2025/26 - Season Start Information

Sep. 22, 2025

We are very excited for the start of another successful hockey season!!

We wanted to take a few minutes to send you some very important updates and details on the upcoming season.

We know this is a long read, but we ask you to please read all of the below information as it contains a lot of important details and changes for the upcoming season.

Coaches!! Thank you to all of you that have signed up to coach, Red Deer Pond Hockey is a 100% volunteer ran organization and without you we could not operate!! If you are interested in volunteering to be a coach, and if you have not done so already, we ask you to please register yourself as a coach in the RAMP system. To register as a coach please follow this link to log in to your RAMP account and choose register as Coach/Staff Option: COACHES REGISTER HERE

All Coaches must have a current Criminal Record Check and Respect In Sport. PLEASE NOTE- NO COACHES/PARENTS/HELPERS ARE ALLOWED ON THE BENCH WITHOUT THE PROPER CERTIFICATIONS AND PRE-APPROVALS. THERE IS ALSO A MAXIMUM NUMBER OF HELPERS ALLOWED ON THE BENCHES.

Please feel free to reach out to us at coachliaison@reddeerpondhockey.com for more information on the roles. Without an adequate number of coaches we are unable to build teams, so if you are thinking about signing up, please do so as soon as possible. Our coached meeting will be held on October 5^th a separate email will follow to coaches with times and signup details.

Team Managers: All teams are required to have a Team Manager by the time we start our first games. So again, if you are thinking of signing up as a Team Manager, please do so as soon as possible as this will assist us in the team building process. We would also direct you to our website for some additional information TEAM MANAGER INFO HERE

To register as Team Manager, please click here TEAM MANAGERS REGISTER HERE and log into your RAMP account and log in as Coach/Staff Member and choose the Team Manager option.

Special requests and expectations for the season etc.

Now that registration is closed, team building will begin. This process is very time consuming and our Division coordinators, put a lot of time and effort into taking all of the prior season feedback from coaches, and whatever skill level you enter into the registration to ensure that teams are built fairly and equitably. We do our best to ensure that teams are not stacked, or built unfairly, but please understand, these coordinators do not know all of your children, nor do they know their skill levels. Division coordinators are volunteers, so they do their best. While they try to accommodate as many friend and coach requests as possible, we want to be clear that not all special requests can or will be accommodated. Red Deer Pond Hockey does not host try outs, as we simply do not have the available ice times or resources to do so. Fees are low because of the way we operate and the format in which we build teams. Red Deer Pond Hockey is home to children of ALL ABILITIES, this may mean that the player next to you and across from you, has never skated before, may have some physical challenges, or may have some developmental challenges. We count on those players that are strong to help build and support those players that may not be as strong. Red Deer Pond Hockey is not the place for teams that want to slaughter the competition, it is a place of support and friendship, where kids get to play the sport they love without feeling threatened or out of place. We would appreciate that if you as parents can communicate this with your children, to ensure they understand, we are a NO HIT LEAGUE, and kids are here to have fun. Yes, there will be a certain level of competitiveness as there is in all sports, we understand that, but we are not the place for bullying, violence, or unsportsman like conduct of any kind. There has been an alarming increase in penalties and disciplinary actions over the past couple of seasons and want to make it clear. We will have ZERO tolerance for any behaviors outside of the philosophy and vision that is Red Deer Pond Hockey.

An Important Note, if we notice there is an extreme imbalance of teams in any division it may be necessary to restructure some teams to ensure a fair, fun season for all. This means you may be asked to move your player to another team to ensure fairness for all teams. As a reminder we are all volunteers, we do our best and ask for input from coaches, but we do not know every player or their skill level and we have many new players unknown to us. We do our best, but sometimes we don't get it right on the first try. We appreciate your cooperation if this occurs.

Team Assignments - Our season play will begin the weekend of October 17-19. We will attempt to release team assignments and schedules by October 12^th. Your coaches will reach out to you to schedule a team meeting where you will meet your coach, and you can volunteer for the numerous roles that are needed to be filled. We can not provide the schedules until all teams are built, so the schedule will be released in RAMP as soon as teams are complete, and ice availability is confirmed. We can not accommodate all friend requests, age exemptions requests, coach requests etc. Our Team Builds are final, and we will not be moving players around after Team Builds are complete unless we notice a significant imbalance. If your request was not approved, we would suggest you encourage your children that this is a great opportunity to make new friends. As is the case in ANY sports league, not all friends get to be on the same team.

Season play and schedule information- For those that are new to our league - WELCOME! A bit of information on our format and schedules Our games are 1 hour once a week, typically on weekends, and the day and time will vary. If the City of Red Deer approves, we may have practices once a week, for one hour at an Outdoor Rink in the City of Red Deer. These practices do not start until the Outdoor Rinks (ODR’s) are open for the season and not until the City approves it. The day of the week, and time are chosen by the coaches once we receive the locations we are approved to use. Your coaches will be advised when opened, then will advise you what date and time. The outdoor practices are weather dependent the coaches will notify you if a practices in canceled.

First Ice Times - For Divisions 1,2, 3 and 4 the first two ice times are a practice and are an opportunity for players to get to know each other and their coaches. You will be sharing the ice with another team, but no game will be played. The third weekend will be when games will start. For Division 5 & 6 the first ice time will be a practice and then the games will start on the second weekend of play. Again, you will be sharing the ice with another team.

Team communication - Red Deer Pond Hockey pays for teams to have access to use the RAMP App for coaches to communicate with their player families. In the RAMP App you can view schedules, mark your game attendance, sign up for volunteer roles etc. We encourage all of you to download the RAMP app today. Please note, that once the teams are released in RAMP, you may need to sign out and sign back into the app to have your players details updated in the App. Team details will not show until teams are released. Instructions on how to download the App can be found here RAMP APP INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS HERE

Volunteering - Red Deer Pond Hockey is a 100% volunteer ran organization. We count on all of you to step up and help out so that we can continue to offer low fees. Countless hours are spent tracking and organizing hours and issuing refunds and we are noticing the same families are the one that show up to help out. So, we are trying something new this season. There will be no volunteer bond, instead we are counting on each and every one of you to step up and help out. We may reinstitute the volunteer bond next season depending on feedback following this season. There are multiple roles and opportunities to volunteer from coaching, team manager, score keeper, jersey parent, event planner etc. Information on the various volunteer roles, can be found here VOLUNTEER INFO HERE

FUN STUFF - UPCOMING EVENTS!!

EQUIPMENT SWAP: Will be held at the Aspen Heights Elementary School Gym (entrance at the back north side of the school - there will be NO BATHROOMS available)

Equipment Drop Off -September 26^th from 5:30pm-6:30pm - equipment donations can be dropped off

Equipment Swap Day - September - 27^th Equipment swap runs from 10am to 12pm

A reminder that this is for POND HOCKEY FAMILIES ONLY! A reminder this is an equipment swap we would ask that you only take what you need and to try and donate items in exchange. The swap is a very popular event, so the more items we can offer, the better. We remind you that we can not take any helmets

For anyone that would like to volunteer at the event to help fit equipment etc. You can sign up here EQUIPMENT SWAP VOLUNTEER SIGN UP HERE

GOALIE CAMP: We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting our free goalie camp again. This camp is for Red Deer Pond Hockey registered players only but is not exclusive to only those players that are signed up as goalies, but is intended for all players that are interested in becoming a goalie. The spaces are limited so we encourage you to sign up early!! Details with dates, times and sign up will follow in a separate email

PARENT MEETING - We received great feedback and input at last years meeting so we will be hosting it again this season. The meeting will be held on October 8^th at 6:00pm at the Aspen Heights Elementary School Gym (entrance located at the back side north end of the school) We request that at least one parent from every household attend this meeting, as we will be setting out the upcoming season details and outlining the expectations for the conduct of both players and parents this season.

We would ask you to please sign up for the meeting for numbers sign up here PARENT MEETING SIGN UP HERE

TEAM PICTURE SAVE THE DATE: Team Pictures will be held on the weekend of October 25/26, once the schedule is released teams will be able to sign up for their time slot.

RED DEER POND HOCKEY APPAREL STORE: North Start Sports will be hosting our Pond Hockey apparel store. The store will only be open for a limited time and will close in order to receive the goods in time for Christmas. We encourage you to place your orders early. Please note that orders placed will be available for pick up at North Star Sports, Red Deer Pond Hockey does not collect the items or place orders on your behalf. You will receive individual links from North Star to arrange for pick up.

RED DEER POND HOCKEY APPAREL STORE HERE

If you have hung in this long and read all of the above information, THANK YOU. We understand it is a lot of information, but we have MANY new registrations this season, so there is a lot of information to pass on. We strongly encourage you all to get to know each other and your coaches, please take the time to introduce yourself and your children. Team Managers and coaches need to know who the players belong to if anything were to happen, so they need you to introduce yourselves.

As always, Red Deer Pond Hockey is always looking for volunteers on the Board of Directors, if you are interested in joining our board of directors, please reach out to us at info@reddeerpondhockey.com

We are looking forward to a successful and safe season. We appreciate your membership and support of our kids and helping us to return to the foundation of the basis that Red Deer Pond Hockey began; “Red Deer Pond Hockey is a family oriented organization, which believes that all youth should have the opportunity to play hockey in a fun and supportive environment.” Our founder Brian Ennis, wanted to create a safe place for his child to play despite his diagnosis, where he could thrive and enjoy the sport that he loved. We appreciate your cooperation in continuing this vision.

-Red Deer Pond Hockey Board