Section 1……………………………………..Purpose…………………………………………Page 3

Section 2……………………………………. Duties and Responsibilities……………………Page 3

  • Overview

Section 3……………………………………..Communication……………………………….. Page 3

  • Team Manager Meeting
  • Parents & Players
  • Team Updating
  • Team Calendar
  • Website
  • Hockey Publications

Section 4……………………………………..Roster…………………………………………...Page 5

  • Team Roster
  • Background checks

Section 5……………………………………..Team Budgets…………………………………..Page 6

  • Team Assessments
  • Expense Reimbursement
  • End of Season Party
  • Gifts

Section 6……………………………………..Game Schedule…………………………………Page 8

  • Games
  • Team Books
  • Parent Involvement
  • Scorebook
  • Referees
  • Fair Play Points (HEP)

Section 7……………………………………..Uniforms & Equipment………………………..Page 10

  • Practice Jerseys
  • Uniforms
  • Team Equipment
  • Goalie Equipment
  • Necessary Equipment

Section 8……………………………………..Practices & Scrimmages……………………….Page 12

  • Practices
  • Scrimmages
  • Referees
  • Goalie Practices

Section 9……………………………………..Tournaments…………………………………....Page 14

  • Team Registration/Registration Book
  • BYHA Home Tournaments
  • In and Out of Town Tournaments
  • Scheduling Tournaments
  • District 5 Playoff Tournaments

Section 10……………………………………Player & Team Recognition……………………Page 17

  • S.K.A.T.E
  • Zero/Hat Trick/Playmaker Awards
  • Trophy Case
  • Banner Display
  • Team Pictures

Section 1: Purpose

BYHA has created this handbook in an effort to provide general information and answer common questions for Team Managers. Please use this as your first source of reference prior to calling the Travel Team Manager Coordinator.

Section 2: Duties and Responsibilities of Team Manager

General Overview

The Team Manager position is meant to be the liaison between the Coach, Parent, Player and Association. You are expected to support BYHA and remember that you are an important representative of our association.

Your goal is to keep your team organized through record keeping and communication. Your task may include but is not limited to:

  • Soliciting volunteers for your games and Association work
  • Having available the team book and roster
  • Providing written and oral communication to the team or association
  • Handle team finances and provide periodic statements of expenditures
  • Book and handle team travel and rink address/directions
  • Promote fundraising
  • Game record retention
  • Help maintain parent crowd control
  • Communicate team information to you sponsor (if applicable)
  • Prepare and provide team information to the local media

Section 3: Communication

A. Team Managers Meeting:

BYHA holds a Team Manager Meeting immediately after teams are formed. All teams are required to send a coach or team manager to this meeting. At that time, the BYHA Team Manager Handbook, any changes for USA Hockey, Minnesota Hockey, District 5 will be reviewed and discussed. The roster signing process will be discussed as well.

This is also an opportunity for you to meet and get to know some of the other team managers. We are a great source of information for each other.

B. Monthly Reporting:

You will be responsible for periodic updating on your team. You will need to provide this update for purposes of updating the BYHA Board of Directors. You can do this on your team’s website home page. If you prefer, you can send the Travel Team Manager Coordinator an email at with your update. This is a way for the entire association to see the progress your team is making.

C. Parents & Players:

You are in charge of keeping everything going smoothly. Changes in games, practices, setting up tournaments, scrimmages and keeping parents up to date, is your responsibility. At the first opportunity, it’s a requirement to have a parent meeting. This gives you and your coach the opportunity to talk to the parents regarding:

  • Goals for the season
  • Expectations of player and parents
  • Coaching philosophy and practice strategy
  • What help is needed from each parent to maintain a smooth season
  • Tournament schedule
  • Communication methods and specifically how information will be provided to players who miss a game or practice.

D. Team Calendar:

You must provide up-to-date team calendars to all players and/or parents. Ways to do this include:

  • Supply a paper one every time a change is made. Make sure to not the name of all players at the top of the paper so you can clearly see who did not get the information. These players and/or parents will need to be contacted separately by phone or email if the change occurs prior to the next scheduled practice or game.
  • Schedule changes can be put on the team website. Be aware these changes do take time to be posted so make sure this is only used if the change is not the same or next day. Also, any time you communicate using the internet or email, be conscious of those players and/or parents that do not use this means of communication on a regular basis.
  • Call each player. Put in place an Assistant to help in this arena. It is best to split the roster between a couple people and send one email when their assistance is needed in this area.

E. Website:

A great source of upcoming events is in the BYHA newsletter found on the BYHA website. The website is Encourage your parents to read it. If you know of a parent that does not have internet access, please take down their name and address so one can be mailed to them monthly. The important thing to remember is by using the on-line version of the newsletter, BYHA has saved thousands of dollars. Take names and addresses cautiously.

The BYHA website has the Association’s master calendar which has everything listed as to what’s happening and when. The BYHA website also offers each team the ability of having its own homepage for a team roster, important date and calendar events. This is also where you can give an update on your team’s progress through the season.

Each team’s home page will list a master schedule and can be used for general communication. Your team’s ice schedule, games and practices, are listed there. Use it diligently and direct your parents to use it as well. It is a quick and easy way to get communication out to the entire team at one time. When using this as a form of communication, you must be conscious of those players and/or parents that may not have access.

Other sources of hockey information include other district team sites and our Buffalo High School website. These links are on the BYHA website.

F. Hockey Trade Publications:

To get the latest standing of team rankings, tournament information, player development, etc. “Let’s Play Hockey”, is a good source of information. You can subscribe to it for home delivery or pick up the current edition at most sporting goods stores and at the Buffalo Civic Center.

Section 4: Player Roster:

A. Team Roster

Also known as the “USA Hockey Official Player Roster”. After teams have been determined for the season, the Registration Coordinator will provide official copies of the roster to the team manager to obtain signatures of all of the players and coaches. This sheet is your official team declaration. Each coach, assistant Coach, player and anyone else on the bench must sign this sheet in blue ink. Additionally each coach and player must sign the roster as the name is typed. The Registration Coordinator will then take these rosters to the District 5 Roster sign-off meeting which takes place shortly after team selections.

B. Background Checks:

Anyone that comes in contact with the players must have a background form filled out. Any parent who steps on the ice must have one. The form can be found in the Travel Team Manager web page.

Section 5: Team Budget

A. Team Assessments

At the beginning of the year, talk to your coaches and players to determine what additional activities they would like to participate in outside of those covered by the initial registration fees. Examples would be:

  • Team parties
  • Team warm-ups
  • Extra ice time
  • Referees for scrimmages
  • Team banner

Once this is determined, work out how you will fund these things throughout the year. Options available:

  • Collect money from parents for each event
  • Collect money up front from parents for the year and then provide a statement of how the money is spent
  • You or someone else from the team prepay and then request payment from the parents

Please remember a couple of things:

  • Payment for referees is due prior to the start of the scrimmage
  • Do not assume all parents can buy into the event or purchase; be discreet
  • Individuals and/or teams may not engage in independent fundraising activities without prior approval of the BYHA Board of Directors

B. Expense Reimbursement:

Any expense you incur should be reimbursed by your team and should come directly from the parents. You will need to track supplies, etc. If you want your team to reimburse your for such items.

Every “extra” needs to be paid by the team. There is no longer a “check request” option for this.

Non-parent head caches will be reimbursed by the Board of Directors for the cost of hotel accommodations for two tournaments throughout the year. Reimbursement for any additional tournaments will be up to the discretion of the tam and paid for they the team. Non-parent assistant coaches will receive one-half of the compensation amount of the head coach an done tournament hotel accommodations paid. For expense reimbursement form and any questions, contact the BYHA Treasurer.

We would like all managers to keep a spreadsheet of all money collected and how it was spent throughout the year. Parents should and can ask to see this at any time. The spreadsheet does not have to be in an Excel form but our BYHA Treasurer would like to see all teams have some sort of documentation of all team funds. This is for the managers own protection.

C. End of the Season Party:

Most teams have an end of the season party. This can be very inexpensive by having it at the arena in one of the meeting rooms. Most parties consist of pizza or potluck with trophies or certificates and coaches gifts are presented at this time. Some ideas:

  • Gift certificates to a restaurant and the local movie theater in an amount large enough to include the spouse
  • Team photo albums from the season
  • Team photo framed with each players signature on the matting

Section 6: Game Schedule

A. Games:

All district games are pre-scheduled and provided on the schedule you will find on your team website. For these games, referees have already been assigned and payment arranged. Some BYHA teams may end up playing outside of district 5 due to a lack of teams at a particular level. These teams will follow the game rules for the district that they are playing in, such as district 3 or district 10. Some of these districts have mandatory district manager meetings.

A certified and roster coach must be on the bench at all times. Remind the coaches that they will need to show the referee their coaching card during the pre-game handshake.

You will need to purchase labels to create roster stickers for your team. These are used on each copy of the score sheet. If you are the home team, you must gather the roster stickers from the visiting coach or manager. If you are the away team you must find the home coach or manager and provide to them your teams labels.

The information that needs to be included on these labels is:

  • Association name and level
  • Players home & away jersey numbers (if different) and names
  • Coaches names and certificate numbers
  • Manager name

Home games require you to have volunteers available to work the penalty boxes and act as timekeeper. Require that each parent pull a shift by making up a schedule as soon as you receive your game calendar. Do not ask, just slot them in and hand out or publish on the website. Parents that cannot fulfill their shift must find their own replacement. Anyone working in the box must be over the age of 18.

The maximum number of games as set by Minnesota Hockey for Squirt/Girls U10 A/B/C teams is 35. This total must include all league games, non-league games, scrimmage games and tournament games. Failure to follow this rule could result in all BYHA teams being barred from post-season play. This is strictly enforced by BYHA and Minnesota Hockey District 5.

Minnesota Hockey defines a controlled scrimmage as “on ice instruction wherein coaches are using whistles to stop play for teaching purposes and no clock is used, no score is kept and no officials are involved”. Anything else is considered a game.

B. Team Book:

This book you will receive from the Registration Coordinator. More information regarding its importance is under tournaments in this handout. The book must be at each game. If they check and it’s not, there will be no game. You will receive an “Official Rules of Hockey” book with your team book from the registration coordinator in the early part of November.

Once you receive your book, review it for accuracy. Make sure all players have a signed waiver. Birth certificates are no longer allowed in the team books.

C. Parent Involvement:

Use your parents. They are a vital part of the team. They should be scheduled to run the clock, penalty box and scorebook for home games. Be sure to check in with your parents throughout the season to make it run as smooth as possible.

D. Scorebook:

During home games, you are required to have someone keep the scorebook. You will need to provide a copy of the score sheet to the referee and the away team. You will need a parent volunteer to do this. To make it an official document, the referees must sign the sheet. (They also need to sign it so that they can get paid.) This sheet MUST include the district game # and teams’ association names and level. If this information is missing, the home association will be fined $10.00 for each occurrence and those fines will ultimately get charged back to your team. The HOME team must submit the original (white) copy of the score sheet via US Mail to their appropriate District 5 board member within 5 days of the date of the game. If the sheet is postmarked later than 5 days, the association will be assessed a $75.00 penalty for each occurrence which will then be assessed to the individual team.

You will need a copy of the official score sheet to turn in if your players earn the following patches:

  • Zero Award = Goalie gets a shut-out
  • Playmaker Award = Player makes three assists in one game
  • Hat Trick Award = Player makes three goals in one game

E. Referees:

District 5 schedules the referees for all league games. It is a good idea to double check with ice scheduler and/or referee scheduler if a game gets changed. If you have a complaint/issue regarding a referee, District 5 requires you to fill out a game report form which can be found on the D-5 website.

F. Fair Play Points (HEP):

The Fair Play Point is a point that is earned during a district scheduled game play for good sportsmanship and will count in the standings for District and Regional playoff games.

A team will earn their Fair Play Point by making sure all parents, coaches and players abide by fair play rules. To earn their point:

  • No coach can be kicked off the bench during the game
  • No parent can harass the officials or the players. An official will ask the coach to address their parents if necessary. If behavior does not change, Fair Play Point will not be earned.
  • No team can exceed their allotted number of penalty minutes during the game. If predetermined minutes are exceeded, you will not earn your Fair Play Point.

This point has been put in place to encourage fair and clean play by all involved.

Section 7: Team Uniform/Equipment

A. Practice Jerseys:

Practice jerseys will be supplied by BYHA.

B. Uniforms:

All teams must use BYHA supplied uniforms for all hockey activities representing BYHA unless otherwise approved of by the BYHA Board of Directors. This consists of:

  • BYHA jersey and socks. Upper level teams receive one pair of game socks. If you want your team to have home and away socks, your team will need to purchase them with your own funds.
  • Player proved black breezers for games.
  • BYHA Bauer warm-ups are considered part of the uniform. They are to be worn to & from all games.
  • BYHA colors are purple, black and white

Registration fees include the cost of the jerseys and socks.

The Equipment Manager orders the jerseys for all teams. Shortly after teams are set, you will receive a day and time that your team needs to come to the equipment room in the old arena to pick up game uniforms.

C. Team Equipment:

The following equipment will be provided to each team: