I want to thank the Executive Committee of USA Hockey and the several committees and
task forces who worked so hard in preparing for the meetings just before Thanksgiving.
The discussions were excellent and continue USA Hockey’s goal of advancing
excellence on and off the ice.
 
USA Hockey has a role in hearing appeals on disciplinary actions. That role is a serious
role and has become more time consuming. I am proud of how USA Hockey
committee’s and staff are executing this role. We have been very fortunate to have a
volunteer in-house counsel for many years in the person of Peter Lindberg. Now we have
a full time paid staff counsel with Casey Jorgensen joining our staff this past June. His
presence along with Peter’s provides a professional resource that has helped supervise the
hearing and appeals process. Many volunteers, staff, and professional advisors are
involved in arriving at decisions in reviewing disciplinary actions appealed under our By
Laws. The system has been a fair and deliberative system that is working well. This is a
valuable service provided by USA Hockey.
 
USA Hockey has a role in training volunteer coaches and referees. Training coaches and
referees has been enhanced dramatically by our on line capabilities. Our live clinics and
discussion groups continue to be a valuable benefit as well. Age specific coaching
modules have been introduced this year. These modules provide material consistent with
long term athlete development principles. Proper use of small area games and training,
progressive checking skill development, managing the risks in the game, and healthy
eating and lifestyle are just some of the areas covered within the modules.
Congratulations to all involved in the design and implementation of these modules. Our
coaches will be armed better with information to help the children under their auspice as
well as answer questions posed by parents and players. As I understand already the
coaching group is busy reviewing the new modules and working on improving the
modules for next year.
 
Our busy coaching section and staff have also retooled the coaching certification
program. We especially applaud the decision to require completion of just one
certification annually. The Executive Committee decided that requiring just one age
specific module annually also made sense for our volunteers. It seemed appropriate to
require just one age specific module annually until all age levels coached by the coach
have been completed. Reinforcing some of the repetitive elements of the modules as the
coach completes all the necessary age levels is not a bad thing.
 
Training other volunteers is also important. USA Hockey’s Progressive Checking Skill
Development Program has been working well. Coaches and referees were trained with
the same video clips on acceptable body contact, acceptable legal body checking for
Bantam and above, and the zero tolerance for intimidation hits in youth hockey. Our goal
is to produce players and coaches that understand body contact. Understanding how to
protect as well as separating the puck by body contact is an important skill. It has been a
skill that USA Hockey player’s need improvement. Legal body checking is a progressive
outgrowth of acceptable body contact. Learning body contact skills earlier without fear
of intimidation and undisciplined body checking helps in the progression our skill
development experts seek. In addition, we have heard much more about the cause and
effect of concussions acquired early in life. Managing these risks for our children just
makes sense. USA Hockey provides the valuable research and supervision to improve
development of players, coaches, and referees as well as help manage the risks in the
game.
 
I have appointed a committee to develop timelines for on-line training modules for
parents. Parents do influence the decisions of players. Although these modules will be
shorter to complete, the modules will provide access to information beyond the module
for those who seek more information on the subject. Parents are important in the hockey
experience. USA Hockey can provide more accessible up to date information that can
help parents make decisions about the game and its opportunities for their child.
 
Hockey does not exist without the services of volunteers in the local programs. USA
Hockey has some valuable information for volunteer leadership within local hockey
organizations. I have appointed a committee to provide timelines for assembling the
information and provide an on line training module for various positions in a local
hockey program. These modules can provide a valuable service to our member
organizations. Assembling the information and locating the information for easy access
is a key goal of this group.
 
Today there is legitimate concern over child abuse and sexual molestation in sports. I am
appointing a committee to provide a Children’s Protection Program and Policy that will
provide guidance and guidelines for vigilance, reporting, and follow-up of activities that
have or could endanger our children from these threats. A complete review of our current
program and policies will be part of this group’s task. The group will present to the
Legal Committee, the Executive Committee, and the Full Board its report and
recommendations. The group will include staff and volunteer leaders headed by our
Executive Director Dave Ogrean.
 
Web and social media are used by so many of our organizations now. USA Hockey has
continued to advance its web site to serve its membership with access to information and
more. Staff is working on enhancing our use of social media to present how and where
members and other hockey stakeholders benefit from USA Hockey activities. One issue
we want to address is where or how to find specific web resources available from USA
Hockey. So there is a staff group working to help improve navigation and searching on
our web site which is full of valuable information for members.
 
Our American Development Model is the focus of USA Hockey’s hockey department in
developing programs and services for members. Our growth of regional managers
serving our members in the field has been such a valuable resource for hockey
organizations. They have been an important communication link to our affiliates and
local organizations for the ADM. A group has been formed to work on improvements in
reaching more stakeholders including players, parents, coaches, referees, and rink/hockey
program operators to have even greater impact from ADM. I think we can all agree that
our ADM Regional managers are among the most important resources in USA Hockey
today.
 
A report on Junior Hockey has been prepared. The report suggests a change in Junior
Hockey governance. The details of the report will be discussed at the January meeting.
With the resignation of Dan Esdale as Junior Vice President, Marc Boxer will be the key
person until the January election of a new Vice President for Junior Hockey. Junior
Hockey continues to be an important and integral part of USA Hockey.
 
An important driver of resources to fund programs is the USA Hockey Foundation. At its
last meeting, the Foundation Board established that there would be more regional
Foundation development committees with specific tasks to raise interest and funding for
specific programs of USA Hockey. Pat Kelleher will be heading up the development
effort of the Foundation to establish foundation members. From these members regional
foundation development groups can be assembled. We will be looking forward to some
great results from these changes.
 
The recent success of our on ice teams, the continued increase of Americans in the game
at the highest levels in various age categories, and the continuing growth of participants
in the game (registration is still increasing by about 2 ½ %) augurs well for what there is
to like about USA Hockey.
 
So, there is a lot going on and a lot to like. Thanks for all you do.
 
Ron DeGregorio
President, USA Hockey, Inc.