Motions passed at Hockey Manitoba's annual general meeting in early May will have an effect in Northern Manitoba, especially for players who want to play on elite regional teams.
A resolution carried in minor council stipulates that regional female midget teams will operate on a single roster basis, which means that players who make the squad will not be able to play for another team simultaneously. Teams will also have to declare a home centre where the team will be based, which likely means the Norman Wild will have to choose to be located either Thompson or The Pas rather than splitting home games between the two communities as they have over the past two years. The winner of the Manitoba Female Midget Hockey League playoffs will be declared the provincial champion and represent Manitoba at the Esso Cup national female midget championship.
Starting in the 2011-2012 season, hockey regions outside Winnipeg will take place in a pilot program for the development of rural bantam AAA regional teams, which will offer the option of either a single-rostered or double-rostered team. Under the double roster option, players on the team must be registered on and ply with their local association team and the team can only practise according to a predetermined schedule and play in tournament. Both single- and double-rostered teams will be eligible to play in the rural bantam AAA provincial championship March 16-18, 2012 and the champion will have a playoff series against Hockey Winnipeg's bantam AAA league champions for the right to represent Manitoba at the Western Canadian bantam championship.
Rural hockey regions will also take part in a pilot project to develop regional female bantam teams, which may be designated either as single-rostered or double-rostered teams.
The Norman Regional Minor Hockey Association also submitted a motion, carried in the minor council, which would give it the option to form a regional team for 15- and 16-year-old players in addition to its community-based team. This would be a double-roster team that would play exhibition games and in tournaments but not be eligible for provincial playoffs.
The minor council also carried a motion changing the set-up of provincial championships, eliminating the rural city AA and rural city A provincials and adding a rural A1 provincial tournament for two age groups. The rural AA championships would be open to the top-tier teams from communities with 140 or more male players registered in the novice to midget age divisions. Top-tier teams from associations with 100 to 139 male players from novice to midget will compete in the rural A provincials. In the midget division, second-tier teams from associations with representatives in the rural AA and rural A provincials will compete in the midget rural C provincial championships. Second-tier bantam teams will compete in either the rural A, B, C or D divisions. In the atom and peewee divisions, second-tier teams from rural AA centres will compete in newly created rural A1 provincial championships, while second tier teams from rural A to D centres will compete in the provincial championship category directly below the category of the first team. For example, the second-tier team from a hockey association whose top team is in the rural A provincials will compete in the rural B provincials.
