NYH to move additional teams to Valley Leage
Dear Families,
Needham Hockey has decided to move all of our teams planned for the Greater Boston Hockey League (GBL) to the Valley League for the 2013-14 season. The original plan was for our program to have a mix of teams in both leagues, but due to concerns about the long-term and short-term viability of the GBL, the NYH board feels we need to move our teams to the Valley League.
Our Mite A, squirt, pw, bantam and midget travel teams will play in the valley league. The squirt development and mite development teams will play in the Middlesex cross-ice league as planned and the girls teams will continue to play in the Middlesex Girls League.
The impact we hope will be minimal. It will mean playing some new teams in new rinks, but should provide better parity across all levels. Mite A team will play 15 cross-ice games starting in mid-September and 10 full-ice game starting after 1/1/14. Midgets will play 11 games from early September to mid-November, and all other teams will play 35 games starting in mid-September and running through end fo March.
Our pilot program with the Valley League for 3 teams in 2012-13 was very successful. The combination of our experience with the Valley League and our concerns about the GBL has lead to this decision. We will have no teams in the GBL in 2013-14.
Regards,
Mike Canavan
NYH President