GAME CHANGER: COACHING NEWS

St. Albert Minor Hockey & the coaches site

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We are excited to announce a two-year partnership with The Coaches Site and provide you with an opportunity to purchase a 12-month membership for only $50. To demonstrate our commitment to supporting your education on and off the ice, SAMHA has subsidized the cost of this membership to this low price. The standard 12-month membership rate is $149.99. 

Contact us to learn more(admin@samha.ca).

What is The Coaches Site
The Coaches Site provides a platform for the global hockey community to learn from the game's top coaches, leaders and performance experts. This is shared through over 2,000 pieces of content, covering skill breakdowns, leadership videos, drills and tactics analysis - with resources for coaches at every level of the game.
What a membership includes
A membership unlocks an entire website of content, including 1,500+ articles, 500+ hours of video presentations, and 750+ drills. Members also receive a weekly newsletter highlighting new and relevant content on The Coaches Site and can participate in virtual coaching conferences (2x per year) to earn maintenance points towards their Hockey Canada coach certification.
You can explore more at thecoachessite.com

Coach FAQ

I have heard people talk about the “2 Deep Method” in the Locker Room, what is it?

Players should be supervised at all times. A lone bench staff member should never be in the dressing room with players at any time, especially when they are showering or changing. Two adults should be present together, which is called the "Two Deep Method" of supervision. 

My team has been invited to play an HSL or non-sanctioned team, can we do that?

At this time, minor hockey teams registered with Hockey Alberta (Hockey Canada) are only permitted to play in Hockey Canada sanctioned exhibition games and tournaments.

What is an affiliate player?

Affiliate players are chosen according to SAMHA'S Affiliation Policy to be placed on the team's HCR roster.  Affiliate players are used to fill spots on a team for games or practices when the team has sick or injured players and, in some cases, suspended players.  EFHL does not allow teams to use affiliates in place of suspended players. IMPORTANT:  Affiliated players can practice with a team once listed on the team's HCR Roster; however, they cannot participate in gameplay until they are marked as APPROVED on the team's HCR Roster.

Does the Association reimburse me for mandatory Coach courses?
Yes.  Our coaches can apply to seek reimbursement of course fees that are required for the current season as per Hockey Alberta's Coach Course requirements for the team's level of play.  For reimbursement receipt of payment needs to be forwarded to the office.

All coach clinic reimbursement cheques will be issued on November 15th. Any claims received after this date will be reimbursed between January 15th - January 31st. 

COACH REIMBURSEMENT FORM

One of the players or bench staff is suspended; can they come to practice?
Yes, suspensions issued by the league or Hockey Albert apply to games.
 
Any further suspensions issued by SAMHA or Hockey Alberta may include exclusion from all team activities. If a player or coach is suspended from all team activities this will be clearly communicated.
 
A suspension can only be served in the league or sanctioned tournament games.
My team is Tier 3 and we want to play an exhibition game with Tier 2 can we do that?

Yes if both teams agree, and an exhibition permit has been approved, the exhibition game can proceed.

What is a Travel Permit and do I require one?
Travel permits are required to play any away games (tournament or exhibition) that are not a regular league games.  Your manager can apply for a travel permit. You need to apply for a permit approximately one week before your game or tournament. Travel Permit forms can be found under the SAMHA Resources/Manager/Permit Application Form.  DO NOT FORGET TO GET A PERMIT.  
 
What is an exhibition game permit?

Your team needs to apply for an exhibition game permit when you are the home team for an exhibition game.  If you have booked ice outside of St Albert, the home exhibition game will serve as your exhibition game permit and your travel permit, you do not have to apply for both. Permits can be found under Resources/Managers/Permit Application Form

Our team wants to attend a tournament outside of Alberta or Canada, is this allowed?
Yes, your team can attend a tournament outside of the province or country as long as a travel permit has been approved.  These approvals require additional processing time, so ensure you apply for the permit as soon as you have a sanction number from the tournament committee. 
 
Tournaments outside of the country may also require additional insurance and documentation at the border depending on if guardians are attending the tournament or not.  It is normal to provide special documentation at the border if only one parent is taking a player. The other parent has to sign a form, and the form needs to be notarized and accompany the travelling parent and player.
A parent on our team was displaying very poor behaviour at one of our games, how can I deal with this?
If you feel that you can deal with the behaviour with a simple discussion with the family, you can do so with another witness (preferably the manager), but wait 24 hours before speaking to the family so that both parties have had time to review their behaviour.
 
Please ensure the meeting is documented and both parties sign off on what was discussed. If you feel the behaviour of parents, players etc. continues, then the Division Director should be included in a further meeting, this meeting should be documented also by all parties in attendance.  It is key to report any incident promptly, so the behaviour is documented and dealt with.
 
After my practice I have an event to attend, can I shower in the dressing room with the players?

No. bench staff are not allowed to use the showers at the facilities under any circumstances.

Who is responsible for the dressing room cleanliness?

As the head coach you should be the last person to walk through the dressing room and ensure that the dressing room clean and nothing is broken or destroyed in any way.  This would be for all practices and home and away games. If you have to leave and cannot do the walk through, then please assign an Assistant Coach to take on this responsibility. It is a good practice to address dressing room expectations with your players.  Players should have the utmost respect for facilities in both our home arena and also dressing rooms in visiting arenas. Teams that leave dressing rooms untidy or have caused destruction of property will be liable for fines or fees that are sent to SAMHA, and may face further discipline.

I have noticed that some of my players are vaping in the dressing room, what should I do?

Please communicate team rules to your players.  The City of St Albert arenas do not allow vaping, smoking, drugs or alcohol, nor does SAMHA or Hockey Alberta allow players or bench staff to partake in these behaviours in the arena and violating such rules can result in suspensions, fines, loss of facility use.

My team has dryland; do the bench staff members need to attend?

It is not mandatory for bench staff to attend dryland, but it is advised that at least two of the bench staff members attend to help to supervise the players.  It is a learning opportunity for all coaches when they attend dryland.

We are at our game and the refs have not shown up, can I call a referee that I know?
No. Only referees assigned by the home association can ref league or home exhibition/tournament games.  There is a Hockey Alberta rule that if no refs show up, both teams agree on who will ref the game until the referees arrive. The selected person must be on one of the team's HCR rosters.
 
For SAMHA home games, please contact the referee assignor or referee-in-chief if there are no refs at your home game, so they can follow up with the ref that is absent and arrange for someone to attend the game.
One of my players received a penalty that may incur a suspension, and our team manager sent in the game sheet and incident report to the league or tournament liaison, but I have not heard back and we have a game in 30 minutes, can I assume there isn’t a suspension if we haven’t heard back yet?
No.  Never play a player that you suspect may receive a suspension.  If you are not sure, it is best to err on the side of caution and not play that player.  If a suspended player is listed as participating in a game, the Head Coach and player can face suspensions.
 
If you sit the player and they end up getting a suspension then the game they sat in will go towards the suspension notice. 
 
 
My team is short players for our exhibition game, tournament, or league game, can I just borrow a player from another team or bring a sibling of one of our players to play in our game?

No.  Only players on the team's HCR roster can play in a game.  This would include properly registered affiliate players. 

 

Playing an illegible player results in an indefinite suspension of the Head Coach. 

I have two children in SAMHA and I am part of the bench staff for one of my children's teams, can my other son come on the ice for my teams practice?

No. Only players listed on the team's HCR roster can go be on the ice for practice or games. 

We are short coaches for our game, can one of our parents come on the bench to help?

No. Only bench staff registered to the team HCR Roster are allowed on the ice/bench for practices or games.

Can one of our parents who have their skates help on the ice, as an on ice helper?

No. Only bench staff registered to the team HCR Roster are allowed on the ice/bench for practices or games.

What does “bench staff” mean?

Bench staff are the team's head coach, assistant coaches, goalie coaches, trainers.

Bench staff are not allowed on the ice for practices or games unless registered on the team's HCR Roster. To be registered on the team HCR Roster, bench staff require a current Criminal Record check (CRC) and the Respect in Sports Activity Leader Course.  (Parent Respect In Sport does not replace coaching Respect in Sport) 

The Head Coach must have the required coach courses for the level of play.  You can find out which courses are required on the Hockey Alberta website under Coaches - Coach Education - Requirements.  

Each team MUST have one member of their bench staff with a current Hockey Canada Safety Course, except for the U7 & U9 Divisions; for these Divisions, two members of the bench staff must have the course.   

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St. Albert Minor Hockey Association

66 Hebert Road, St. Albert

780.459.4052

admin@samha.ca