There will be no playoff Eligibility. All players that are registered with your team and have completed the NCHL waiver as well as COVID waiver are eligible for ALL games.
No players are to approach or go near the scorekeeper. We must ensure social distancing is adhered to. If you have a sub from your cohort or a jersey # change please approach a referee and advise them of this.
You can play the game if you don’t have a goalie. If your goalie is injured or does not show and you have enough players (6) you can play the full game. Just know that if you can not field the proper number of players due to penalties or ejections the game will end in a forfeit
At the discretion of the team GMs and in fairness of fun, YOU can swap players mid game. This means that if you are short players, or the game is uneven, you can swap individual players or even Goalies to ensure the game is fun and can be completed. If this does happen your players will still be created playing for your team as well as the team they swap too and all stats will be counted
There will be no re-alignment. Due to COVID restrictions we must play within the same Cohort for all 5 games. If your team truly feels they cant compete, speak to the other teams GM about swapping players and/or bring out Subs from the other teams in your cohort to compete.
Player penalty minutes. If a player receives a total of 10 PIM they will be suspended 2 games. If a player exceeds 14 PIM they will be suspended indefinitely. As normal Summer season is 15 games, player PIMS are 30 PIM = 2 game suspension and 40 PIM = Indefinite suspension, we adjusted these numbers by 1/3 to fit the 5 games. Team total PIMS is set at 50 PIM. If your team exceeds 50 PIM your team will be suspended for the remainder of the World Cup of Hockey and no refund will be given.
The last 2 games of the World Cup of Hockey will follow Playoff rules of the NCHL
ALL teams will be limited to 13 Players and 1 Goalie during any game. If you have more than 13 Players, any extras players will not be permitted to play and will be asked to leave.
Reminder that Teams must only have 10 players and 1 goalie on their official roster. Any extra players are Subs from the same Cohort.
Please remind your players to complete all waivers and please submit your rosters ASAP. Failure to do so will result in your team not being allowed to play. These waivers and rosters are crucial in the NCHL abiding by AHS health protocols and for Trace Tracking in the off chance a COVID positive case comes forward. Please respect this and have it completed.
Thank you and Welcome back to the World Cup of Hockey!
Mike Calhoun
NCHL Director of Player Safety