Meeting Minutes

IWCHL Spring Meeting Scheduled for April 12,2025

IWCHL Fall Meeting Sept 21, 2024 (Virtual)

 

Agenda
● Approve the Spring 2024 meeting minute
● Commissioner announcement
● Confirmation of Presidential teams
● Confirmation of Adirondack teams
● Confirmation of Berkshire and Associate teams
● Discuss playoffs
● IWCHL required team documents
○ Team Rosters
○ Game Schedules
○ Player ID forms
● ACHA required documents
● Legal updates
● Website and Social Media
● Spring meeting 2025
● Open Discussion
● George Starr/referee rules change / Times listed for games are puck drop - not time on ice.

DRAFT VERSION of Meeting Minutes

10:00 AM - Meeting opened

10:

Attendance - 

Jeff Hird

Lindsey Bell

Brian Donahoe

George Starr

 

Teams not in attendance throughout whole meeting

WPI

Westfield

UML

Fairfield

 

Teams that entered late

Holy Cross

UNH

 

Stonehill motions to approve 2024 spring meeting minutes

UVM seconds

No discussion

unanimous pass

 

Jeff announces commissioner announcements

Jessey resignation

Jeff takes responsibility for commissioner duties as executive director

 

Confirmed presidential teams

Confirmed Adirondack 

Confirmed Berkshire

Confirmed Associate

 

Berkshires playoffs

Smith and Mount Holyoke want a playoff game

talk to fairfield

*email holy cross, need roster in before game this week

 

Legal update

  Need minutes for all meetings in order to be legal

upgrade website feature. Allows teams to upload rosters and member contact information directly onto the website. This will be a secure, log-in site for members only. Additional $250 on top of the $400-500 base fee. 

 

Jeff Hird proposes an additional $55 to the league dues. 

 

Stonehill Motions, Northeastern seconds. Passes unanimously. 

 

Update social media pages. 

 

Spring 2025 - may be required to have an in person meeting once a year

Stonehill motions to move spring meeting to the 12th of April

Northeastern seconds, no objections, passes unanimously

 

George Starr rule changes update

 

Jeff Hird talking points - 

 

Adirondack team schedules

Teams play each other twice, doesn’t matter if theyre home or away. 

UNE expresses concern for late notice and not having available ice times. 

Dan Norton from Bridgewater proposes a game requirement of playing each team once, and then a minimum of x amount of games on top. Objective for every Adirondack team to play every other team twice. 

 

Teams need to communicate two weeks prior to a game in order to confirm games. Reminder on forfeit rules, teams that cancel within the 2 week period are responsible for costs put on the hosting team. A game will only be considered a forfeit if all efforts have been stretched. 

 

Open discussion

 

Smith college asks about the 10 game minimum? Jeff asks Berkshire teams that the league would prefer them to play 7 to 8 games. 

 

George Starr, asks that the listed times on the HorizonWebRef is to be the times that the puck drops. 

 

Brian reminds teams to record game results and take pictures of the game sheets and have them submitted to him within 24 hours. 

 

Plan to have the spring meeting virtually for the time being, unless Jeff Hird is informed that we need an in person meeting. 

 

Augusta Crow from Northeastern asks for clarification to schedule submitting process

 

Sophia from Providence College, asks for clarification on ACHA and IWCHL roster submissions. 

 

Abby Bassett from UVM asks Assumption to reach out to schedule games. 

 

11:35pm - Motion to adjourn, Northeastern…Seconded from UMaine…No one opposed…meeting adjourned. 

 

IWCHL Spring Meeting April 20,2024 (Virtual) - Minutes Approved 21Sept24

Start @10am

Attendance -

Merrimack

Anthony Dilarenzo

Bates

Bentley

BC

BU

Bridgewater

CMCC

Dartmouth

Fairfield

Geroge Starr

Paul Smiths

Jeff Hird

Mount Holyoke

Northeastern

Nowrich

Providence College

Saint Anselms

Springfield

Stonehill

Smith

UConn

Umaine

Umass Lowell

UNE

UNH

UVM

Westfield

Wheaton

MIT

Casey Gerrish

Steve and Kurt from GameSheet

Assumption

Wheaton

Attendance after 11:30am -

Merrimack

Providence

Bates

Bentley

BC

BU

Bridgewater

Paul Smiths

Dartmouth

Fairfield

George Starr

Sacred Heart

Norwich

Mount Holyoke

Northeastern

Saint A’s

Smith

Springfield

Stonehill

Uconn

Umaine

UNE

UNH

UVM

Harvard

Wheaton

Dave Gonyea from CMCC

10:09am - Agenda summary

10:11am - Division and Subdivsion changes

- Norwich wants to stay in Adirondack

- Paul Smiths potentially leaving the league entirely

- Bridgewater would like to move back into the Adirondack

- Motion set by Mike, Seconded by Stonehill, unanimously accepted

10:19am - Presidential subdivision breakdown discussion

- Removing the subdivision split from North to South teams

- tabled at 10:26am for the GameSheet representative

10:26am - GameSheet Demo

- Costs = 5$ per player

- Free download from App Store

- Can pull the submitted rosters on USA Hockey and directly move to GameSheet

- 15 games would be $60 per team

- 11:25am GameSheet signed off

11:25am - debrief on GameSheet

- Tabling vote to later meeting

11:33am - Resume discussion on Divisional changes

- Discussion of keeping Curry in the league

- Tabling vote for the presidential division realignment until a later date

11:45am - Prospective New Teams

- Drew not on, Tufts not on, CMCC is on: Dave Gonyea

- CMCC would like to join, UNE Motions, Bates and Norwich seconded, CMCC

accepted as an associated team

- Norwich motions to accept Drew and Tufts as associate members, Harvard

seconded

11:55am - Officer Elections

- President, Lindsey Bell

- Vice President, Kaitlin Bardellini

- Treasurer, Maddison David

- Secretary,

- PR Officer,

- Motion made by Norwich to accept the current President, Vice President and

Treasurer and to elect Secretary and PR officer at a later date, Seconded by

Bridgewater, unanimously approved

12:06pm - Policy reminders

- Game cancellation policy reminders

- Topics of discussion to help the game canceling issue - roster minimum at the

beginning of season, increasing the dues, enforce the playoff eligibility rule,

increasing accountability, involve the league in billing issues between schools

- Sportsmanship reminder

- Reminder about referees and the requirement of Horizon Web Ref for Presidential and

Adirondack

- Reminder about athletic trainers

- All policies, if violated, should result in a forfeit

12:44pm - playoff discussion

- Rundown of past locations and dates for the tournaments

- Lovell seems to be the favorite

- Motion from Norwich to play all divisional playoffs on the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd,

Seconded by UNE and Bridgewater, unanimously approved

1:02pm - Further proposals and impacts on Dues

- Lawyer to review and edit our bylaws

- yearly accountant to file taxes if need be

- zoom pro or google meets

- new website costs

1:16pm - Weekly Newsletter

- Things to add in the newsletter, player of the weekend recognition, academic recognition

1:20pm - Other items/future impacts to the league

- Live-streaming games

- Adirondack governing bodies

- PWHL game

1:30pm - zoom meeting

- May 23rd at 730pm, presidential playoff discussion and whole league vote on officers

1:34pm - Meeting adjourned

IWCHL Fall Meeting Sept 16, 2023

IWCHL Meeting Fall 2023

September 16th 2023 - 10AM

VIA Zoom due to Hurricane Lee

 

Present: Norwich, Mount  Holyoke, Holy Cross, Providence, Bridgewater, UNH, BU, UConn, Union, Northeastern, Bridgewater, UNE, UMaine, Springfield, Curry, UVM, Harvard, Stonehill, BC, Bates, Sacred Heart, Assumption, Merrimack, UMass Lowell, Smith, Westfield State, Wheaton, UMaine, Bentley

Missing Pres. Saint As

Missing Adirondack: Paul Smith

Missing Berkshire: Fairfield

 

ACHA reminders from Rachel

IWCHL reminders from Jessey, dues, Refs, rosters

Website reminders from Brian Donahue

Treasurer Notes from Abby, pay dues, contact if questions

PR Notes, send in pics from any team events, live streaming playoffs/games

Idea to elect officers in fall meeting so new officers can learn from old officers

 

Mt Holyoke motioned to do exclusively virtual meetings

Sacred heart seconds

No opposition

 

Updated rule change video from George Starr

 

Review of divisional breakdown

 

UNE motions to keep george as ref in chief for adirondack

Curry seconds

No opposition

 

Idea to have a central location to put open ice teams for teams to see

Brian says he would make an empty ice slot on schedule

 

Send officer descriptions to league for open positions

 

IWCHL Division Meetings June 22, 2024

 

6PM Presidential

7:30PM Adirondack

 

Presidential Meeting 6PM 6/22/23

Introduction by IWCHL President Lindsey Bell

Every team has a representative in attendance

Board introductions

Division breakdown, North and South, Red and Blue, 3 divisions, or random draw

North South is geographical

Red Blue is scrambled

3 divisions would lower the amount of games required to play

Random draw would leave it up to chance which teams would play twice, no divisions

Question from BU about North South split

Explanation from commissioner Jessey Heigh

Question from Bentley about 3 divisions

Question from Sacred Heart about more than two divisions
Suggestion to allow teams to select which teams in other subdivision that they want to play

open for opinion

Questions from UVM and BC regarding division breakdowns

BU motions for option A, North South split

Saint As seconds that motion

BC is opposed

Motion passes, no one else opposed

14 game minimum, 19 game maximum

 

Recap email to Pres division

 

Hello all,

 

As discussed in the meeting this evening, the division breakdown will be:

North: Bentley, BU, Merrimack, St. Anselm, UNH, UVM, Harvard

South: Assumption, BC, Holy Cross, Northeastern, Providence, UConn, SHU

Each team will play the team in their division twice and each team in the other division once. There will still be a 14 game minimum following ACHA rules and IWCHL bylaws.

 

Thank you,

IWCHL Officers

 

Adirondack Meeting 7:30PM 6/22/23

Reminder about creation of berkshire division

UML, Norwich, UMaine, Bates, Union, UNE, Springfield, Colby-Sawyer, Paul Smith all present

Officer introduction

Options for division split

East West

East: Bates, Curry, Stonehill, Umaine, UNE

West: Norwich, Paul Smith, Springfield, Union, UML

North South

 

Question about potentially for two year arrangement

Discussions between teams about two year commitments

 

Motion to go with East West from Norwich

UNE seconds

Motion passes, no one opposed

 

Intention to keep this breakdown for a two year commitment

 

Suggestion by Springfield to get teams together to schedule together in online meetings

Both east and west teams like this idea


IWCHL Spring Meeting April 22, 2023
(St Anselm)

Spring 2023 IWCHL Meeting

4/22/23

 

11AM - Check in, QR code attendance

Introduction by Commissioner Jessey Heigh

Treasurer handing back deposit checks

George Starr requests that all teams make sure to pay referee bill

PR Notes presented by Rachel, PR position open for the upcoming season

11:25 Introduction of roles of officers, vice president and pr completely open, other positions

open if an individual wants to run

Lindsey Bell from Merrimack candidate for president

Question regarding time commitment for vice president position, answered by Lindsey Bell

Question on meeting commitment for board from UNH representative

Lilian Patrylo UML candidate for Vice President

Jade Owirka UML candidate for Secretary

Abby O'keefe Merrimack candidate for treasurer

Audrey McMillen from Bentley, Stella Divilla from UVM candidates for PR

Suggestion from Lindsay Bell to co-run the PR position, both candidates agree

Right now, motion to elect

Kaitlyn from Northeastern motions for the new board

Lexi from Boston University seconds the motion

Lindsey President, Lilian VP, Abby Treasurer, Jade Secretary, Audrey PR

 

11:45 playoff ice discussion

No merrimack playoff ice this year

Suggestion to push playoff dates back one weekend to give more time for teams to get their

required games in with still leaving a weekend for makeups

Jeff mentions that if we move it back one week, it could make a problem for ACHA nationals bid

Motion to keep playoffs the second week of February from Springfield

Second this motion from Curry college

10 for second week Merrimack,Umaine, Curry, assumption, UNH, Westfield, wheaton,

springfield, norwich, uvm, smith

10 for third week Northeastern, st as, stonehill, bentley, bu, bc, dartmouth, harvard, UNE, uml,

providence, bridgewater

Red does not count as they are associate

Mt holyoke and bates abstained

George Starr says its harder to find refs the later in the month that it gets

BU proposes a motion to table this vote until the end, UNE seconds the motion

 

12PM - Point system review

Formally making it clear that we are using the 3-2-1-0 point system for presidential and the 2-1-0

point system for adirondack

 

12PM - 3rd division proposal

Question regarding westfield taking keene’s spot again, keene not likely for next season

 

Suggestion that all new teams join lower divisions before presidential, associate or at least

adirondack before the jump to a higher level

Discussion on if a school would have two teams in the league, needs exclusive rosters

3rd division, less games, shorter periods

UNE asked about having a second team in the league be in the new 3rd division

Smith mentions that we do not need shorter periods in the 3rd division because even with a short

roster everyone is able to play

17 minute periods, 10+ games, yes playoffs

Wheaton, Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Bridgewater, Westfield all interested in joining 3rd division

Concern about westfield joining 3rd division as they are a talented team

Idea for 8 division wide games required for playoffs, exhibition games allowed

Curry made a motion for the third division, mt. holyoke seconds

Stonehill opposes it

Only one nay, still passes

Open discussion on 3rd division

Naming

Mt Holyoke motions for Berkshires

Westfield seconds

 

12:40 Moving teams around divisions

Sacred Heart presentation

Sacred Heart voted in as a presidential team

Union presentation

 

UNE motions to bring Union into the adirondack

UML seconds

Union elected into the adirondack division

Harvard presentation

Bentley motions to bring Harvard into the presidential

BC seconds

Harvard elected into the presidential division

 

1PM Bylaws

Not going to go through all 17 pages

Jessey as a director elected into the board suggestion

Adirondack will be required to use referee in chief in new bylaws

Stonehill disagrees with this

Motion by mt holyoke for presidential and adirondack to use referee in chief, berkshire division

will not require it

Seconded by smith

No one opposed

Tabled regarding who the adirondack referee in chief though

Reorder league staff, officers, and where executive director falls under because you have to file

with the state every year where it currently falls

Definition of what is required to be in good standing with the league: eg pay your financial

obligations, ref fees and dues

Notes on game scheduling; rules for canceling games

 

Removal of charter team membership rules

Stonehill motions to approve bylaws as provided

Bridgewater seconds

No opposition

Reminder that ACHA meeting is next saturday

 

2PM New vote for playoff weekend

Presidential vote

BC motions for 3rd week

St As seconds that

 

Adirondack vote

Bentley motions for 2nd week

UNE seconds

UML opposes

Motion passes for 2nd week

 

Berkshire

Bridgewater motions for 3rd week

Holyoke seconds

 

Meeting End 2:06PM

 


 

IWCHL Fall Meeting Sept 17, 2022
Merrimack College - Blue Line Club 
All motions passed are larger font - bold, italic, underlined,

 

Meeting start 10:41
 

○ President - Grace Reardon

○ Vice President - Lindsey Bell

○ Treasurer - Abby O’Keefe

○ Secretary - Jade Owirka

○ Public Relations - Caroline McDonough

Sign in at the end of the meeting if you haven’t already

Divisions and Conferences

Presidential North

Presidential South

Adirondack West

Adirondack West

Bentley

Assumption                     

Keene  

Bates

BU

BC

Mount Holyoke

Bridgewater State

Merrimack College

Holy Cross

Norwich University

Curry

St A’s

Northeastern

Paul Smith’s

Stonehill

UVM

Providence College

Springfield

UMaine

UNH

UConn

Smith College

UMass Lowell

 

 

 

UNE


 

Rule changes for the upcoming year

Only people who can skate between periods are the 5 people starting the next period

Make sure all teams have their schedules into George

 

Verbal attendance at 11:30, see attendance sheet for results
 

Spring meeting regarding bylaw rewriting, will have committee to write them

Jessey is head commissioner, Rachel is deputy commissioner of presidential division

Looking for someone to step up for deputy commissioner of Adirondack division

Reviewing the responsibilities of the commissioner

 

Assumption asks: who counts as the Board of Directions to nominate commissioners?

Answer was: that is not clear in the bylaws, assumed that it is all teams in the league.
 

UML says: problem is terminology. Likely means that officers of the league are executive committee, each team is on the board of directors
 

Assumption has a motion to elect Jessey as commissioner (along with Rachel as deputy

commissioner), Bridgewater seconds

Passed unanimously
 

Introduction of Jessey and Rachel

Review of roster integrity rule

Bentley asked about roster limits, ACHA rule is 30 max

 

Holyoke asks about jersey rotation, not that big of a part of the rule, just update it on the game sheet prior to the game
 

Holyoke and Smith are part of a five college consortium so any student can join any club from those schools
 

Still just need to provide student identification

Cannot be rostered on two different teams

Punishment for not following roster integrity reviewed

Very strong consequences for not following roster integrity

Roster checks should only occur between periods or after the game, not during play

Northeastern asked if students should always have their ids on them

Answer was yes, always have them on you

License could also work as a supplementary

Curry suggests that everyone having access to the ID document

Jessey answered that this is a privacy concern, just talk to the commissioner after about concerns. Suggested that you take a picture of the player during the game

Merrimack suggested each team having a hard copy of the document containing their own players’ IDs

Jeff points out that ACHA already requires two roster checks so this should be easy for those in the presidential division

BC brings up that this could be abused and/or put a player on the spot mid game

UML makes the motion for this policy to implement this policy, Bridgewater seconds
Policy passed unanimously

 

Jeff mentioned that each league has their own set of rules regarding roster integrity, this is just an overall extra policy for the IWCHL
Rosters much be submitted October 1st and January 15th

 

Review of playoff info. Feb 18-20 at Merrimack Playoffs
● Playoffs will take place the weekend of February 18-20 at Merrimack
Was voted on and approved during the spring meeting
● The weekend before (February 11-12) should be left open for any make up games
● February 4-5 is the last weekend regular season games should be Scheduled
● All game results and forfeit/no contest appeals need to be submitted NLT
midnight on February 12 for final selection of playoff teams
 

Appeals for forfeit/no contest needs to be submitted February 12th
 

Social Media

● We have officers dedicating their time to help run and promote our league on social media
● This exposure is a big part of getting women to join
● So any pictures or ideas please send our way! Send team pictures to the IWCHL social media manager so there's stuff to post
 

Discussion of vaccination policy

IWCHL currently does not have a CV19 policy

Suggestion to leave it up to each school to determine individual policy

Make sure that every team with a policy lets their opponents know the policy ahead of time

UNH suggest we have a list of the vaccination policy of every team

Jessey suggests we send this in with the roster submission for the beginning of this year

Policy to leave each policy up to the individual school passed unanimously
 

Review of treasurer’s notes
Treasurer’s Notes
● Dues were sent out as of September 10th, 2022
● There was a mix up with the W9 form
First one had a different address than the invoice originally sent out
September 14th a new W9 was sent out with a different address (mine)
● Dues need to be paid by the team’s first game
An email will be sent out when each team’s due is received and again when it has been deposited

 

● If there are any other questions
 Email: iwchltreasurer@gmail.com

 

Have dues in by first game
 

Review of forfeit v no contest rule
Every game cancellation is first deemed a forfeit. This ruling can be challenged if the
team penalized feels that the reason for the cancellation is eligible to be considered a
“no contest”. The Captain/Team Representative/Coach may file an appeal in contest of
the ruling of the forfeit. Appeals will be submitted to and reviewed by the board of
commissioners. What constitutes the overturn of a forfeit will be left up to the
discretion of the board of commissioners.
● A “no contest” is a cancellation that resulted from something out of the team's control.
As stated before, what constitutes a no contest will be left up to the discretion of the
board of commissioners. A no contest will result in no loss of gain of points for either
team, and will not count against win percentage.
Was passed in the summer 2022 meeting, just a clarification of it
Have some evidence to back up your appeal
Try to reschedule the game off the bat so that this isn’t a major problem

 

Points vs win percentage review

Adirondack Points

Presidential Points

2 points for a Win

3 points for a win

1 point or a Tie

2 points for an OT Win

0 Points for a Loss

1.5 Points if Game tied after OT

  1 point for an OT Loss

 

0 Points for a Regulation Loss

In the event of a tie, the order of tie breakers is:
a) head-to-head,
b) goals against,
c) goals for

Points vs Win Percentage: Option A
 

Option A: Straight Points

● The two teams with the most points from both conferences within a division will be invited to playoffs. If a team is ineligible or unable to compete, the invitation will be extended to the team with next highest points.

● Presidential teams who have not played the 14 game minimum required within the division will be ineligible to compete in the playoffs. A forfeit counts as a game played, though a no contest does not.

 

Points vs Win Percentage: Option B
Option B: Straight Win Percentage
● The two teams with the highest win percentage from both conferences
within a division will be invited to playoffs. If a team is ineligible or unable
to compete, the invitation will be extended to the team with next highest win percentage.
● Presidential teams who have not played the 14 game minimum required
within the division will be ineligible to compete in the playoffs. A forfeit
counts as a game played, though a no contest does not.
 

Points vs Win Percentage: Option B Examples

Ex) Bates achieves a record of 8 wins, 1 tie, and 3 losses
● 12 games x 2 pts = 24 points possible
● 8 wins x 2 pts = 16 points
● 1 tie x 1 pt = 1 point
● 3 losses x 0 pts = 0 points
● Total points awarded: 17 points
● 17/24 = 0.7083 win percentage

Presidential Ex) BC and BU both win 10 games and lose all others, though BC
played 14 games achieving a 0.714 win percentage while BU was able to
compete in 16 games total resulting in a 0.625 win percentage.
 

Points vs Win Percentage: Option C
Option C: UNH Presidential Win Percentage
● The two teams with the highest win percentage from both conferences
within a division will be invited to playoffs. If a team is ineligible or unable
to compete, the invitation will be extended to the team with next highest
win percentage.
● Points will be awarded in the same manner as listed above, totaled
together, and divided by the number of total possible points from the
minimum required 14 games. In the event a team is unable to reach the
14 game minimum due to a no contest, then extra games played outside
the league will be weighed as the number of games missed.
 

Points vs Win Percentage: Option C Examples
Ex) UNH played 13 games in the division (10 wins, 3 OT wins), but could not
make up a game that was with BU thus falling short of the 14 game minimum
by a no contest. UNH played 2 additional ACHA qualified games outside the
league (1 win, 1 loss), then the 0.500 is divided by 14 to be weighted equally
and added to the 0.857 league record for a total win percentage of 0.893.

Ex) Assumption and Holy Cross both win 10 games and lose all others.
Regardless that Assumption played 14 games while Holy Cross was able to
compete in 16 games, both teams achieve a 0.714 win percentage.\
First proposal is just straight points, two teams from each division with the most points make playoffs

Presidential teams need 14 games minimum to participate in playoffs

Second proposal is just straight win percentage, two teams from each division with the highest win percentage makes playoffs

First greatly relies on how many games you play,
the second is more based on wins
Third proposal is that points are divided by the 14 required games so that it is based off of points but only from the 14 required games rather than any extra

Assumption says that games outside of the IWCHL shouldn’t be counted as suggested by proposal 3

UNH clarified that they were referring to extra games within the league not games outside of the IWCHL

Assumption makes a motion to accept proposal a (based on points)
BC seconds

UML is asking about the downsides of this, could end up in third abt forfeit or no contest
Bridgewater brings up the weekend open (February 11-12) to reschedule the game
Motion passes unanimously
 

Final Commissioner’s notes

*************************************************************************************************************************************************

Spring Meeting 2022
Saturday, April 30, 2022. Merrimack College - Blue Line Club

AGENDA / DRAFT Version of Notes

I.Introduction from the officers

II. Discuss Playoffs- what we should keep doing/ anything we can change
- Assumption- times of games should be not as early in the morning and at a better location

- Play at different locations between divisions, Merrimack can host

- George Starr- Men have their playoffs at conway arena in Nashua, NH→ could move to there, neutral location

III. Electing new officers for open positions
- Motion passed to elect new officers:
- Grace Reardon, BSU for President
- Lindsey Bell, Merrimack for VP
- Jade Owirka, UML for secretary
-  Abby O'keefe, Merrimack for treasurer
- Caroline McDonough, Assumption for Social media
- Social needs more direction from the board
- BU- Suggestion to give contact information for social media chairs for all schools
 

IV. Discussion regarding forfeits and the decision to move to win% instead of points to decide playoff teams (all relevant parties need to be heard when their playoff futures rest in the balance of such decisions)

- Norwich- need a minimum on number of games played

- Last meeting, was believed to have voted on points instead of win percentage and was not in the records, did not follow through and UNH should have been in the playoffs if it went by points
- UML→ minimum number of games in order to qualify win% or points. Forfeits are different than no contest
- George Starr→ most teams go by points not win%. Give authority to board/commissioner to decide on case by case situation
- BU→ keep points but have appeal process
- UML→ new officers need to meet to decide on the parameters of what a forfeit/no contest would be
- If a team has to forfeit or cannot travel, does the team that take a forfeit?
- No contest→ no one gets points, doesn’t go against you on win%
- Cannot play because of something that is out of your control
- Need professional documentation to justify
- Forfeit→ because of something within your control, opponent would earn the win

- Stay with points

V. Structure of Presidential Division
Teams who want to change divisions, Teams Interested in joining the league
- Get divisions organized and get schedule posted for who needs to play who
- Because of limited teams in presidential, maybe move to one division
- Paul Smith→ move to Adirondack
- Holy Cross would like to get into presidential division if not, adirondack
- Dan Norton (BSU) supports Holy Cross
- Bentley→ looking to get into Adirondack or Presidential
- Westfield State→ Stay in adirondack
- Assumption- in favor of moving presidential to one division
- Each team is required to play against each other once
- Adirondack→ adding at least 2 more teams
- Paul smith→ Adirondack north
- Westfield→ Adirondack south
- Bentley→ TBD
- Union→ TBD
- Bentley and Holy Cross have been accepted into the league
- Holy Cross is accepted into Presidential
- Bentley is accepted into both pending on discussion with their athletic office
- Jeff Hird→ Set a date for a meeting between Presidential teams to discuss structure and games played
- ACHA requires at least 14 games
- Lindsey Bell of Merrimack will organize this
 

VI. Payment Issues we have come across/ possible treasurer report
- Teams need to get dues in before the first game
- Norwich--> Need confirmation email in the future if it has been paid

VII. Adding a possible June/July meeting to discuss scheduling
- Schedule a zoom meeting before the season
- Monday, July 11th @8pm on Zoom

VIII. Open discussion of any comments, questions, or concerns by teams or coaches
- Jeff Hird→ suggestion of new election process
- New officers should be elected at Fall meeting and then take their position on January 1st after working alongside the current officers for a couple of months

- UML→ roster integrity
- Does a player need to play in a minimum number of games in order to be eligible for the playoffs

- UNH→ next meeting to discuss vaccination policies

- Merrimack→ need better communication both from board and between teams
- New contact form after the meeting
- Also have list of Adirondack and Presidential coaches information
 

Commissioners Report
I. New commissioner position
- Separate duties of Jeff between commissioner and executive director
- Jeff is going to be doing administration and bookkeeping
- Three women who have all been in the league before are interested
- Molly, Jesse, Fiona to collaborate on a commissioners board as co-commissioners to work with the student board

- George Starr→ rulebooks state supplementary discipline is decided by A commissioner. Rulebook might not allow for three commissioners.
- Need to have one commissioners
- Could make changes bylaws to divide responsibilities and decide what duties each person gets.
- Could have one commissioner and deputy commissioners
- Have one person in charge, main commissioner, and others work together alongside→ commissionary board, two executive directors
- Bylaws state that the commissioner can create other roles
- Wait until July meeting to put in motion of who will be new head commissioner

II. Continuation of teams joining the league

III. Any other input Jeff would like to add

 

**************************************************************************************************************************


Fall 2021 Meeting
 

September 18, 2021 / 10:30 AM / St. Anselm 

Agenda

Board Introduction:

President- Grace Reardon (Bridgewater State) 

Vice President- Rachel Tassinari (Northeastern)

Treasurer- Michele Sezgin (Smith)

Secretary- Nicole Sedler (Springfield)

PR- Natalie Preveza (Union) and Caroline McDonough (Assumption)

Contacts: 

IWCHLofficers@gmail.com      IWCHLtreasurer@gmail.com 

 

Current Divisions:  

Presidential: 

East- BC, BU, Northeastern, Providence, UNH, Merrimack, St Anselm

West: UVM, UConn, Assumption, Westfield, Paul Smith’s, Union

 

Adirondack:

North: MIT, Stonehill College, Curry College, Bridgewater State, UMass Lowell, Mount Holyoke College, Smith

South: Bates, Keene State College, Springfield, Dartmouth College, Norwich University, University of Maine, University of New England

  • Follow divisional split from the email sent in August

Associate:

Bentley University, Castleton State College, Colby Sawyer College, Harvard University, Holy Cross, Saint Joseph’s, Trinity, UMass Amherst, Wheaton College, WPI, Rivier University, Salve Regina, Anna Maria, Worcester State University

 

Final Rosters and Schedules

 

  • Schedules must be in to Brian Donahoe by OCTOBER 1 (bjdonahoe@gmail.com)

  • Former varsity/NCAA players must be approved by board

  • Scores must be recorded within 24 hours of games by home team

  • Teams will book their own Athletic Trainers 

  • Oct 15. Or before first game- rosters are due
     

Playoffs 

  • An ice time request form has been sent to Northstar arena in Westborough, MA the weekend of February 18-20, 2022. 

  • If you would like the playoffs to be held elsewhere, it is up to YOU to find the time and place. 

  • All makeup games must be recorded by Feb. 13, 2022 at midnight. 

  • Save the weekend of the Feb 11-13 for makeup games 

  • The league has taken the responsibility to book the ice time and refs. 

  • A discussion will be held on how to go about booking and paying for athletic trainers. 

  • Athletic trainers- home team is responsible for having medical personnel 

  •  

Covid Protocols 

  • League oversight with covid protocols?- Look at mens league protocols

  • Motion to require vaccinations and mirror mens league protocols contingent on administration approval from each university

  • If approved, league will reach out with details

Dues and Deposits 

  • $500 deposit refunded at the end of the season BY OCTOBER 1 OR FIRST GAME 

    • Will get it back as long as you have perfect attendance to games, no unexcused absences

    • For excused absences, make sure games are rescheduled by the end of the season

      • Concentrate/prioritize on divisional games

      • $500 deposit will be refunded if games are unable to be played due to covid reasons

  • $70 league fee, please mail to: 

IWCHL

PO Box 601

Durham, NH 03824

  • Let the board know if there are any additional forms you need for your school

Social Media

  • Please send content that you would like to be featured to Natalie and Caroline 

  • Take a team photo early and send it to either of them 

  • Contact emails

Get passwords

Spring Meeting 

  • TBD, most likely April, 2022

Update on new rules: 

  • New Adirondack rule - All players must be currently enrolled students in the institution they play for 

  • George Starr will send out copy of rule changes

    • Rules and Officiating video

    • Women’s Body Contact Supplemental Video

Other Discussions/ Suggestions 

Create a bylaws committee

  • Committee is made up of and run by students who are on the teams playing

    • Have supervision and a mentor for the girls

    • Jack Sweeney, Casey Gerrish, and Brian Donohoe volunteered to be Mentors

  • Constitution/ Articles of Agreement- a straightforward document that provides the:

  1. Name

  2. Purpose (Charter/Mission Statement)

  3. Membership provisions

  4. Dissolution details

  5. Mailing address of the business

  6. Capital Stock disbursement (there are 0 shares, 0 certificates in the IWCHL)

  7. Liability clause for IWCHL Board

  8. Signature and Address of founders (12/2/16)

  • Bylaws written and filed- a legal document setting forth key rules and regulations governing the corporation’s day-to-day operations

  1. Bylaws define Purpose,

  2. Membership requirements,

  3. Directors positions and election requirements,

  4. Meetings,

  5. Notification requirements,

  6. Officer and Director responsibilities,

  7. Term limits

  8. Committees,

  9. Conflict prevention,

  10. Contributions and Depositories (defines deposits and fees),

  11. Dissolution 2/3 vote required

  12. Fiscal year

  13. Indemnification,

  14. Amendments- requires 2/3 vote of the league, 10 days minimum notice required.

  • Policies- cover general league operations/games and can be voted and approved at any league meetings

  1. Specific Membership requirements for Presidential and Adirondack divisions

  2. Rules of Play

  3. Playoffs

  4. Additional Rules

  5. Charter teams

Playoff language on website needs to change- 4 team playoff- 2 from east, 2 from west

  • Brian Donohoe updated website to reflect 2021-2022 League structure

  • 2 levels, each with 2 divisions, 4 teams from each division with playoff 1v4, 2v3, the winners

  • Have bylaw committee get together and fix website after meeting and discussion- playoffs are part of bylaws

Have midway meeting to go over things discussed in previous meeting.

Within 2 weeks have minutes published to have things added to or changed

Need better response from BOD to membership- lack of communication, lack of direction

  • Support Bill as commissioner, create standards and keep balances of each team

  • As a league need better organization

  • League is and was created for the betterment of women’s hockey not for the coaches 

    • If we want that direction, we should add position of executive administrator 

      • Add a woman? 

      • Add Bill as an advisory position

  • For this year we need more hands on

  • Set a standard for communication- reply to emails within 72 hours

  • Jeffs job is not to make policy but advise the women on the board

Discussion for spring- 

  • East/West North/South- get rid of divisional split and play each team

  • Cuts down on travel and more flexibility of playing teams outside of conference

  • Still have 4 teams in playoffs- don’t have teams that are .500 in playoffs whereas there are teams that have 2 losses that do not make the playoffs

 

IWCHL Fall 2021 Meeting

Meeting Agenda

September 18, 2021   10:30 AM

 

Topic: IWCHL September 18th  Zoom Meeting
Time: Sep 18, 2021 10:30 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
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Fall 2021 Meeting

September 18, 2021 / 10:30 AM / St. Anselm 

Agenda

Board Introduction:

President- Grace Reardon (Bridgewater State) 

Vice President- Rachel Tassinari (Northeastern)

Treasurer- Michele Sezgin (Smith)

Secretary- Nicole Sedler (Springfield)

PR- Natalie Preveza (Union) and Caroline McDonough (Assumption)
 

Contacts: 

IWCHLofficers@gmail.com 

IWCHLtreasurer@gmail.com 

 

Current Divisions:  

Presidential: 

East - 7 teams: BC, BU, Merrimack, Northeastern, UNH, Providence, St Anselm

West - 7 teams:  Assumption, Paul Smith's, Union, UConn, UVM, Westfield

 

Adirondack (corrected from East / West to North/South)

South - 7 teams: Bridgewater, Curry, MIT, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Stonehill, UMass Lowell

North - 7 teams: Bates, Keene State, Darthmouth, Norwich, Springfield College, UMaine, UNE

 

Final Rosters and Schedules

 

  • Schedules must be in to Brian Donahoe by OCTOBER 1 (bjdonahoe@gmail.com)

  • Rosters must be in by OCTOBER 1

  • Former varsity/NCAA players must be approved by board

  • Scores must be recorded within 24 hours of games by home team

  • Teams will book their own Athletic Trainers

 

Playoffs 

  • An ice time request form has been sent to Northstar arena in Westborough, MA the weekend of February 18-20, 2022. 

  • If you would like the playoffs to be held elsewhere, it is up to YOU to find the time and place. 

  • All makeup games must be recorded by Feb. 13, 2022 at midnight . 

  • Save the weekend of the 11-13 for makeup games 

  • The league has taken the responsibility to book the ice time and refs. 

  • A discussion will be held on how to go about booking and paying for athletic trainers. 

Dues and Deposits 

  • $500 deposit refunded at the end of the season BY OCTOBER 4 OR FIRST GAME 

    • Will get it back as long as you have perfect attendance to games, no unexcused absences

  • $70 league fee, please mail to: 

IWCHL

PO Box 601

Durham, NH 03824

  • Let the board know if there are any additional forms you need for your school

Social Media

  • Please send content that you would like to be featured to Natalie and Caroline 

  • Take a team photo early and send it to either of them 

  • Contact emails

Spring Meeting 

  • TBD, most likely April, 2022

Update on new rules: 

  • New Adirondack rule - All players must be currently enrolled students in the institution they play for 

Other Discussions/ Suggestions 

  • Open to all 

 

*************************************************************************

IWCHL Spring 2021 Meeting

Meeting Agenda

April 17, 2021   10:30am

 

Invitees: Representatives from teams in the Presidential, Adirondack, and Associate leagues
 

I. Meeting Etiquette, Voting

a) Time after each section to voice concerns and/or ideas

b) Respect

c)Voting done after meeting on google forms
 

II. Restarting After The Pandemic

a) Expect added time for scheduling and movement
 

III. Divisional Movement

a) Current Presidential division

b) Current Adirondack division

c) Current Associates division

d) Movement of splits (North/South)
 

IV. Scheduling

a) Which teams will be eligible to play

b) Start scheduling by August 1st
 

V. Budget

a) Budget from 2019-2020

b) Proposed budget for 2020-2021
 

VI. Rule Changes

a) New suggestions
 

VII. Meeting Structure

a) In person meetings?
 

VIII. Nominations and Elections of Board Directors

a) President

b) Vice President

c) Treasurer

d) Secretary

e) Public Relations

 

IX. Fall Meeting

a) September 18th

 

 

IWCHL Spring 2021 Meeting

Meeting Agenda

April 17, 2021   10:30am

 

Invitees: Representatives from teams in the Presidential, Adirondack, and Associate leagues
 

I. Meeting Etiquette, Voting

a) Time after each section to voice concerns and/or ideas

b) Respect

c)Voting done after meeting on google forms
 

II. Restarting After The Pandemic

a) Expect added time for scheduling and movement
 

III. Divisional Movement

a) Current Presidential division

b) Current Adirondack division

c) Current Associates division

d) Movement of splits (North/South)
 

IV. Scheduling

a) Which teams will be eligible to play

b) Start scheduling by August 1st
 

V. Budget

a) Budget from 2019-2020

b) Proposed budget for 2020-2021
 

VI. Rule Changes

a) New suggestions
 

VII. Meeting Structure

a) In person meetings?
 

VIII. Nominations and Elections of Board Directors

a) President

b) Vice President

c) Treasurer

d) Secretary

e) Public Relations

 

IX. Fall Meeting

a) September 18th


***********************************************************************************************************************

 

IWCHL 20-21 Season Cancelled August 6, 2020

Unfortunately the board has had to make the tough decision to call off the IWCHL 2020-21 season. Poll results showed that the majority of teams were not sure as to what will happen with their season or were not able to run a club program for the fall of 2020. With this being said, there will be no official season for the IWCHL, meaning that there will be no playoffs. While there is not an official season, teams that do not have restrictions are able to compete, just not under an official season. There will be a google sheet attached where teams can update their status weekly, so that teams are aware of who can or cannot compete and schedule games based on that. While we don't have many answers due to the ever changing nature of what is happening in the world right now, the board can try to answer your questions as best as possible. We will take in information day by day to make an informed decision on what happens next for the league and if there could be potential for play in the second semester. Please fill the attached sheet out every week or as soon as you hear updates from your school so that our information is up to date. There are still quite a few teams that we have not heard from and it is noted on the sheet who they are. 

 

Also please fill out the contact form so that we can create an updated contact list so that people who don't need to receive these emails will stop getting them. Even though your contact information is listed from last year, we still need you to fill out this year's form since they are different. We have only received contacts from a handful of schools.

 

Do not hesitate to reach out and we will try to answer your question as best we can.

 

Best,

IWCHL BOD

 

IWCHL League Spring Meeting Divisonal Vote April 27, 2020

Presidential

East:

BC

BU

Northeastern

Merrimack

UNH

St. A's

Providence 
 

West:

UVM

Westfield

UConn

Springfield

Paul Smith's

Assumption

 

Adirondack

North:

Union

Norwich

Keene

UNE

Bates

UMaine
 

South:

UML

Smith

Mt. Holyoke

MIT

Stonehill

Curry

Bridgewater


 

IWCHL League Spring Meeting April 18, 2020

04/18/2020: Remotely through Zoom due to COVID-19

All voting done after meeting on Google Forms

 

Divisional Movement

  • Need to consider moving PD/AD teams to even out East/West split based on following divisional movement:

  • Additions to PD East: Assumption

  • PD East for 2020-2021 Season:

    • Boston College

    • Boston University

    • Merrimack College

    • Northeastern 

    • UNH

    • Providence

    • Assumption

  • Additions to PD West: Springfield, Paul Smith’s

  • PD West for 2020-2021 Season:

    • UVM

    • Westfield State

    • Saint Anslem

    • UConn

    • Springfield

    • Paul Smith’s

  • Beneficial to keep East-West split for an additional year to take into account the home/away switch

  • Will reconsider divisional split in the future

  • No additions to AD East

  • AD East for 2020-2021 Season:

    • Bates

    • Bridgewater State

    • Curry

    • MIT

    • Stonehill

    • UMain

    • UNE

  • Additions to AD West: Keene State, UMass Lowell

  • AD West for 2020-2021 Season:

    • Mount Holyoke

    • Norwich

    • Smith

    • Union

    • UML

    • Keene State

  • Additions to Associate Division: Dartmouth

  • Associate Division for 2020-2021 Season:

    • Holy Cross

    • Wheaton College

    • UMass Amherst

    • Harvard

    • Colby-Sawyer

    • St. Joseph’s of Maine

    • Trinity

    • Castleton

    • WPI

    • Bentley

    • Dartmouth
       

  • Date for divisional change date TBD at meeting

  • Need to change divisions before teams start planning their seasons

  • Previously used June 1

  • Jess Volpert (UMass Lowell): less willing to travel if they get moved to the West, would prefer to stay in the East.

    • If UML is moved to West, would prefer to drop down to associate

  • Jeff/Rachel (Northeastern): Even our parry between division, propose divisions are not determined by geography, but aligned by win percentage from previous year

    • Allows more equality/flexibility between each season

    • Fiona (IWCHL Pres): Only reason we do east/west is for traveling 

    • Jeff (Commissioner): PD split largely due to travel (budget issues)

      • Rankings change a LOT from year to year, hard to predict how each team will perform in the upcoming season

      • Only thing that doesn’t change is budget

  • Jack (Assumption): Wants to join presidential despite no previous league experience

    • Hopefully not going to have a ton of team change each year

    • Heach coach paid to recruit (not reliant on players discretion, but reliant on recruits which may be more stable)

    • All players deemed to be highly competitive

    • Has played teams in PD and been competitive even at a much more limited roster

    • School is funding team, so losing players should not be an issue

    • ALready has a rink and 15 home slots - ready to play at the highest level

    • Jeff (Northeastern): Awareness of ACHA mandate? Jack: has already been through that, and has taken it under control

  • Jeff (NE): NE wants to propose changing to 20-min periods

    • We have been operating outside ACHA bylaws

    • Have to use 20-min periods, no conference exceptions

  • Lily (Westfield)

    • Concerns about travel (Particularly towards Paul Smith’s)

    • Team is not supported by school, needs to fund it entirely itself

    • Casey (Paul Smiths): more than happy to play 2 games at schools that have financial challenges

    • Fiona (President): Can meet in the middle

    • Jeff (Commissioner): both schools can agree to play both games in the same place if it's easier (switch locations each ear)

    • Casey: Have access to Lake Placid Olympic center, very historic

    • Lily: voting on teams moving up to PD, moving between east-west?

  • Darren (UNH): Do we have a divisional cap (# of teams)?

    • That’s a lot of games to play

    • PD: vying to go to ACHA nationals, sometimes teams make playoffs that aren't eligible to go to nationals.

    • Travel distance: St. A’s within 35 min of UNH, but only play them once. Want to play more local teams to encourage local HS teams to come to games

    • Lexi (St. As): Hard to travel to all the games

  • Mike (Norwich): Propose for the future a step-up plan built into league that help teams that are looking to go to nationals

  • Jeff (Commissioner): league started with 8 teams, now has grown to 30

    • Consider redivisoning in the future to help move towards to more competitive teams

    • Challenge: divisional movement and teams drop out

    • Can’t look for next year, need to plan 2 years in advance

    • Vote to join ACHA is year-by-year decision, can vote to change to different nationally-affiliated program

      • We can tell ACHA that we don’t agree with their rules/want to join a new league

    • Ari (MIT): seconds Jeff’s point

    • Jack (Assumption): team like Assumption belongs with teams that will make the appropriate commitment, doesn't want to be stuck in league that is not committed

    • Mike (Norwich): Nothing is set in stone and there can be exceptions. Would be good to have some kind of structure to join as the league grows.

    • Darren (UNH): Not sure if other teams joining PD have played PD teams, wants teams split by region

  • Stonehill: Consideration for North/South split?

    • Strictly for travel reasons, the drive to UMaine is challenging

  • Jeff (Northwestern): requirement of USA Hockey certification? PD = yes, AD=no

  • Sarah (Westfield): move St. A’s to east, Assumption to West

    • Seconded by Mackenzie (UConn) for travel reason

  • Madi (Bates): Any idea about north/south split map? Will include map in google form

  • Lily (Westfield): Some teams were not eligible for nationals that made playoffs, how do they become eligible for nationals

    • Jeff (Commissioner): need to be a 2nd years team,Westfield is possibly eligible this upcoming year   

    • ACHA need commitments (budget, timing/school breaks)

    • Next year playoffs @ Marlborough, following year in midwest

    • Jeff (NE): Need a decision for situation where non-National bound team wins auto-bid

      • Jeff (Commissioner): Auto-bid will be turned over in favor of ranking

  • Haley (UNE): want split of North/south for adirondack division

    • Let BOD know if there are any divisional movements you would like and do not see that reflected here

 

Budget

  • 2019 - 2020 Expenses:

    • Trophies for playoffs: $290

    • Postal box renewal: $114

    • Insurance renewal: $600

  • Proposed 2020-2021 Budget:

    • Insurance: $650

    • IWCHL BOD swag (apparel/helmet sticker): $200

    • ACHA nationals swag: $200 (marketing)

    • CPA: $350

    • Trophies for 2020 playoffs: $300

    • Athletic Trainers for playoffs: $1000

    • PO Box Renewal: $114

  • Playoff invoices have been sent out

  • Refunds: send out google form sent in Fiona’s original email so taylor can send refund check ASAP

  • Dues for next year: more things in budget, will probably bump up to $100

  • Ari (MIT): No AD/Associate teams in ACHA, can only PD see cost increase

    • BOD Can consider

    • Jeff (Commissioner):Want to advertise IWCHL at ACHA playoffs to get high school players interested in IWCHL - can play hockey at club level in college

    • We are up for 501c3 renewal in NH, need to hire a professional accountant to do our finances

    • Brian (Webmaster): $10 a team, website total cost = $400 

 

Player Eligibility

  • All exceptions from previous season (+ new additions) must be submitted to the board for approval

  • Decisions based on: games played, goals, assists, penalty minutes, and level of previous team

  • Jeff (Commissioner): this is for AD, PD follows ACHA/NCAA guidelines

  • BOD will make google form for AD teams 

  • Eligibility Clock for all divisions:

    • Move towards ACHA guidelines

  • Athlete will have five calendar years where they can play up to five seasons of competition

  • The clock starts:

    • Once the student-athlete is registered on a collegiate team (can be ACHA, NAIA, NCAA, etc…) OR

    • Once the student-athlete turns 21, regardless of playing college hockey

    • Whichever event occurs first

  • The clock will continue even if the student athlete does not attend school for a year, goes part time, or spends academic year in residence

  • Fiona: Move towards this to help ACHA eligibility

  • Casey (Paul Smiths): current guidelines?

    • PD: ACHA

    • AD: none 

  • Ari (MIT): MIT cater to grad students/wider population

    • Lots of players who follow non-traditional schooling paths (Grad students, gap years, etc)

    • Makes it hard to put together competitive team

    • Want as many people involved as possible, but roster doesn’t fit within these guidelines

    • Jeff (NE): How does MIT structure its team?

    • Ari: current students, grad students, alums, etc

    • Ryan (BU): League doesn;t need to cater to single team that has unique model,

      • This fits intramural model

      • Safety issues regarding players 

  • Lily (Westfield): NCAA offering eligibility for next year, how will this effect PD?

    • Jeff (Commissioner): IWCHL will follow whatever is the national directive in this pandemic

    • 6 years of ACHA eligibility given that player hasn't played NCAA

    • Waiver form for “Essential” athletes (i.e. for goalies that are only goalie on team and 2nd year grad students)

    • Rules largely for men's teams where players who didn't make NHL are pursuing grad school and trying to join club teams

    • George Starr (officials): ACHA in practice of granting waivers based on individual application

      • Varies on case by case basis

    • Tom (Sprinfeild): Would not allow Alumni at Springfield, there are other leagues if you want that

    • Lydia (MIT): Eligibility clock affects undergrads too, not just alumni

      • undergrads/grads who take time off, start college late, etc.

      • Problem for all members of league

    • Mike (Norwich): Just a vote for adirondack division, PD already follows guidelines

    • Darren (UNH): ACHA doesn’t have “ticking clock”, 30-y/o player is allowed to play with military waiver (NCAA clock doesn’t start counting until after military)

    • Jack (Assumption): If Assumption lands in AD, eligibility clock would cause issues regarding clock continuing when players take time off

      • Come up with better options and revisit in the fall

    • Kiley (MIT): would like to table until we meet in person

      • Previously AD follows individual school rules

      • Purpose of AD is to grow game and encourage games

    • Jeff (commissioner): MIT charter team, purpose of AD to grow game

    • Jess (UML): issue with clock starting when player turns 21

      • Don't believe that Alumni should be part of college club team

      • Casey (Paul Smiths): unfair to have someone playing in league for 8 years

      • Taylor (Bridgewater): safety concerns with having older alumni on club team, agrees with having alumni/staff on intramural team. 

    • Fiona (President): This was just an idea, can vote on it later

    • Taylor (Bridgewater): This should be discussed before next season, AD teams should meet and discuss

    • Jeff (Commissioner): we don't even know what next year is going to bring, may need special meeting in summer to determine what to do given pandemic situation

      • Teams may be put on hold, schools may not go back into session

      • Need plan B for the Fall

      • League needs to be flexible until things go back to normal, just don’t want IWCHL to  go under because of this

      • Ryan (BU): take lead from Hockey East, ECAC, etc, but plan as if business as usual in fall

    • Casey (Paul Smiths): Should vote on eligibility before next season, this has been going on for a while

    • Fiona (IWCHL Pres): need to take into account/revise current plan, also need to figure out who’s going to be in which league before we vote

    • Stonehill: keep it simple, 5 calendar years to play

    • Lydia (MIT): wants meeting just AD, vote after we have this discussion

    • Haley (UNE): Alumni/staff on club team poses safety/fairness issue for younger players 

    • Fiona (IWCHL pres): determine divisional movement first, then vote on this issue 

 

Playoff Structure

  • Inquiry to change playoff structure from top 4 teams to top 6, taking into account teams joining and divisional movement

  • Gives more teams opportunity to participate

  • Potential problems: financial burden and ice availability

    • Hard to find Friday ice, split into 2 weekends?

    • Can change Playoffs to later in Feb to make makeup weekeds easier

 

Proposed Playoff Dates

  • Keep playoffs on 2nd weekend February or move to 3rd weekend in February?

    • Jeff (Commissioner): Used to be held on 3rd weekend, moved to 2nd weekend so that if playoffs are postponed, we don’t go into march

    • We don’t go into March to not interfere with March 1st DIII season start date

    • Sarah (Westfield): Varsity athlete, games start before march 1, would dramatically affect the team’s performance in playoffs

    • Jeff/Rachel (NE): expand playoffs to top 6 regardless of division, want best teams making local playoffs

      • Leave it as top 6 teams across presidential, rather than top 3 in each split

      • Moving playoffs: as we add teams to PD, will there be enough time to complete all conference-mandated games 

      • Sarah (Westfield): there should be enough weekends if session starts in early october

      • Jeff (NE): can we mandate that teams start playing by a specific date

      • Mike (Norwich): we don’t have this issue, makes it a real challenge for fall varsity athlete

      • Fiona (IWCHL): mandate will be extremely challenging this fall with COVID, so probs not this season

      • Jack (Assumption): Restrictions on when you can start? 

        • Jeff (commissioner): No, you can start season any time after fall meeting

    • Lily (Westfield): not fair to move to 3rd weekend because it puts DIII athletes in unfair position, scheduling has not been a huge issue (moving to 3rd weekend in creating a new issue)

    • Jeff (Commissioner): can always play teams after playoffs, just not in season

      • # of games in a season will have to be limited eventually, will consider this in divisional split

      • Potentially redivision in more teams add 

    • Tom (Springfield): Spring athletes will play majority of season, DIII players make decision to play 2 sports and that's on them

      • Have calls in each division to discuss unique problems, want to table until later

    • Fiona (IWCHL): this will be on the vote that's coming this weekend

 

Meeting Structure

  • Board strongly in favor of in-person meetings (scheduling games, networking, etc.)

  • Learning pros and cons of going virtual with this meeting (discussions are harder and makes discussions take longer)

  • Possibility of holding Fall and Spring meetings in two different locations to make driving easier (for at least one meeting)

 

Nominations and Elections of Board of Directors

  • President

    • Fiona returning (Nominated by Mike (Norwich), Kiley (MIT), Paige (Merrimack), Anna (Dartmouth), Patrice (Keene State))

  • Vice President

    • Job: aiding the president (mostly email)

    • Rachel (Northeastern)

  • Treasurer

    • Taylor returning (Nominated by Mike (Norwich), Seconded by Lexi (St. A’s))

  • Secretary

    • Job: take notes at meetings, make agenda

    • Nicole (Springfield)

    • Lily (Westfield) (Nominated by Sarah (Westfield))

  • PR

    • Job: running instagram

    • Jeff (Commissioner): great for Communications majors, BOD can give recommendations

    • Lily (Westfield) (Nominated by Patrice (Keene State))

  • Call for Objections: none

  • Motion is moved, 2020-2021 board is as stands:

    • President

    • VP

    •  

Fall Meeting

  • TBA due to COVID 

  • 3rd weekend in september

  • Online vs In person

  • Springfield happy to host meeting if needed

  • Jeff (Northeastern): In person meetings are great, is there some way to mandate that teams must be at a meeting to vote on things discussed at meetings

    • Seconded by Mike (Norwich), Lily (Westfield)

  • Jeff (Commissioner): can fine teams who do not make meetings, something already in place to deal with teams not in attendance

 

New Business

  • Mike (Norwich): do teams need to submit some kind of proof of insurance? (Playoffs: rink itself asked for it for playoffs)

    • Jeff (Commissioner): League takes no responsibility for teams, only BOD should anything happen to the league

    • Each school has own insurance policy (some through USA Hockey/ACHA)

    • Most state schools covered by state insurance policy

    • Everyone could join ACHA as blanket policy or each team could provide insurance to their opponents

    • Casey (Paul Smith’s): Need some policy so that teams are not in violation on their own insurance policy

    • Jeff (NE): USA hockey covers ACHA and “Adult team”, can play any team under USA hockey (can be USA but not ACHA)

      • If you are USA, and you play a non-USA team, your insurance is voided

    • USA hockey limits roster size (~20 people) and fairly inexpensive, but may need to mandate some kind of intra-league proof of insurance 

    • George Starr: suggest that board look into blanket coverage/proof policy

      • Major issue on men’s side

      • If 2 ACHA teams play each other, its fine

      • If you’re ACHA and you play non-ACAH (but still USA), that is NOT under ACHA, and insurance is voided

      • Every school has insurance, but not all is valid under ACHA

      • Officials also have to be ACHA



 

 

IWCHL League Fall Meeting September 21, 2019

George Starr 

  • Not a rules change year, just updating

  • Updates: largely regarding video review (more applicable to men's teams)

    • For change of players: player leaving ice must be within 5 ft of bench for allowed goal/play

      • Refs MAY warn bench if changes are close to meriting infraction, but warnings are not required

    • Must immediately drop puck if caught

    • Overtime: 5 on 5 (no longer 4 on 4)

    • Goaltender interference: goalies must be allowed to play their position in their privileged area

      • Results in penalty and/or disallowed goal

      • Included crease and “privileged area” (boards to faceoff dots)

    • Respect for the game/embellishment

      • Commitment to respect all players and the game on and off the ice

      • Matching minor penalty and/or misconduct for embellishing player

    • Player safety in #1 importance for coaches, refs, leaders, other players

    • Body contact, student-athlete protection, respect for the game

      • Work together to foster good sportsmanship and respect for the game

      • Allowable contact: both players “working hard for the puck”

      • Illegal contact: slashing (especially on gloves of puck carrier), checking, blindsided hits, hits after whistle

    • Faceoffs

      • Attacking team puts stick down first

      • Hash Marks mark faceoff offsides

      • If cheating on faceoff occurs, center thrown out of faceoff. 2nd infraction in a faceoff is a penalty

    • 3rd game misconduct = player has to sit out an additional game

    • More than 1 disqualification is a progressive penalty

 

Divisional Movement

  • East/West split for both Presidential and Adirondack

  • Presidential teams need to play each team in their subdivision 2x and teams on the opposite side of the division once

    • East: BC, BU, Northeastern, Providence, UNH, Merrimack

    • West: UVM, UConn, Keene State, St. Anselm, Westfield

    • Play at home this year -> play away next year

  • Adirondack teams need to play each tea in their subdivision 2x

    • East: MIT, UMaine, Bates, UNE, Stonehill, Curry, Bridgewater State, UMass Lowell

 

Schedules, Rosters, Logistics

  • Schedules must be in to Brian Donahoe by OCTOBER 4 (bjdonahoe@gmail.com)

  • Rosters must be in by OCTOBER 1

  • Former varsity/NCAA players must be approved by board

  • Scores must be recorded within 24 hours of games by home team

  • Teams will book their own Athletic Trainers

 

Playoffs

  • Playoffs: Feb 15-16 @ Northstar Arena (Westborough, MA)

  • MUST keep Feb 8-9 open for makeup games

  • Games played on Feb 9: scores must be reported my midnight

  • League will take responsibility of booking ice and refs for playoffs

  • Playoffs expansion

    • Add 2 more teams to playoffs since league is growing

    • Makes sense as both Adirondack and Presidential have grown significantly in past year

    • How will Presidential teams deal with playoffs considering the split? Jeff will have to work this out

    • Not possible to do this year but possibly next year

    • Potential issue: friday games? We can consider this if it becomes an issue

      • Add 2 games the friday before playoffs weekend (2&3 play, 1st seed gets by)

      • Could also have Sunday night game(weekend before playoffs)

    • Presidential could expand, Adirondack can remain the same

    • Vote: Expand Presidential 

      • Issues: Can we get the ice? How will the league pay for the ice/will all team in playoffs split (retract decision from last meeting)?

      • Men teams: Add optional quarterfinal game at appropriate home rink

        • Seems like better option is to use preceding direction

      • Since this poses unknown logistical complications, send out poll later with options for 

      • Probably $400/$500 per team to add additional game

      • ACHA structure changes: West, Central, East 

        • 4 teams from each division

        • Winning playoffs: only way to get automatic National’s Bid

        • This is why there’s interest in expanding the presidential playoffs

Dues

  • $500 deposit refunded at the end of the season BY OCTOBER 4 OR FIRST GAME 

    • Will get it back as long as you have perfect attendance to games, no unexcused absences

  • $70 league fee, please mail to: 

IWCHL

PO Box 601

Durham, NH 03824

  • Let the board know if there are any additional forms you need for your school

 

Social media

  • send content to Hannah (hpalatch@bu.ecu)

  • Take team photo and send it in early!

 

Spring 2020 Meeting

  • April 18

  • Location TBD but probably St. A’s.

 

 

Fall 2019 Meeting Agenda: 

  1. Sign in, pick up team sheets, 

    1. Contact survey: https://forms.gle/kCfJgKt9AG5N6Pht7 

      1. Please fill out this survey if you do not receive the IWCHL emails and would like to. If you filled out the survey at the last meeting and receive the emails please do NOT fill this out.

  2. Board Introductions

  3. Divisional movement

    1. Go over the new presidential split

      1. How the split will work from here on out

        1. Teams on opposite sides of the division will play once a season with the location switching on/off each season.

  4. Final Rosters and Schedules

    1. Presidential teams need to play each team in their subdivision 2x and teams on the opposite side of the division once

      1. East: BC, BU, Northeastern, Providence, UNH, Merrimack

      2. West: UVM, UConn, Keene State, St. Anselm, Westfield

    2. Adirondack teams need to play each tea in their subdivision 2x

      1. East: MIT, UMaine, Bates, UNE, Stonehill, Curry, Bridgewater State, UMass Lowell

      2. West: Smith, Mount Holyoke, Springfield, Dartmouth, Norwich, Paul Smith's, Union

    3. Final Schedules need to be send to bjdonahoe@gmail.com by October 4

      1. If you add or change a game after this date, you need to let Brian know so then he can do that

    4. Rosters need to be in to Brian by October 1, NO EXCEPTIONS 

      1. Roster changes /additions cannot be made until February

    5. On your team sheet handed out at the beginning of the meeting, there is a list of rinks that your team has used in the past. If you want to add any rinks to the list, please add them and return to the end of the meeting

    6. Format for rosters and schedules needs to be correct: it is what the website can handle and allows for quick and easy changes if need be 

    7. Roster: (will send out Excel template)ScheduleFormatIWCHL.PNG

    8. Schedule: HOME games ONLY (will send out Excel template)RosterFormatIWCHL.PNG

 

  1. Submitting Scores

    1. Email scores to bjdonahoe@gmail.com

    2. Scores need to be reported in a timely manner - please report scores no later than 24 hours after your game 

  2. Playoffs

    1. February 15th-16th at Northstar Arena in Westborough, MA

      1. Dates were selected based off of every schools spring break, expected start date, winter breaks, and spring sports schedule. This allowed for every school to be able to play each team twice before the weekend of February 8th and 9th. 

    2. Teams must keep the weekend of February 8th-9th open for any potential make-up games

      1. This means the last possible game will be played 2/9. All scores must be reported by midnight on 2/9 in order to determine who will be playing in playoffs 

    3. The league will take responsibility for booking the ice and refs

      1. Teams are responsible for the other costs

      2. Will teams be able to provide Athletic Trainers for the game? Should we hire them and then teams split the cost?

  3. Discussion about expanding playoffs

    1. Possibility of adding two more teams to playoffs since league is growing?

  4. Dues and Deposit

    1. $500 deposit - will be refunded at the end of the season to all teams with perfect attendance at their scheduled games, barring any excused absences - Due October 4th or before your first game  

    2. $70 league fee 

      1. This fee goes towards maintaining the website, paying for championship trophies, ideally give the league extra funds to work towards any of the following possibilities: sending representatives to conferences, subsidizing playoffs, a liability policy for the board, and in case of emergencies

    3. Dues and the deposit will be mailed to:

IWCHL

PO Box 601

Durham, NH 03824

    1. We will be sending out invoices after the meeting, but please inform the BOD if your school requires any specific forms or documentation to pay the dues and deposit as so they can be provided ASAP

 

  1. Social Media Presence

    1. Please send content that you would like featured to Hannah

      1. Athlete of the week and any other content

  2. Looking Ahead: Spring 2020 Meeting

    1. Date: April 18, 2020

    2. Location: TBD

      1. St. A’s was voted on to continue, but a few teams want to change

        1. Suggestions? Our director at MC would love to host

  3. Any other discussion that teams would like to have?


 

IWCHL League Spring Meeting April 13, 2019
Link to Google doc

 

Spring 2019 Meeting Agenda with meeting notes:

    Meeting start time: 11:33 am

  1. Sign in, pick up team sheets, surveys

  1. Satisfaction survey: https://forms.gle/H4WEus3Prhi7y9cA9

  2. Contact survey: https://forms.gle/cZrH844KytHJBUWbA 

  3. Please fill out this survey once for each person you wish to be on the contact list. For example, if you have 3 people that you would like on the contact list, please fill out this form 3 times. 

  1. Divisional movement

    1. Changes in each division

Providence and Connecticut have expressed interest in Presidential division

Keene would like to move up to presidential 

  1. Adirondack Division split

Paul Smiths and Springfield want to join Adirondack and could go to west

East would be short by one team if Keene moves

Associate, providence would leave

Considerations: remain east or west?

    Discussion and voting on north and south vs east and west

  1. Divisional considerations for the future

    1. Date to finalize divisions

June 1 final date to change divisions (commit to division)

Think about contracts with ice

Question: do teams say where they fit within the league? You can pick where your team fits

Division limits: continuing to expand

Presidential: split north and south (play your division twice and other once)

  • There will be 15 games played 

  • Can play outside league teams to make more games

  • Could set random matrix

  • Vote: 8 votes

    • In favor of split: 8 teams (UVM not present)

  • Will send out an email with proposed split for presidential (play own group twice, both home and away.  Other group will be once and will be decided before June 1 date)

    1. We are continuing to expand and need to consider how we will handle this in the future. Another division? More subdivisions?

  1. Budget

    1. Projected vs actual expenses this season

Big item: got insurance for Board of Directors

Will get a budget for the fall

  1. Player eligibility

    1. All exceptions that were made this year must be resubmitted to the board and reassessed.

    2. Clarification on how the BOD decides on player eligibility

All player eligibility will have to be reevaluated for the following year so submit again

  1. Regional/ national oversight 

    1. 2018-2019 requirement for Presidential Division to join ACHA Women’s Division 2. 

    2. What is our decision for the 2019-2020 season?

All presidential still required to join ACHA

  • Westfield doesn’t feel it is worth it, financially

  • But majority vote to keep it

If a team fails to join ACHA: forfeit on the team that doesn’t join to all the teams of the league. Ineligible for playoff ranking. You should drop to Adirondack if you don’t join.

  • Will write out something for terms and send out to vote

  1. Referee assignor

    1. 2018-2019 requirement for Presidential Division to use George Starr

    2. What is our decision for the 2019-2020 season?

BU would like to change this.  Doubled expenses. Team fee for year is much higher than 

anyone else.

Non ACHA assigned referees could create liability issues and for ACHA

Put something in the rules to charge referees

Standard fee for club hockey for the last 12 years

Referee games $180 per refs for 2 refs 

Vote after meeting for presidential referee assignor: vote for George Starr as the ref 

assignor vs other assignors of your choosing

  1. Rules committee

    1. Discipline Policy decisions clarification

Discipline policy: add to the rules? Include paragraphs into rules

  1. Playoff dates

    1. Discussion: leave weekend before open again?

    2. Proposed February 15-16

    3. Should the league continue to book ice and refs?

Weekend before playoffs to keep open the entire weekend? 

Interested in keeping this rink? Would give us larger rink. Yes we should book this.

  • Yes for rink booking and refs for the board to book

  • Team to commit for trainers for this weekend? Could budget to pay them

  1. Social Media Presence

    1. Public Relations position

    2. Teams are encouraged to share pictures. Possible team takeovers?

Made Instagram: foster a league environment: get athlete of the month:

Instagram: IWCHLOfficial_

Every team add this account to your Instagram and share content with it

  1. Looking ahead

    1. Fall 2019 meeting: September 21

    2. St. A’s as permanent meeting location?  

    3. Election of new Board of Directors

Nominations: 

President: Fiona from Merrimack

VP: Lexi from Saint A’s

Treasurer: Taylor from Bridgewater

Secretary: Annie from Smith College

Public Relations: Hannah 

Fall meeting: September 21, 2019

  • Saint A’s as permanent location, yes

  • BU can host if needed


 

IWCHL League Meeting April 21, 2018

In Attendance:


 

  • Bates

  • Boston College

  • Bridgewater State

  • Boston University

  • Colby-Sawyer

  • Curry

  • Dartmouth

  • Merrimack

  • MIT

  • Mt. Holyoke

  • Northeastern

  • Smith

  • Saint Anselm

  • Stonehill

  • UMaine

  • UMass Lowell

  • UNE

  • UNH

  • Union

  • Westfield State



 

  1. Sign in, pick up team sheets, survey

  2. Budget review

    1. League deposit: $500

    2. League dues: $70

    3. Website renewal: $240

    4. PO box renewal: $112

    5. Teams that participate in playoffs split the cost of playoffs evenly (per game) between teams

  3. Dues and deposit

    1. Discussion: confirm dues before fall meeting, set a finalized hard date for funds to be due

  4. Divisional movement

    1. Movement to Presidential

      1. Northeastern (from Associate)

    2. Movement to Adirondack

      1. Union (from Presidential) to Adirondack West

      2. Merrimack possible (from Presidential, will find out within the next two weeks)

      3. Addition of Bridgewater (From Associate)

    3. Movement to associate

      1. None

    4. Discussion: divisional adjustment

      1. North/South? – vote was close last time this was discussed, but East/West won

      2. Talent split? – teams change over time, would be hard to accomplish

      3. With the addition of more teams, maybe making more subdivisions that are made up of less teams (ex. 4 subdivisions of 4 teams?)

      4. Board will review options and send out more information for a vote

  5. Game cancellation policy

    1. Forfeits do not affect associate members – what is the most feasible way for cancellations to affect these teams?

    2. Fine? – teams are already having to pay for ice/transportation

    3. Paying the other team’s fees? Ex. If Team A was traveling to Team B and Team B cancelled within 24 hours notice for reasons other than poor weather/unsafe conditions, Team B would pay for Team A’s traveling expenses

    4. Something will be drafted and sent out for review from teams

  6. Player eligibility

    1. All exceptions that were made this year must be resubmitted to the board and reassessed

  7. Regional/ national oversight (example: ACHA)

    1. Discussion: requirement? Not for everyone, but for Presidential division?

      1. Adirondack: No

      2. Presidential: Maybe

    2. More information to be sent out by the Board

    3. Require for Presidential in 2 seasons? – Saint A’s in 2 years?

    4. ACHA: BC got bid to nationals this year and last year for winning IWCHL, good experience for BC and got ourselves a national presence

  8. Referee assignor

    1. Do we want to require teams to use the same referee assignor?

      1. Adirondack: No

      2. Presidential: Yes

    2. Creates consistency across the league, no questions about if there is a ref/if that ref is certified, reduces teams using the same refs for every game  

    3. 2018-2019 requirement to use Horizonweb ref: George Starr in the Presidential Division only

  9. Logo contest

    1. $50 visa gift card for the winner!

    2. Send in by July 1st!

    3. See brochure!! Distribute to your teams

    4. Future of logo? Helmet stickers, jersey patches? “Branding” of our league…

  10. Playoff dates

    1. Discussion: leave weekend before open again?

      1. Maybe not whole weekend, one day?

      2. Proposed: Best interest for teams to leave both days open, but it is not a requirement

    2. Proposed February 23-24

      1. Discussion over which weekend(s) work for the league

      2. Factors that need to be considered:

        1. Bates’ spring break

        2. Fall and spring sports – our season is in the middle so we can get other athletes

        3. ACHA National Tournament

        4. Long winter breaks

        5. Finals

        6. Not being able to get ice earlier in the season

      3. More information will be collected from all teams about dates that work for them – the Board will work with this information

    3. League will continue booking refs and ice times

  11. Looking ahead

    1. Fall 2018 meeting: September 22

      1. Possibly at Saint A’s

      2. Board wants to establish a meeting place that we can rely on (ex. How Daniel Webster College was always the meeting spot)

    2. Election of new board of directors

      1. President: Meghan Johnson (Smith)

      2. Vice President: Ashley Zannini (UNH)

      3. Secretary: Mikaela Dowd (UNH)

      4. Treasurer: Lisa Bonome (Westfield)

      5. Public Relations: Hannah Palacios (Bates)

  12. Other Discussion:

    1. Proposed: Setting a hard dues date for our league

    2. Proposed: All financial obligations must be paid in full to be in good standing with the league – including refs.

      1. Not an outrageous request, but not something the league will be involved in at this point in time

      2. Board will work with George Starr to figure out a potential alternative

 

********************************************************************************************************

Fall 2017 Meeting Minutes


IWCHL Fall 2017 Pre-Season Meeting Minutes

Present:

BC, BU, Merrimack, Saint Anselm, UNH, Union, UVM, Westfield

Bates, Colby-Sawyer, Curry, Dartmouth, Keene, MIT, Mt Holyoke, Norwich, Smith, Stonehill, UMaine, UMass Lowell, UNE

Northeastern

 

  1. Sign in, pick up team sheets

  2. George Starr:

    1. NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey Rules and Officiating 2017-18 Preseason Video Supplement

      1. Student-Athlete Protection/Safety: hitting from behind and contact to the head are major penalties with a game misconduct and/or disqualification and must be called

      2. Standard of Play: illegally gaining advantage

      3. Goalkeeper Interference (Rule 73): play around the net can be hard to judge, video supplies in-depth examples of this that must be called

      4. Interference/Faceoff Interference: no contact with someone not in possession of the puck

      5. Penalties/Body checking: must be enforced

    2. HorizonWebRef: system for scheduling referees well in advance

      1. Too many games and too few refs, hence deadline of game schedule

      2. Seniors, look into becoming a ref after graduation, need lady officials

  3. Commissioner Hird

    1. No cuts in club members, no limit on number of people on team rosters

    2. For ACHA games, players must be on ACHA roster following those rules

    3. Ask first then play the player, do NOT play someone who may be ineligible then ask for forgiveness as that game will be counted as a forfeit

    4. REMINDER: former Varsity players CANNOT play for teams in the ADIRONDACK teams, meaning if they were ever on a NCAA roster no matter if they played a game or not, potential waiver permission if player was injured and cut from team

    5. Academic probation is school and ACHA rules, again ask for permission not forgiveness to make them eligible for ACHA sanctioned game, fairly easy to gain waiver for players if schools permit them to play

    6. If there are any issues, ask the Board iwchlofficers@gmail.com

    7. League/Association in the works to compete with the ACHA that will better suite women’s hockey

      1. For more information, contact Commissioner Hird

    8. Trainer/EMT must be present at game and/or share emergency plan with visiting team

    9. AED locations must be known prior to games

  4. Final Rosters and Schedules

    1. Scheduling (reminders)

Presidential teams need to play each other 2x (one home, one away)

Adirondack teams need to play each team in their subdivision 2x

East: Bates, Curry, MIT, Stonehill, UMaine, UNE, UML

West: Colby, Keene, Mt. Holyoke, Norwich, Smith, Dartmouth

    1. Schedules and rosters need to be sent to Brian Donahoe bjdonahoe@gmail.com by September 30th 2017

      1. If you add games after this date, you need to let Brian know so he can add them

      2. First semester rosters need to be finalized PRIOR to 1st REGULAR SEASON GAME

      3. Roster changes/additions for the second semester will be due in early February

      4. Players with different numbers for home and away jerseys, indicate that in the comments for the roster format

    2. If you want to add any rinks to the list, please add them and return to the end of the meeting

    3. Format for rosters and schedules needs to be correct: it is what the website can handle and allows for quick and easy changes if need be

    4. Roster: (will send out Excel template)ScheduleFormatIWCHL.PNG

    5. Schedule: HOME games ONLY (will send out Excel template)RosterFormatIWCHL.PNG


 

  1. Submitting Scores

    1. Home team must report game scores to Brian bjdonahoe@gmail.com within 24 hours after the game is played

  2. Playoffs

    1. February 24th-25th at a central location

    2. Teams MUST keep the weekend of February 17th-18th open for potential make-up games

      1. Friday, February 16th may be used to schedule regular season games

    3. The league will take responsibility for booking the ice, but teams will split the cost of refs, ice, athletic trainers, and any other costs evenly between the teams

      1. This money can be subtracted from the $500 deposit and the remainder shall be returned the team

      2. If total cost for playoffs exceed the initial deposit, the teams will be billed for the remaining cost

    4. Refer to protocol for missed games on how points are awarded for playoff eligibility

  3. Dues and Deposit

    1. $500 deposit - will be refunded at the end of the season to all teams with perfect attendance at their scheduled games, barring any excused absences

      1. Playoff fees will be subtracted from this deposit

    2. $70 league fees

      1. Maintaining the website, paying for championship trophies

      2. A discussion and/or vote will be sent out for deciding what else the league’s money should be used towards as every team should be provided the opportunity to decide what the money is used for

        1. Possibilities include, but not limited to: sending league representatives to conferences to increase IWCHL’s voice in the (inter)national hockey world, subsidizing playoffs (cost of ice, refs, etc.), liability policy for the board, and “slush fund” in case of emergencies

    3. Invoices were provided for teams at the meeting, if you would prefer a digital copy and/or W-9 or any other forms for documentation, please inform the Board the Treasurer will provide them

  4. Associate Teams

    1. 3 new teams, Bridgewater State University (Bridgewater, MA), Northeastern University (Boston, MA), Trinity College (Hartford, CT)

    2. Northeastern University is a Presidential-caliber team

      1. A motion/vote will be put out to initiate Northeastern into Presidential

      2. Must be passed by a unanimous vote to pass due to strain placed on team budgets of adding two additional games to schedules

    3. Bridgewater State and Trinity are both within their first few years of existence

    4. Associate teams are NOT required to pay dues or provide a deposit, though they are not able to play in the playoffs for either division

    5. Following the 2017-18 season, teams may request to be moved to either the Presidential or Adirondack division at the Spring 2018 meeting

  5. Follow-Up from Spring 2017 Meeting

    1. Disciplinary Policy

      1. Emailed out to teams with the form for submitting complaints

      2. This is not to replacement rulebook but a supplement to it for if/when decisions need to be made by the Board

      3. Amendment(s):

        1. Decision must be made before playoff rankings are decided

        2. Knowingly playing ineligible players would be included in this

      4. Players with wrong numbered jerseys (ie. mismatched home/away jersey sets, jersey number does not match online roster) should be reported to opponent team prior to a game being played

    2. Transgender/Non-Binary Policy

      1. Due to sharp divide in opinions on the committee formed after the Spring 2017 meeting, IWCHL’s transgender policy is as follows:

 

All IWCHL teams will follow their individual school’s policy or that of the ACHA, whichever provides the most instruction. In the event that teams are not affiliated with the ACHA and their school does not have a specific policy, IWCHL will not bar players from competing due to gender, sexual orientation, etc. and will enforce the Player Code of Conduct for the safe and fair play.

 

      1. There will be a note sent out to teams that did not submit their school’s policy in the poll put out after the Spring 2017 meeting

    1. New President

      1. President-elect voted on during Fall meeting, Presidential terms will be Spring-to-spring

      2. Teams are encouraged to nominate President-elects prospects

      3. A digital vote may be sent out to formally elect the incoming President

      4. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please issue them to the Board

    2. Logo Contest

      1. No submissions :(

      2. Teams/players/fans who are interested can still create/draft a logo

      3. Submitted logos will be voted on digitally either after deadline (TBD) or once enough proposed logos have been submitted

      4. Selected logo will still receive a $50 VISA gift card

      5. Having a logo will add validity to the league and will serve as the defining of IWCHL for years to come

      6. Example logos can/will be sent out as inspiration

  1. Looking Ahead: Spring 2018 Meeting

    1. Poll for how well this location worked for teams and alternate proposed locations

  2. Other Topics discussed

    1. Teams do not have to use HorizonWebRef to schedule refs, but they are required to be ACHA certified

      1. The aim is to avoid having “homer” refs and make them more impartial

    2. Teams not using George Starr to schedule refs must notify the Board of what scheduler they are using


 

  1. Sign-in sheet/update contact information
  2. Budget review by treasurer
  3. Movement within divisions
  • Who wants to move to the Presidential?
  • Who wants to move to the Adirondack?
  • Who wants to become an associate?
  • Which associates want to become full-fledged members?
  1. Review of overhauled website
  • FAQ section - (refs, ATs… etc)
  • Tips for Running a Team
  1. Consider making a team gmail! It makes it much easier to update your contact information
  • Updated rules
  1. Protocol for missed games
  2. Player eligibility
  3. Handling of crossover games
  1. Discussion of new policies
  • Transgender policy
  • Player Code of Conduct
  1. Proposed policies
  • Movement for all Presidential teams to join the ACHA
  1. Automatic bid for nationals
  2. Standardization of player eligibility and league rules
  1. Set date for next year’s playoffs
  • Weekend before is a buffer so that teams can make-up missed games
  • Will the league organize this again?
  1. If so, which rinks did you guys like/would you like us to try for? We have to start booking ice earlier (basically as soon as the meeting ends!!!)
  1. Election of new E-board
  • Announcement of new league commissioner
  • Necessary officers are President, Treasurer and Secretary
  • Other officers may include VP and PR
  1. Set dates and location for future meetings

****************************************************************************************************************

Fall 2016 Meeting Agenda / Minutes

 

  • Sign-in sheet/update contact information

    • Brief overview of how the google group works. Sign in sheet will have a checkbox for reps to opt in or out of the google group
       

    • Reminder about google spreadsheet with team contact information. Sign in sheet will require at least one rep from each team to provide a phone number in case of emergency
       

    • Announce sponsorship from Pro Stock Hockey
       

  • Scheduling and rosters
    (sent to Brian at bjdonahoe@gmail.com )

    • Teams must submit a finalized schedule by THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 29. Presidential teams play all other opponents twice, adirondacks teams play all subdivision opponents twice, plus additional games for the AD West teams
       

    • Fall rosters must also be submitted by THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 29. Format the roster as an Excel spreadsheet with five columns: Jersey#, Last Name, First Name, Position, Year of Graduation.
       

    • Teams with websites should also submit their website urls and any team pictures that they have at start of season

    • After each game, teams must submit their scores
       

  • Playoffs

    • Playoffs will be hosted the weekend of FEBRUARY 24-26

    • This date was chosen because of the many March conflicts

      • Mar 1, D3 spring sports begin

      • Mar 4, Spring break

      • Mar 10-12, ACHA Nationals
         

    • Suggestion: The league will acquire 8 hours of ice on the Saturday, Feb 25 and 4 hours of ice on the Sunday, Feb 26 at a central location so that teams do not have to scramble to find ice time. The cost of the semifinals (8 hours of ice) will be split among the teams participating, and the league will cover the cost of the finals (4 hours of ice). Referees will be paid for by the home team (~$210 per game)
       

  • Rewording of IWCHL rules encompassing officials

    • We will accept officials that are certified within their own refereeing body

    • Spot checks may be added to ensure that officials are knowledgeable of NCAA rules and have sufficient certifications
       

  • How to make decisions outside of the league meetings
     

    • Avoid spamming everyone in the google group

  • Proposed change: voting after the meeting not during
     

  • Discussion: Adirondacks playoffs - take top two from AD-East and AD-West
     

  • Discussion: How do missed games affect standings? - Default to a tie