Dear Players and Families,

We are excited to communicate with you and let you know that the 2020-2021 Youth Hockey Registration System will be available today at 5 pm and we encourage you to register as soon as possible.  The official registration process will close on November 4th at 11:59 pm.  At this time, registration for the program is limited to those players born between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2006.

Here are the important steps you need to complete in order to fully register for the upcoming season:

1. You need to complete the annual registration process with USA Hockey.  Please ensure you save your confirmation number as you will need it to complete the registration process as outlined below.

2. Second, you need to complete the registration process with the Boys and Girls Club of the Berkshires.  In this step you will enroll for your annual membership as well as make payment for the youth hockey program.  If you already have a 2020-2021 Boys and Girls Club membership, you do not need to purchase a membership again.

Please ensure you register for both the hockey program and membership, if necessary.  The total due, including membership, should equal $323 when you check out.

3. Lastly, you need to visit the Berkshire Bruins website and fill out the registration form.  This registration allows us to capture your contact information for communication purposes as well as important information about the player for development of our practice cohorts.

If you have any questions about the registration process, please email .

Thanks so much for your timely attention to the registration process.  Early registrations will assist us in building our schedule and practice cohorts.

Have a wonderful day.  See you at the rink!

Berkshire Bruins & Rattlers Youth Hockey

Let's Play Hockey!! Info on the 2020-21 Season

The Berkshire Rattlers Board of Directors is excited to share with you an opportunity for the upcoming hockey season. While we were hoping to have a regular Rattlers season, too much uncertainty remains about whether or not ice may be available to us at Berkshire School this winter. With that in mind, we conducted several meetings with members from the Berkshire Bruins Youth Hockey organization (Pittsfield, MA), and have come up with an agreement to join their organization for the 2020-21 season.

We are continuing to participate in discussions to create a strong working relationship for this hockey season and provide a healthy and safe environment for skills development and competitive scrimmages as a single organization. This partnership would ensure a robust number of players at each age group and allow for a wonderful competitive environment for players. If league play becomes a possibility, players and families will be offered the additional option of a traditional competitive travel experience. While not all the details of the plan have been ironed out, both organizations have agreed on a truly collaborative season where kids and coaches will practice and play together. We will provide more details as they become available, but the current plan is for registration to open on October 15th through the Berkshire Bruins website.

Below are a few things that we can share that have been agreed upon by both organizations:

All players will register via the Berkshire Bruins portal and activate membership with the Boys and Girls Club of the Berkshires for 2020 / 2021 season:

• Boys & Girls Club Membership ($23)
• Bruins Registration ($300)
• USA Hockey and pay membership fee ($46)

• Max 50 players per age group (Bantams, Pee Wees, Squirts, Mites): *Still considering the possibility of Midgets
• Players in each age group are broken into 25 player cohorts for ice sessions: *Players stay in cohort for all skills sessions (USA Hockey ADM based)
• Skills season runs from November 15th through March 31st
• All cohorts receive 3 hours of ice time per week: Schedule to be determined with the availability of additional weekend ice time - The three hours could be two skills sessions and a single scrimmage or three skills sessions. There will be 30-minute down time between sessions.

While we cannot have a full Berkshire Rattlers season this year, we are hoping that there will be some ice available to us when students depart in late November through the end of December. If ice is available to us, we are hoping to pull off a modified, yet comprehensive, Learn to Skate/Learn to Play program as well as host some skills/skating sessions for those that are unable to join a program for the 2020-21 season.

The Rattlers board is in full support of this integration and we hope that if your family is comfortable playing a team sport, you will strongly consider joining this combined program this year. Our expectation is that the Berkshire Rattlers will be up and running again out of Berkshire School for the 2021-22 hockey season. We will share more information as it becomes available as well as coaching requirements and whom to contact for those interested. As always, if you have any questions please reach out.

Sincerely,

The Berkshire Youth Hockey (Rattlers) Board of Directors

Help raise money for the Berkshire Rattlers through your normal Amazon.com shopping!!

Log on to: www.smile.amazon.com

Anytime you shop at Amazon.com you can support the Berkshire Rattlers at no extra cost! Simply choose "Berkshire Youth Hockey Inc" as your Amazon Smile Charity, and they will take care of the rest.

Just remember to always shop using the Amazon Smile site (smile.amazon.com rather than amazon.com).

It is easy to register or to change your current charity:

If you do not have a charity, use this link and every time you shop go to www.Smile.Amazon.com

If you need to change your current charity:

1) Sign into www.smile.amazon.com on your desktop or mobile phone browser

2) From your desktop browser, go to your account from the navigation at the top of any page, and then select the option to Change your charity. Or, from your mobile browser, select Change your charity from the options at the bottom of the page.

3) Select your new charitable organization to support. You must type in our full name "Berkshire Youth Hockey Inc".