Each June, some of the members of Massachusetts Hockey Board of Directors take part in the USA Hockey Annual Congress in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This meeting is attended by USA Hockey’s board of directors and staff, representatives from every affiliate across the country, NHL teams’ youth hockey and fan development staff and more.
During this year’s Congress, USA Hockey shared that they had another record breaking year for participation – 562,145 players were part of the organization in the 2017-18 season. Of that number, a record 122,135 were at the 8U level and girls’ participation levels continue to be particularly impressive. USA Hockey also finished with a record 1,178,711 players, coaches, officials, volunteers and parents that were part of the organization in 2017-18. See Full Membership Statistics by clicking here.
Throughout each day various committees met to discuss their areas of responsibility. Daily Town Halls also help set the agenda for the upcoming season. The Girls Section, Youth Council, Coaches Section, Junior Council, and many others gathered to iron out new ideas for growth, rules, support, and programming to help our constituents grow and improve our game as well as ways to keep our players safe.
A few key rule changes were born from these intense discussions and voted on and approved during the USA Hockey Board of Director’s Sunday morning meeting:
More information on USA Hockey’s Annual Congress can be found by clicking here.
Thank you to Amateur Hockey Association Illinois, Inc. (AHAI) for providing a wonderful original breakdown, to see more click here.
To review the committee reports, minutes, elections, legislative synopsis and more that were reported click on this link.
This link will connect you to the full language and submission for the 2018 USAH Legislative Proposals that were voted on at the 2018 USA Hockey Annual Congress.
The below document is the 2018 USA Hockey Legislative Summary in Excel document format.
The language below is a short summary of the Legislative Proposals that were voted on at the 2018 USA Hockey Annual Congress. If you would like to see the complete language for any of the proposals, please click on the provided links above.
# | PROPOSAL TITLE | ANNUAL GUIDE | DESCRIPTION | STATUS | SUBMITTED BY | REFERRED TO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Adult # 1 | Rules & Regulations | Moves Women's A, B and C into Adult classification | Withdrawn | Kaufman, Gustafson, Knauss, Laing | Girls'/Women's Section, Adult Council & Youth Council |
2 | Adult # 2 | Bylaws | Allows 2 Section Directors to be elected from entire ACHA membership rather than current separation by division | Approved | Adult Council | Adult Council |
3 | Coaches # 1 | Rules & Regulations | Mandatory 30 day suspension for coach not wearing helmet during practice | Approved | Safety & Protective Committee | Coaching Section, Youth Council & SPEC |
4 | Coaches #2 | Rules & Regulations | Clarifies SafeSport requirements for coaches 18 and over | Approved | Coaching Section & SafeSport | |
5 | Disabled Hockey #1 | Rules & Regulations | Adds minimum disability requirements, age guidelines and roster rules for sled hockey, and addressing able bodied players | Approved | Disabled Hockey Section | Disabled Hockey Section, Youth Council & Registrars |
6 | Disabled Hockey #2 | Rules & Regulations | Allows for persons to assist disabled hockey coaches or players on able bodied teams | Approved | Disabled Hockey Section | Disabled Hockey Section, Risk Management & Coaching |
7 | Disabled Hockey #3 | Rules & Regulations | Adds a representative to Section from blind/visually impaired discipline | Approved | Disabled Hockey Section | Disabled Hockey Section |
8 | Girls'/Women's # 1 | Rules & Regulations | To allow for inclusion of more players in Senior C Women's division | Withdrawn | Jean Laxton & Eliza Ollinger | Girls'/Women's Section & Adult Council |
9 | Girls'/Women's # 2 | Rules & Regulations | To allow for Women's players to play in a division that better suits their current hockey abilities | Approved | Kaufman, Gustafson, Knauss, Laing | Girls'/Women's Section & Adult Council |
10 | Girls'/Women's # 3 | Rules & Regulations | Moves Women's A, B and C into Adult classification | Withdrawn | Kaufman, Gustafson, Knauss, Laing | Girls'/Women's Section, Adult Council & Youth Council |
11 | Girls'/Women's # 4 | Rules & Regulations | To provide Senior Women and Tier II girls teams additional time to signify intention to enter teams in nationals | Approved | Girl's / Women's Section | Girls'/Women's Section & Registrars |
12 | Girls'/Women's # 5 | Rules & Regulations | To provide opportunities for 12U female players to play on girls teams in geographic areas with low registration numbers | Approved | Girl's / Women's Section | Girls'/Women's Section, Youth Council & Registrars |
13 | Girls'/Women's # 6 | Rules & Regulations | To remove language allowing waivers for players under 18 to play adult women's hockey | Approved | Girl's / Women's Section | Girls'/Women's Section, Adult Council & Registrars |
14 | Girls'/Women's # 7 | Rules & Regulations | To clarify the age for players eligibility to play on teams pursuing a national championship | Died, lack of motion | Brian Reid | Girls'/Women's Section, Youth Council & Registrars |
15 | Juniors # 1 | Rules & Regulations | Modifies Tier III Junior Standards | Withdrawn | Denny Scanlon/NA3HL | Junior Council |
16 | Juniors # 2 | Rules & Regulations | Provides that no refund is due to a player that leaves for a non-sanctioned team | Withdrawn | Denny Scanlon/NA3HL | Junior Council & Legal Council |
17 | Juniors # 3 | Rules & Regulations | Allows for a Junior Council subcommittee to address expansion requests | Defeated | John Vanbiesbrouck | Junior Council & Legal Council |
18 | Juniors # 4 | Rules & Regulations | Confirms that Tier I and II expansion is still subject to USAH approval | Approved | John Vanbiesbrouck | Junior Council |
19 | Juniors # 5 | Rules & Regulations | Addresses refund due for player that is released/cut by his Tier III Junior team | Approved | John Vanbiesbrouck | Junior Council |
20 | Juniors # 6 (Approved at Winter Meeting) | Rules & Regulations | Removes Tier I standards from Annual Guide and moves toward league sanctioning agreement | Approved | John Vanbiesbrouck | Junior Council & Legal Council |
21 | Juniors # 7 | Rules & Regulations | Changes Tier II probationary status to provisional, and removes ability for Junior Council to allow exceptions | Approved | Mark Frankenfeld/NAHL | Junior Council |
22 | Juniors # 8 | Rules & Regulations | Allows for Tier II expansion requests to be kept confidential | Approved | Mark Frankenfeld/NAHL | Junior Council |
23 | Juniors # 9 | Rules & Regulations | Provides a protected radius of 75 miles for all Tier II Junior teams | Defeated | Mark Frankenfeld/NAHL | Junior Council & Legal Council |
24 | Juniors #10 | Rules & Regulations | Tryouts for Tier II Junior may begin after Tier II nationals (removes reference to Tier III nationals) | Withdrawn | Mark Frankenfeld/NAHL | Junior Council |
25 | Juniors # 11 | Rules & Regulations | Increases lower age limit for Junior subject to exceptions for Tier I and II | Defeated | Joseph Kolodziej | Junior Council & Youth Council |
26 | Juniors # 12 | Rules & Regulations | Modifies Player Rights Rules and Responsibilities to address timing for refunds and payments due | Withdrawn | Mark Kumpel | Junior Council |
27 | Juniors # 13 | Rules & Regulations | Provides for an injured reserve list for Tier II Junior | Approved | Denny Scanlon/NA3HL | Junior Council |
28 | Juniors # 14 | Rules & Regulations | Creates a Tier III A classification | Withdrawn | Denny Scanlon/NA3HL | Junior Council |
29 | Legal # 1 | Policies | Removes Confidentiality Policy from Conflict of Interest and creates a separate policy | Approved | Charles Fuertsch | Legal Council |
30 | Legal # 2 | Bylaws | Provides that an Affiliate may charge a reasonable fee for appeals | Approved | Charles Fuertsch | Legal Council |
31 | Legal # 3 | Bylaws | Clarifies Bylaw 10 does not apply to all civil matters -- not just personal injury | Approved | Charles Fuertsch | Legal Council |
32 | Legal #4 | Bylaws | Allows for Executive Committee to submit legislative proposals after review of submissions from public | Approved | Bill Hall | Legal Council |
33 | Legal # 5 | Policies | Modifies the Conflict of Interest Policy (rewrite and update to present circumstances) | Approved | Charles Fuertsch | Legal Council |
34 | Legal # 6 | Bylaws | Allows for emergency board meetings so long as 90% of Directors waive 15 day notice requirement | Approved | Bill Hall | Legal Council |
35 | Legal #7 | Bylaws | Provides for length of term for District Section representatives that are elected and makes them consistent | Approved | Bill Hall | Legal Council, Girls'/Women's, High School and Disabled Hockey Sections |
36 | Officials # 1 | Rules & Regulations | Recognizes current officials registration process & creates "tenured" status for level 3/4 officials with 3 years at that level | Approved | Officials Section | Officials Section & Legal Council |
37 | Officials # 2 | Policies | Updates the Zero Tolerance Policy | Approved | Officials Section | Officials Section & Playing Rules Committee |
38 | SafeSport # 1 | Policies | Clarifies jurisdiction over members for SafeSport | Approved | Charles Fuertsch | Legal Council & SafeSport |
39 | Youth # 1 | Rules & Regulations | To align language with current practice for Nationals | Approved | National Championships Committee | Youth Council |
40 | Youth # 2 | Rules & Regulations | To modify fee determination for District tournaments | Approved | Mike Mulhall | Youth Council |
41 | Youth # 3 | Rules & Regulations | Requires Tier I District tournaments to occur after January 1st to support full season programs | Approved | Glenn Hefferan | Youth Council |
42 | Youth # 4 | Rules & Regulations | Requires Youth and Girls National Tournament bound Tier I teams to be full season | Withdrawn | Glenn Hefferan | Youth Council |
43 | Youth #5 | Rules & Regulations | To raise competitive standards for Tier I National Tournament Bound teams (requiring more games to qualify for nationals) | Withdrawn | Glenn Hefferan | Youth Council |
44 | Youth # 6 | Rules & Regulations | To clarify that the Youth classification is not restricted to male players | Approved | Don Gould | Youth Council, Girls'/Women's Section & Registrars |
45 | Youth # 7 | Rules & Regulations | Housekeeping regarding definition of a game in a National Tournament | Withdrawn | Mike Mulhall | Youth Council |
Proposals below were passed by Executive Committee for ratification by the Board of Directors:
# | PROPOSAL TITLE | ANNUAL GUIDE | DESCRIPTION | STATUS | SUBMITTED BY | REFERRED TO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
46 | Junior #15 | Rules & Regulations | Removal of January 15 deadline for transfer of non-US citizens, making transfer dates and deadlines the same for all players. | Approved | Junior Council | Junior Council |
47 | Junior #16 | Rules & Regulations | Upon entry into a Tier II League Sanctioning Agreement, removes Tier II standards from Annual Guide and moves to league sanctioning agreement | Approved | John Vanbiesbrouck | Junior Council |
48 | Junior #17 | Rules & Regulations | To align with the number of affiliate players the USHL currently has on their affiliate player list. | Approved | International Council | Junior Council |
Tag(s): Home