ACTION ALERT: Mass Email Our Full Petition to Every Hockey Leader & Association President Now!
Dear Supporters,
Our campaign has reached 372 signatures! To make sure our voices cannot be ignored, we are launching a massive, coordinated email campaign. We are sending the decision-makers our complete petition text with all of our core demands, including our newly added Municipal Taxpayer Residency Exemption.
Please take 60 seconds to copy the email block and the exact text below, paste them into your email app, and hit send!
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📱 1. COPY & PASTE THIS INTO THE "BCC:" LINE:
soleleheiser@gmail.com, d10director@yahoo.com, mikeref63@gmail.com, info@minnesotahockey.org, director@d2hockey.org, becky.ewing@usahockey.org, usah@usahockey.org, memberservices@usahockey.org, info@district3hockey.com, d5director@gmail.com, d6director@gmail.com, d8director@gmail.com, d9director@gmail.com, d11director@gmail.com, d12director@gmail.com, d15director@gmail.com, d16director@gmail.com
(💡 Pro Tip: Please look up your own hometown youth hockey association president's email address and add them to this list so all local associations are included!)
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📝 2. COPY & PASTE THIS AS THE EMAIL BODY:
Subject: Petition Submission: Minnesota Hockey: Put Kids First. Reform Eligibility, Waivers, and Appeals.
Dear Minnesota Hockey Board of Directors, District Leadership, Association Presidents, and USA Hockey Officials,
The complete petition text calling for meaningful reform of Minnesota Hockey's residency, eligibility, waiver, and appeal system by Travis Dahlvang is included below. We urge you to immediately review these items and adopt these comprehensive rule amendments into the governing handbook to protect our youth players.
When administrative eligibility decisions and waiver requests drag on into late autumn, children face uncertainty and missed opportunities. Families deserve transparent rules, data tracking, and timely answers.
THE FULL PETITION FOR REFORM:
1. Clear Rules and Written Explanations: Publish understandable eligibility requirements and document checklists. Every denial should identify the specific rule, the facts relied upon, and the available appeal process.
2. Decisions Before Opportunities Disappear: Establish firm deadlines for eligibility decisions and expedited appeals before tryouts. Create a provisional tryout process for timely applications still awaiting a decision, with clear conditions and no guarantee of final eligibility or placement.
3. A Meaningful School and Community Pathway: Reform waiver rules so children have a clear, workable route to request participation with their school peers. Explain how residency, school attendance, separated households, and other family circumstances are considered.
4. Consistent Standards and Independent Appeals: Apply published criteria across districts. Require disclosure of relevant conflicts of interest, recusal when appropriate, and appeal reviewers who were not involved in the original decision.
5. Transparency That Protects Children: Publish anonymized annual totals of waiver approvals, denials, reasons, and processing times by district. Families should be able to assess consistency without exposing children's private information.
6. A Public Response and Reform Timeline: Meet with affected families, respond publicly to these requests, and publish a timetable for reviewing and changing the system.
7. A Clear Municipal Taxpayer Residency Exception: We call for an automatic waiver pathway for city residents. Any youth or girls player whose primary legal residence falls within the defined corporate limits of a municipality, and whose household contributes property or municipal taxes to that city, must have the automatic right to participate in the Minnesota Hockey member association bearing that city's name or primary jurisdiction. When a family provides clear, objective proof of physical residency and taxpayer status (such as a utility bill or tax statement), a Mandatory City Residency Waiver must be issued automatically by the releasing district within 7 days. This exception must be non-discretionary, eliminating weeks of bureaucratic board delays and arbitrary denials right before fall tryouts begin.
Minnesota Hockey & USA Hockey: Show families how your system puts children first. Children only get one chance at each season. Make it count.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your City, MN]
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Thank you for taking action today. By flooding their inboxes with our complete petition and all 7 demands, we are forcing them to look at the real impact these rules have on our children. Let's send this out and make a massive change for youth hockey in Minnesota!
In solidarity,
Travis Dahlvang
Petition Starter