This season the TCGHA is asking players that are not playing the entire season to pay on a per game basis. The per game rate this season is $15 per game. These game fees can be paid with Google Checkout, by bringing a check or cash to the game or sending a check to the TCGHA.

If paying by check please email info@tcgayhockey.org for the address to send your payment to.

Hello Moose Nation!

This is a quick communication regarding the new hockey season in BigGayMOOSE hockey. We are working hard to make sure this is yet another rewarding hockey season.

In this upcoming season, we have tried to accentuate the positives, learn from mistakes, and make modifications based on our experience from last year. Hopefully, each season will get even better as we learn how to better manage our hockey operations.

This season, we will field three full teams: BigGayMoose-Blue, BigGayMoose-White, BigGayMoose-Red, and it is our goal to have a BigGayMoose-Women’s exhibition team that could play a few exhibition games that we promote through the year. It is a defined goal for us to expand our presence and opportunities for women to play with us.

There are several important changes we are going to implement that reflect the feedback from our players:
1) The season will start several weeks EARLIER than last year and the season will end several weeks EARLIER. We started last year in early November, and did not end until mid-late April. THIS YEAR - we will start in mid/late October, and finish the third week of March.

2) Our teams will have more autonomy and more responsibility. We have delegated responsibilities from one central person, to each team’s captains. Each team will have three captains, and each team will be responsible to schedule their own games, and to have their own team sponsor. We will still help the captains to coordinate and finalize games, but it should be much more efficient once we have three teams making game contacts versus one person. Moreover, it will be financially helpful to have four team sponsors versus one or two umbrella league sponsors. Each team will ‘host’ one social/fundraiser during the year.

3) A word regarding the structure of our organization.  There has been some communication about the entity creation of the Big Gay Moose, Inc.  We are currently working on finalizing what that structure is going to look like, as well as filing the necessary paperwork to make it happen.  In the meantime for this season, we will be operating under the TCGHA structure already in existence.  This entity (which the name may change) may be involved in creation of a tournament around New Years which will be communicated as early as possible.  Due to the filing timeframe it was not feasible to have it fully in place for this season. 

Finally - our cost. It is our goal that we will make our hockey experience something that is financially affordable for everyone. Please know this: we are starting from extremely bare bones and we will be running a fiscally tight ship. We still have some debt from last year that we will work on repaying to those members that footed our bills. We have priced the league fees as a means to meet our financial obligations, and still provide a great hockey experience.  We’ll also be requesting a higher fee from our opponents to help offset these costs.  But it is critical that we have enough money up front to pay our icetime costs and referee fees. Last year, we had to scurry at the end of the year asking members for more money and special financial contributions. This year, we are asking for the money upfront, and if/when our league becomes financially sustainable - as we very much believe it will - a portion of your funds could come back to you at the end of the year.  There is no guarantee of this happening, it is however a very important goal of the group to make this happen.

That said here is our fee structure for the 2008-09 season:

2008-09 BigGayMoose registration fee: $350
2008-09 USA Hockey Registration fee: $40* (if you are a AHA/WHAM player you will already have done this). 

**We will work with players to make sure that you are able to get your fees paid and make it work within your/our budget.

We need to be able to pay for our October/November icetime very soon, so if you can please make your payments in the very near future. You can either send a check or use Google Checkout to make your payment.

If paying with Google Checkout click the button below.

If paying by check please email info@tcgayhockey.org for the address to send your payment to.

 We also request you provide us with your USA Hockey registration number to ensure that each member is covered under the umbrella insurance.  Regristration can be completed at www.usahockey.com and the number will be provided through this process.  Current AHA/WHAM players will be able to look up their registration number on this site as well.

Thanks for all you do for BigGayMoose hockey!

The TCGHA has been named the “Best Gay-Friendly Sports League” by City Pages in their Best of the Twin Cities 2008 issue, published today. You can find us on page 76 of the printed edition, or check us out here! Thanks City Pages and thanks everyone for your support this year!

MPR features TCGHA on their “In the Loop” Program.

Listen to Minneasota Public Radios ‘In the Loop” program for a short feature on TCGHA, gay hockey, and interviews with a few of our players!

Visit the MPR In the Loop Podcast and download the December 13th Episode. TCGHA is the last featured story in the show. Enjoy, and thanks MPR!

TCGHA is proud to reveal the new jersey design for 2007-2008. The Big Gay Moose.

All three TCGHA teams will be wearing the same jersey this year. With a unique player number, and nameplate of the back. Our team logo will be sewn on the front, and patches for individual sponsors are planned for the sleeves.

This single design for all teams will allow for players to switch between levels in TCGHA, and will hopefully cut down on future jersey costs in the future. And most importantly, a single design helps to make us a united, cohesive group!

Lavendar Magazine, BigGayNews.com and TCCGHA have formed a partnership for the 2007-2008 season. This tight partnership brings a stellar PR and media campaign to TCGHA that we’ve never had before, including player profiles, player trading cards, and other marketing initiatives throughout the year. This years jersey design was brought to us by Pierre, Kirby and Steven at Lavender as part of the marketing partnership, and Lavender is sponsoring a portion of the jersey costs in addition to the marketing support.