What is OneGoal?

The national OneGoal program was started as a partnership between USA Hockey, Hockey Canada, National Hockey League, National Hockey League Players Association and the International Hockey Industry Association as a way to increase the participation at the youth level in minor hockey. The OneGoal hockey program’s objective is to attract young players and their parents into trying the sport of ice hockey. One of the features of the national OneGoal program will include an initiative by the equipment manufactures of the International Hockey Industry Association (IHIA) that will provide an inexpensive equipment package for first time participants. MAHA will be participating in the national OneGoal program but also plans several other iniatiaves to reverse the recent downward trend of new players joining the sport in Michigan due to the lagging state economy and other factors.

The OneGoal Michigan committee will be tasked with coming up with ideas and programs to increase participation and promote hockey development in the state. MAHA will also be dedicating a substantial amount of their budget in the next few years toward the support of local initiatives to grow the sport of hockey. Local associations will be asked to come up with ideas to grow the sport at their local level. They can then seek a grant from MAHA to help support their efforts. The OneGoal Michigan committee will review the requests and submit the final list to the Board of Directors for approval. Local associations using the program will be asked to report their results to the One Goal Michigan committee so the effectiveness of each program can be tracked and the ones that are successful shared with the rest of the organizations through out the state.

An example of such local level effort includes the Cross Ice Program adopted by many of MAHA’s youth organizations. In many cases this required an investment into cross-ice dividers to get the program off the ground. The Cross Ice program has been successful in most areas. It has decreased the cost of getting new players on the ice to try the sport and has increased the amount of time these new players get to handle the puck in a given game or practice, making it more fun for them and advancing their skills at a more rapid rate. The Cross-Ice program is just one example of the kind of program MAHA is looking to promote and support.

Over the next several years, MAHA hopes the OneGoal program can help Michigan hockey experience a period of steady new growth of youth hockey players.

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OneGoal Michigan - Committee Report January 2008

In November 2007, MAHA formed the OneGoal Michigan Committee. The primary focus of the OneGoal Committee is to put Michigan hockey back in the growth mode after several years of decline. Much progress has been made in the first year of this initiative.

The Committee is focusing on various areas that can help grow the sport. One of the goals is to help guide the local associations in their growth efforts by providing effective ideas and materials that are easy for local board members to adapt and use at their local level.

The OneGoal Committee also accepted grant requests from local programs needing financial assistance in getting their entry-level programs off the ground. MAHA has earmarked $50,000 for this grant program. Example of the uses of the grant funds include: the purchase the cross-ice boards for their rink to start a cross-ice program; or funds to support equipment purchases for entry-level programs so that the cost of equipment is not a barrier to players wanting to try the sport for the first time. MAHA received over 31 proposals from organizations with creative ideas to grow the sport of which 28 were funded at some level.

As a tie in with the National OneGoal program 500 sets of OneGoal equipment were distributed to associations in late November. Nineteen associations will be using part of their grant money to purchase the OneGoal equipment. Many thanks to Peranni's Hockey for handling the distribution of this equipment. This equipment is being used in many creative ways to try and grow the sport. Below is a list of some of the more significant projects in place.

•    A new rink that just opened using the equipment to develop a new market.
•    Established Association in depressed economic area using equipment to decrease cost for entry-level players.
•    An association that is busing in local school children for a "Hockey Day" field trip that allows both boys and girls to try the sport.
•    An inner-city association using the equipment as part of a scholarship program designed to attract 100 new players within ten school districts.
•    Several more rural associations using the equipment to try and develop a low cost entry-level program for girls only.
•    A summer camp program is being developed for day camper from summer day care programs.
•    A Bring a Friend for a free Try Hockey Program is being tried using the equipment by one of our associations.
•    Loaning some of the equipment to various associations to run the girls "Put the Biscuit in the Net" program to attract more girls.

We would also like to thanks the CCHA for expanding the Hockey is Fun Clinics for 2008. These clinics are critical to the development of new players. Last year over 600 new players participated. This year we hope it will be well over 1,000. We are also looking for the local association to get more involved so players who have fun the first day are offered a program that will continue to feed their interest in the sport.

The CCHA also developed a TV commercial for MAHA to help attract new players. The commercial directs interested people to visit the MAHA website to find hockey in their area. As of the first of December the commercial had run over 100 times during CCHA games on various stations.

MAHA also participated in a Hockey Summit held at Joe Louis arena on October 4th. Representatives from the Red Wings, CCHA, Fox Sports, Perani's Hockey, MAHA and the OneGoal national program attended the meeting. Ways were discussed how all parties could grow the sport of hockey in Michigan. All parties are interested in working together. The biggest challenge will be to have someone to coordinate and drive the program. The group will look at if a point person is a possibility and how to fund it. A meeting is scheduled for January 22nd to further discuss this subject.

We also participated in the OneGoal hockey show that was held in November at Cobo Hall. MAHA had a booth at the show to attract new players and be visible in the hockey community. The turnout was far less than expected. The booth developed for the show can use the booth by associations if they have a need for a display like this for any events they have coming up.

Work was begun on building a draft of an outline of the model hockey program. The outline will show the various programs needed in an association, how they should be structured and how to run them to keep the cost down. The goal will be to have this outline completed by spring 2008.

The committee also studied a survey by USA Hockey on ice hockey issues regarding player recruitment and retention. The fact they recruitment by friends to play hockey was a strong factor was discussed. Due to MAHA draft structure it is not possible to invite friends to play on your team. The committee decided to submit a rule change to allow friends to play together at the Mite level since there are no Districts or State playoffs.

2007 has been an active year with many thing accomplished. We hope 2008 some of our initiatives will payoff and we will see the reversal of the trend of declining registration.