Free ice time allocation policy template

1. Purpose and scope

This policy sets out how [Association name] divides the practice ice it has contracted for the [season] season among its teams and programs. The board approves it before the schedule is built and publishes it to every family.

It covers practice ice only. Game ice is scheduled by [league or scheduler].

Where a rink contract, a municipal allocation policy, a league or [governing body] sets a rule, that rule comes first.

2. Who is responsible

• The board approves this policy and any change to it.
• The ice scheduler, [name or role], counts the ice, publishes each team's share and the pick order, runs the turns and keeps the record.
• Each team's coach or manager picks for the team when its turn opens.

3. The ice we divide

Ice is counted in sheet-hours: one sheet of ice for one hour. A practice on half a sheet for one hour uses half a sheet-hour.

Before teams pick, the ice scheduler lists every contracted block in Appendix B: the rink and sheet, the day, the start, the length on the ice, the date range, and whether it is prime or non-prime.

Prime ice is [define it, for example weeknights from (time) to (time)]. All other ice is non-prime.

These come off the top before teams pick: [home games, tournaments, evaluations, clinics, goalie sessions]. What remains is the practice pool this policy divides.

Guidance: Use the length on the ice from the rink's contract, and note whether resurfacing comes out of it.

4. Each team's share

Each team's share of the practice pool is set by one method. Choose one and delete the others:

• Equal per team. Every team gets [number] sheet-hours a week.
• Equal within a level. Every team at a level gets the same sheet-hours a week. The hours for each level are in Appendix A.
• Weighted by level. Each level has a weight in Appendix A, and sheet-hours follow the weights.
• Base plus extra. Every team gets at least [number] sheet-hours a week, rounded up to whole blocks. The remaining ice is shared [by the weights in Appendix A / by request, decided by (role)].

Guidance: If you weight by level, write the reason for each weight here. The weights are the policy.

Prime and non-prime ice. Choose one:

• Separate shares. Each team's share is set separately for prime and non-prime ice.
• Picked in turns, with a cap. Prime and non-prime ice are picked in the same turns, and each team may hold up to [number] prime blocks a week. A team at that limit picks non-prime ice.

Shares are counted in whole blocks. When a share doesn't divide into whole blocks, [it rounds down / a team may go over its share by up to one block]. A minimum under Base plus extra always rounds up.

If the practice pool can't cover every team's full share, [every team gives up the same proportion / (your rule)]. Under Base plus extra, the extra ice is cut first, and a minimum is cut only when no extra ice is left.

The ice scheduler publishes each team's share, and the arithmetic behind it, before teams pick.

5. Full ice and partial ice

These levels practice on part of a sheet: [levels, and whether half ice or cross ice]. These levels need a full sheet: [levels].

• Partial ice counts as partial ice. A team on half a sheet for an hour has used half a sheet-hour, not a full one.
• A full-ice booking makes both halves unavailable at that time, and a booking on either half makes the full sheet unavailable.
• Two teams practicing together on one sheet is one booking that appears on both teams' schedules. It counts toward [each team's share in full / half of each team's share].

Guidance: Check your district, branch or governing body for rules on cross-ice and small-area play for younger players before you fill this in.

6. Goalie ice

Choose one:

• Separate pool. Goalie sessions come from [number] sheet-hours a week, taken off the top before teams pick.
• From team practices. Each team gives [number] minutes of each practice to goalie work.

Eligible goalies: [by age, level, or registration as a goalie]. Up to [number] goalies per session.

Goalie ice [may / may not] share a sheet with a team practice, for example in one end. When it does, it counts as [how it is counted].

7. Early-morning and late-night ice

Early ice is any practice that starts before [time]. Late ice is any practice that starts at or after [time].

Choose one:

• Rotate. Every eligible team takes a share of early and late ice over the season.
• By age. Teams at [level] and younger get no early or late ice. It goes to older teams.
• Discount. An early or late hour counts as [fraction] of an hour when each team's share is totaled, so a team that takes early ice gets more of it.

8. Evaluations, tryouts and the season

• Evaluation and tryout ice is divided by age group and the number of registered players, not by team.
• The team allocation in this policy runs once rosters are final, on [date].
• Travel and house programs [each have their own sign-up / share one sign-up].
• Ice that comes free late in the season returns to the pool and is offered in pick order, not first come, first served.

9. Pick order and turns

The pick order is set by [level / tier / a rotation from last season / a draw held in public on (date)] and published before any team picks. Ties are broken by [rule], decided before anyone knows who it helps.

• Each team takes one block per round. Each later round runs [in reverse order / in the same order].
• Rounds continue until every team has its share or no block it can use is left. A team that has its share stops picking.
• When its turn opens, a team chooses from the blocks still open. No team picks before its turn.
• Each turn lasts [length of time].
• If a team misses its turn, the next team's turn opens. The team that missed [stays eligible and picks from what is left when it returns / moves to the end of the round].

10. Changes after the schedule is published

• Swaps between teams need the ice scheduler's approval and are recorded with the date.
• Ice a team gives back returns to the pool and is offered [in pick order / to (who)].
• If the rink cancels a block, [how makeup ice is offered].

11. Publishing and records

• Before teams pick, the association publishes this policy, each team's share and the pick order on [website or channel].
• The ice scheduler keeps a record of every pick, swap and returned block, with the date.
• The finished schedule goes to coaches and families by [date], through [channel].

12. Questions and appeals

• Questions about the schedule go to [the ice scheduler's contact].
• An appeal goes in writing to [board role] within [number] days of the schedule being published. The board answers within [number] days.

13. Review

The board reviews this policy every year by [date], using the season's record and what coaches and families raised.

Appendix A: Hours per team

Appendix B: Contracted ice