Brian Varga: Minor hockey early registration deadline June 30

By Sean Rooney on June 29, 2014.

This submitted column from Medicine Hat Minor Hockey Association general manager Brian Varga was intended to run in the News this past week. We apologize for not getting it in and are posting it here even though it’s late.

Minor Hockey Update.

On June 30^th it will be Medicine Hat Minor Hockey Association last day for early registration for the upcoming season. You have two options available to register with one being in office at an extra $25 fee or online with no added fee. If you miss this date of June 30 a late fee will be charged of $200.00 per player. These two options are for players who played in our association last year. Please note that new players that have not formally played for us can register up until September 15.

Numbers as of June 22 show that in order to have a City League in both Peewee and Bantam we need more to register in those divisions. Just to let everyone know what numbers we have so far it is as follows for City League Hockey. Midgets there is one registered, in Bantam we have 4, and in Peewee we have 14. In information packages please let it be known that in order to have a viable City League occur we need 48 players in each age category with 4 of those being goalies. This will give us 4 teams that will compete throughout the season.

One main question that comes our way is â€œwhy do we have to register so earlyâ€. The reason we ask our members to do so is with regards to our ice bookings for the season. We have to ask for our ice in May, so we would like to know our registration numbers so we can plan for the hockey season. By having 80% of players registered by the end of June we can plan in July and August based on the numbers that come into us by then. We appreciate all that have registered up to this time.

Other info that may be of help to our membership is that the season starts on the 25^th of August for our AAA programs with Cahl starting the middle of September with the rest of out teams starting the end of September and the first weekend in October.

We hope that you can make some time in the next week to register your child for the upcoming 2014/15 season. Deadline is Monday June 30^th. As is every year we are looking for coaches at all levels for the upcoming season. If you are interested please go to our website and click on the coaching application. Interested coaches will have all expenses with certification covered this season as you take the courses.

If you should have any further questions about any hockey issue please call the Minor Hockey office at 403-527-5773 or the GM at 403-866-4901.