Hockey Edmonton Covid19 Update

Executive Summary

Feb 12, 2021

Hockey Edmonton has announced fee reductions for this hockey season. The Team Fee has been reduced by 50%, the Permits and Discipline Fee has been eliminated as has the charge for Quikcard Edmonton Minor Hockey Week. This means the average cost per player has gone from about one hundred dollars to less than fifty dollars.

Most of the player fee is charged by the Home Association, which is responsible for costs such as ice, referees, jerseys and operating costs. Home Associations will calculate their refunds at the end of the season, which is set for April 30.
Background

The Hockey Edmonton Board of Directors met this week and finalized the details surrounding fee reductions for our members. We worked long to determine a fair refund while recognizing Hockey Edmonton and its partner organizations have both fixed and variable costs, and the viability of the organizations must be kept in mind.

We also ask members to be cognizant of the fact most players skated for approximately 2.5 months of a traditional 7-month season, including the evaluation and placement phases. We realize for some teams that meant practices only with no game play.
Further complicating the situation is the sudden permission we received to resume physically-distanced practices this week, play which is slated to continue until the end of April, which would add almost three more months to this strange season. This home stretch could include game play, health conditions permitting.

After taking all that and more into consideration, the Board agreed to following moves:
• 50% reduction in Team Fees (Team Fees vary for various age groups and leagues)
• 100% reduction in Team Fee for Permits and Discipline ($25/Team)
• 100% reduction in Quikcard Edmonton Minor Hockey Week Fee ($135/Team)
Hockey Edmonton charges fees by the team rather than by the player.
Information Bulletin February 12, 2021

We have used a U13 Team as an example in the graph below so you can see how this refund will work. Our fee reductions come after similar refunds were announced by Hockey Canada and Hockey Alberta.

U13 Team Fee Summary (based on 16 players per team)
2020-21 Team Fee
Revised 2020-21 Team Fee
Discount %

Hockey Canada Fee
$380.00
$129.44
66%

Hockey Alberta Fee
$504.00
$294.00
42%

Hockey Edmonton Fee
$695.00
$348.00
50%

Quikcard Edmonton Minor Hockey Week Fee
$135.00
$0.00
100%

Discipline & Sanction Fee
$25.00
$0.00
100%
 

Total 2020-21 Team Fees $1,739.00 $771.44 56%
Average Cost per Player $108.69 $48.22 56%
         

One exception is Rec League teams which will see a 100% of their Team Fee refunded since they did not see any games in their game-only league.
Refund Process

Hockey fees are paid directly to your Home Association, not Hockey Edmonton. Therefore, all refunds will come to you directly from your Home Association. Hockey Edmonton will provide refunds through the Home Associations, not directly to individual players.
   

Hockey Canada & Hockey Alberta refunds paid through Hockey Edmonton

Next Steps

Hockey Edmonton refund (plus Hockey Alberta & Hockey Canada refunds) paid to Home Association
Home Association Refund: Portion of Registration Fees plus refunds from Hockey Edmonton Hockey Alberta Hockey Canada
Individual Member receives refund at conclusion of season
   

Home Associations are busy organizing their teams and ice times and this is set to continue until the end of April and could scale up to include games, health conditions permitting. The vast majority of players are excited to get back on the ice. We know there are some families who are not ready to return to play right now for a variety of reasons. They have every right to withdraw and we understand and respect those decisions. We ask those players’ parents to alert their team and/or home association of your intentions as soon as possible, if you haven’t already done so.

The people in the association can then plan accordingly and ensure all future activities meet the restrictions set out by Alberta Health. For example, those officials may need to move some players to similar aged/skilled teams in order to have the proper number of participants on the ice.

Once the season has wrapped up, the Home Associations will reconcile their finances and determine the final refund for all players. They will then communicate directly to their members the process and timeline for refunds.

Finally, a majority of our members have expressed a desire to continue playing hockey into the spring, health conditions permitting. We are planning a development program in May and June which will come with a separate registration process and fee. We will have more details in the weeks ahead.
This is not the hockey season we imagined. We realize we have fallen short of delivering the program players and parents expected. We continue to work hard to make the best of this challenging season.

We thank all the players, families, coaches and team officials for their continued commitment and perseverance.

Sincerely,
Steve Hogle General Manager Hockey Edmonton

February 2, 2021

Regular season cancellation spurs talk of refunds & spring hockey

Hockey Alberta’s cancellation of the balance of the minor hockey league seasons across the province has spurred conversations on two fronts: refunds of fees and spring hockey options.

As we have said all along, there will be a refund of fees. We will be sending them to our member organizations and interlock partners; they, in turn, will refund the hockey families. We are working through the process as quickly as possible. We are waiting to hear details from Hockey Canada and Hockey Alberta as to how much they will reduce their fees so we can pass on those refunds, as well as one from Hockey Edmonton.

Costs will vary since there are different types of programs within our organization and teams have had varying numbers of games and practices earlier this season. As well, as we have mentioned previously, we need to be mindful all these organizations have fixed operating costs that must be considered to ensure financial stability and future operations.

Our members have also expressed an overwhelming desire to play hockey as soon as possible. We have secured ice slots and are ready to re-launch should health restrictions be eased March 1. Those restrictions will shape the on-ice activities. For example, they may force us to begin with physically distanced ice sessions with an emphasis on skill development. If that is indeed the case, we will advance to game activities as soon as we have the green light. These activities would end by April 30, as some kids want to head off to other activities such as baseball and soccer.

For the many parents and players who have told us they want to keep playing, we have plans for development programs in May and June, health conditions permitting. We are pulling out all stops to provide hockey activities for our children because the majority of our members have made it clear they want this kind of programming. They have told us their kids not only love the game but that they need this kind of outlet more than ever for their physical and mental well-being.

It would have been easiest to simply shut down all hockey operations and start planning for next year. We chose to fight to get our kids back on the ice. We know there have been complaints about what we have done and speculation as to what we did not do. I want to assure you we have worked hard lobbying the province throughout the season, demonstrating how we did things safely when our kids were able to play as well as how they could safely return to the ice.

We thank our hockey family for the ongoing understanding and support during this trying season. We hope to see our kids back on the ice soon.

Steve Hogle 

General Manager

Joe Spatafora

President