In a few hours, USA Hockey's National Championships begin Round Robin play in five US cities. A couple hundred teams are all competing for the prestigious title of "National Champion". While I am far from a fan of how USA Hockey has managed the change to these events over the past few years, this years changes should definitely improve the competitiveness of the events. See last week's column (link below) on how MYHockey has been used in this process.

As the season winds down, I want to encourage all of you to verify your team's game scores are correct and complete. It's not critical like one might argue the presence of AED in you local rink is life-saving important, but every year I get a few dozen emails from people wanting historic information. More than a few have written back asking if I have any of the missing game scores (they know some are missing). I would love to provide more accurate information to all you looking to put together a hockey scrapbook for a coach or player, but your help is required to get all 17k teams' information correct. At this point in the season, I am personally reviewing all guest entered game score requests and will approve them weekly through the end of April. I strongly encourage you to spend a few minutes and make sure all your scores are out there.

One short note on spring/summer hockey is appropriate. Typically, games played through March 31st are considered fall/winter hockey. Anything played after April 1st that is not part of a provincial/national championship activity is considered spring/summer hockey. MYHockey considers spring/summer teams, which often have different rosters, to be completely different than fall/winter teams. At this time, we do NOT track spring/summer teams and will reject games that are believed to be for spring/summer teams.

Best of luck to every playing this week!