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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Two new pilot programs designed to grow the game were approved at the summer meeting. The "Mite Bring a Friend" program is designed to attract new players, while the "XL Hockey" program is designed to keep older players in the game.

The Mite Bring a Friend program allows Mite age players to invite their friends to try hockey and play on their team. In the past draft rules did not allow associations to make up teams without using a standard draft procedure that by its nature would usually put friends on opposing teams. By allowing friends to play with friends we hope players will be more likely to invite their friends to come and play.

XL Hockey is for high school age players. As players move on to high school teams, many times there are player displaced because they can't make the high school team and there are not enough players left to field association teams any longer. XL Hockey is more of a structured drop-in hockey where games are played weekly and friends can play with friends. Whether a player is playing on a rostered team or has no place to play, all are eligible to play together with their friends in this league.

For more information on these programs you can download the outline for these programs. MAHA is looking for associations or rinks to run these programs for 08-09. If your group is interested contact George Atkinson