Volume 11 Issue 8 | August 2023

Tryouts are here! Good luck to everyone. This is going to be a fantastic season!

How about those Blackhawks!! They will be very exciting to watch this year. We are working with the Hawks to bring you the best season ever, from the pros to the youth hockey programs. Hockey is going to be bigger and better than ever!

See you at the rink!

Kevin Bolger

President

Tier II Substitute Choice Application Process for 2023-24 Season

The Tier II substitute choice application process, 10U through 16U/18U will begin on July 15, 2023. All applications will be submitted online. The deadline for applying for a substitute choice will be September 4, 2023. The Tier II Committee will have (3) three in-person appeal hearings for those denied a substitute choice. The dates for the appeal hearings will be August 30th and September 6th at 6:30 p.m. in Glenview.

Questions? Please email Gregg Chudacoff, AHAI Tier II Chairman, at gregg.chudacoff@ahai2.org.

Locker Room Policy - Rule Update!

Under USA Hockey’s current Locker Room Policy “all USA Hockey Member Programs are required to have at least one responsible [NCSI screened and SafeSport trained] adult (which may include coaches, managers or other volunteers) present at all times and monitoring the locker room during all team events to assure that only Participants (coaches and players), approved team personnel and family members are permitted in the locker room and to supervise the conduct in the locker room.” While USA Hockey expressly prefers that locker room monitors remain inside the locker room while Participants are present, if the monitor is “in the immediate vicinity outside the locker room (near the door within arm’s length and so that the monitor can sufficiently hear inside the locker room) who also regularly and frequently enters the locker room to monitor activity inside,” the Member Program is in compliance.

Despite this policy, however, more than half of all SafeSport incidents reported each year occur in locker rooms. In all but a few cases, there was no locker room monitor present.

AHAI believes that presence of adults inside the locker rooms is critical to maintaining a safe and positive environment for our players. For this reason, Illinois is joining the many states that have imposed stricter locker room monitoring requirements than those required by USA Hockey. 

Effective immediately, the following conditions are REQUIRED of all AHAI Affiliates for locker room use at all team events including conditioning clinics, tryouts, practices, games and any event that a locker room is being utilized:

• No players shall be allowed access to the locker room unless a NCSI background screened/Safe Sport trained locker room monitor is present in the locker room. 
• If a single player is present, the locker room should be monitored by at least two adults until additional players arrive.
• If there is only one adult present, whether a coach or volunteer parent, they should wait for multiple players to arrive before allowing access to the locker room.
• The same strategies should be applied after practice with a monitor staying until the last player leaves, and at no time should one adult be alone in the locker room with one player, unless the player is their own child.

This policy applies to all minor USA Hockey Participants up through the youth 18U level and through girls 19U level. It should be noted that an Affiliate may at its discretion adopt stricter policies than those defined by USA Hockey or AHAI, but in no case may said policy be less strict. Affiliates found in violation of this policy will be sanctioned automatically, under Zero Tolerance, in the following manner starting December 1, 2023:

1st team offense: $500 fine to the Affiliate and one game suspension to the head coach

2nd team Offense: $1000 fine to the Affiliate and 3 game suspension to the head coach.

Any additional offenses will require the Affiliate president and coaches of the non-compliant team to appear before AHAI’s Rules and Ethics Committee to determine appropriate discipline, which may include exclusion from participation in the Illinois State Tournament.

As a reminder, all Affiliates are required to publish locker room policies to the parents of all minor participants that are specific to the facilities they regularly use. The Affiliate’s policies shall include the program’s (a) practices for supervising and monitoring locker rooms and changing areas; (b) permission or lack of permission for parents to be in the locker rooms; (c) prohibited conduct, including at least all forms of abuse and misconduct prohibited by USA Hockey; and (d) specific policies regarding the use of mobile electronic devices and phones and prohibiting the use of a device’s recording capabilities. 

In addition to publishing these changes to AHAI’s locker room policy, AHAI strongly encourages all Affiliates to go over its locker room policy with parents and players at a team meeting. At that time, the Affiliate should:

• Clearly explain the rules and expectations for players with respect to locker room activity.
• Clearly explain the rules and expectations of the locker room monitor.…including the corrective action that will be taken if necessary (player could be benched or suspended, for example.).
• Ensure players and parents understand the locker room monitor is there to help ensure there is a safe environment for all members of the team.

AHAI is confident that this policy change will reduce incidents of hazing, bullying, harassment, or other inappropriate behaviors caused by an unsupervised locker room. The safety and well-being of every player is and will continue to be AHAI’s top priority.

Game On: High School Hockey Starting In Illinois

AHAI pushes to increase social media coverage, storytelling and player exposure.

By: Ross Forman



Some of the biggest overall goals for Illinois High School Hockey this season are off-ice focused: further promoting the high school game, increasing social media coverage, storytelling and player exposure.

“High school hockey represents the best of our game,” said Spencer Montgomery, St. Ignatius head coach and chair of the AHAI High School Committee, talking for the annual State of High School Hockey in Illinois. “It is an opportunity to compete with your classmates and community in an environment with legacy and heritage. Athletes are put in an environment conducive to academic success that prioritizes team over individual. Rivalries are strong and the care level is high. High school hockey has been missed over the summer months. 

“Great rivalries will be renewed with new players this season. The competition across all four (boys’) leagues will increase and there will be exciting action at rinks across the state from September through March as a new group of hockey players will have their chance to add to their school’s legacy and claim their place in their school’s success.

Montgomery said the level of competition at the high school level is as high as it has ever been and there is great parity amongst programs. “Our hope is to continue to bring new fans into rinks by investing in social media, storytelling, game broadcasts, and the Blackhawks Rivalry Series. Hope springs eternal heading into the beginning of the season. Excitement builds over which clubs have improved and will it be enough to compete against perennial powerhouse programs.”

The upcoming high school hockey season will feature a new varsity league, under the Scholastic Hockey League banner: the Academic Hockey League will feature second varsity teams from SHL clubs. READ MORE>>>

AHAI hosted its 26h Annual Golf Outing on Friday, August 11, 2023 at the Schaumburg Golf Course with over 130 golfers participating.

The objective of the annual outing was to raise funds for Hearing Impaired Hockey, Diversity Hockey, Sled Hockey, Special Hockey, IHOA Memorial Fund and the AHAI Catastrophic Relief Fund. The goal was met due to the generosity and support from the Illinois hockey community. 

The golfers started the day with a little weather, but then became a beautiful day of golf with many contests on the course. Golfers were treated to a delicious pig roast in the clubhouse after the competitive round of golf. After dinner, MC’s Jim Smith and Don Allord, held a raffle and silent/live auction that included literally hundreds of prizes. Most golfers will left with an armload of prizes and a special day of memories.

Once again, on behalf of the entire membership of AHAI, we want to thank the sponsors, volunteers and golfers for making the AHAI golf outing another success. We’re quite confident each of these groups listed above will be able to utilize this funding for the upcoming season. 

The Central States Developmental Hockey League would like to welcome all players and families back for the 2023/24 season. We officially kicked off our season with our annual scheduling meeting on August 13th, where we had all member teams in attendance. We are proud to announce our league continues to grow as we welcome five new teams from the Chicago suburbs, southern Illinois, and Florida. We now have thirteen divisions with the addition of Squirt Prospects and look forward to watching all teams compete this season.

Having had a successful and streamlined experience in year one of our partnership with GameSheet Inc., we will continue using their service this year for electronic scorekeeping and stats. Look for our season to conclude again with the CSDHL All-Star game at the 16U and 18U divisions featuring top players in our league.

We would like to grow our social media presence by highlighting team and club achievements. If you have a great story to share, tag us on your club posts for a repost, or send a photo and a short blurb to fmvoris@gmail.com and watch for it to appear on Facebook (Central States Developmental Hockey League) and Instagram (csdhl_hockey).

Best of luck to all players in all leagues and tiers this season!

Save the date!

The Blackhawks High School Holiday tournament returns to Fifth Third Arena, December 26-29, keep an eye on Blackhawks.com/tournaments for details.

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