For minor hockey associations
Ice scheduling you can stop worrying about.
Ice Agent creates your teams' TeamSnap games straight from the league's Spordle schedule, checks every team's games against it every day, and catches double bookings. No retyping, and fewer wrong times reaching families.
Built by and for volunteers of a BC minor hockey association, starting with PCAHA associations. Already have an account? Sign in to your association.
Sound familiar?
The league has the schedule. Somebody still has to retype it.
The league publishes every game. Then each team manager keys those games into TeamSnap by hand, and the person responsible for the whole association's ice pieces it together.
Retyping every game
Opponent, home or away, rink, start time, game number, for every game, for every team, all season. Slow work, and typos happen.
League and TeamSnap drift apart
The league moves or cancels a game. TeamSnap still shows the old one, and a family finds out at the rink.
Double bookings
Two managers book the same rink for the same time. It comes to light when two teams turn up.
Ice nobody uses
A coach can't make it, tells only their own team, and an hour you pay for sits empty while another team is asking for ice.
What Ice Agent does
Hours of retyping and checking, taken off your plate.
Fewer games typed by hand means fewer mistakes reaching families. Here is what Ice Agent does today, for PCAHA associations.
League games into TeamSnap, one click each
When a league game from Spordle is missing from a team's TeamSnap, press Add to TeamSnap. Ice Agent creates it on the right team with the opponent, home or away, the rink or saved venue, the start time, the length and the league game number. You choose whether families are notified.
One game per click. No retyping. Needs TeamSnap permission to make changes, which your administrator grants when connecting.
Every team checked against the league, every day
Each morning Ice Agent reads the league schedule for all of your teams and compares each one with that team's TeamSnap games. It flags games missing from TeamSnap, start times 15 or more minutes off, the wrong venue, games the league has cancelled that TeamSnap still shows, and TeamSnap games the league doesn't have.
New differences are emailed to your ice scheduler. Teams whose league name can't be matched to a TeamSnap team are listed so you can match them once.
Double bookings caught early
After every TeamSnap update (about every 15 minutes) Ice Agent looks for two teams on the same rink at overlapping times, flags both bookings and emails your ice scheduler.
Shared practices and goalie sessions are left out, so you aren't alerted about ice that is meant to be shared.
A record of everything it writes
Every change Ice Agent makes in TeamSnap is logged: who it was done for, what was done, and what it looked like before and after.
And one calendar for all your ice
Every rink in one calendar
Pulled from your teams' TeamSnap calendars about every 15 minutes. Anyone can look; nobody has to ask.
Unused ice shown plainly
Enter the ice your association holds each week. Ice Agent shows what is booked and what is still open (dark ice), with time left for the ice to be cleaned.
Swap practice ice
A coach who can't use a practice drops it. Your ice scheduler (or any team, if you prefer) can take it, and TeamSnap is updated for them.
Calendar feeds and rink TVs
Subscribe on your phone's calendar, or send rink staff a weekly schedule for the lobby screens.
No passwords
Coaches and managers sign in with a six-digit code sent to their email. You decide who is on the list.
Your data stays yours
Each association has its own space. Staff of one association never see another's.
Time saved
Work out what it might be worth to you.
We haven't measured this across many associations yet, so we won't pretend to. Put in your numbers and see your estimate. The minutes per game and the percentage are assumptions you can change.
Estimated time handed back this season
This is arithmetic on the numbers above, not a promise or a measured result.
| Situation | The retype-every-game week | The check-and-click week |
|---|---|---|
| The league schedule comes out | Each manager types every game into TeamSnap. The scheduler asks around to see who has finished. | The morning check lists each team's games missing from TeamSnap. Someone presses Add to TeamSnap on each. No retyping. |
| The league moves a game by an hour | TeamSnap still shows the old time. A parent notices, or nobody does. | The next morning's check flags the time difference and emails the ice scheduler. |
| The league cancels a game | It stays on the TeamSnap schedule until someone remembers. | Flagged as cancelled by the league but still in TeamSnap. |
| A manager picks the wrong rink | Families go to the wrong building. | Flagged as a venue difference. |
| Two teams booked the same ice | Found when both teams arrive. | Both bookings are flagged and the scheduler is emailed after the next update (about 15 minutes). |
| A coach can't make Tuesday's practice | Texts the scheduler, who emails other coaches. The ice may go unused. | The coach drops it. It shows as open ice, and a team can take it or the scheduler assigns it. |
How it works
From request to first game check in three steps.
Tell us about your association
Fill in the short sign-up form. We'll email you to confirm a few details.
We connect TeamSnap, your rinks and the league
A TeamSnap administrator approves Ice Agent, and you give us your rinks and the ice you hold each week.
Your coaches and managers sign in
Add them to the list (or import from TeamSnap). They get a code by email; no passwords to forget.
What we'll need from you
- A TeamSnap administrator for your association, to approve Ice Agent once. To use Add to TeamSnap, they allow it to make changes. A dedicated login for this is ideal, so changes made through Ice Agent are easy to recognize in TeamSnap.
- Your rinks and the weekly ice your association holds at each one. A spreadsheet is fine.
- Your league. The game check and Add to TeamSnap are built for PCAHA schedules (Spordle). Not in PCAHA? Tell us your league.
- Help matching team names if the league's team names don't line up with your TeamSnap team names. It's a one-time job.
- One person to answer questions in the first couple of weeks, usually your ice scheduler.
- An email address you'd like ice emails to be answered at (optional).
Privacy
Kids' names don't belong on a public page.
Managers sometimes put players' or families' names in TeamSnap event titles. Ice Agent is designed with that in mind.
The public sees little
Anyone looking without signing in sees team, rink and time only. Event titles and notes are for signed-in staff.
Staff sign in
Only people your association adds can sign in, using a code sent to their email.
Kept apart
Each association's information is separate. TeamSnap access is stored encrypted.
Leave any time
Ask us and we'll delete your association's data.
Read the privacy notice (draft).
Questions
Does Ice Agent create our games automatically?
Not all at once. Every morning it finds the league games that are missing from TeamSnap and lists them. For each one, a click on Add to TeamSnap creates it on the right team: opponent, home or away, rink or saved venue, start time, length and the league game number. You choose whether families are notified. It is one game per click, with no retyping.
What does the daily check look for?
For every team it can match to the league, it compares the league (Spordle) schedule with the team's TeamSnap games and flags games missing from TeamSnap, start times 15 or more minutes off, a different venue, games the league cancelled that TeamSnap still shows, and TeamSnap games the league doesn't list (which can be fine for tournaments and exhibition games). New differences are emailed to the ice scheduler.
How are double bookings found?
After each TeamSnap update, about every 15 minutes, Ice Agent looks for two teams booked on the same rink at overlapping times. It flags both bookings and emails the ice scheduler. Practices and sessions marked as shared are left out.
Do we need TeamSnap?
Yes, for now. Ice Agent reads your teams' schedules from TeamSnap.
Does Ice Agent change our TeamSnap?
Only when someone asks it to: pressing Add to TeamSnap on a game, or swapping practice ice if you turn that on. Every change it makes is logged with who it was done for and what it looked like before and after.
How much does it cost?
We're onboarding our first associations now. Tell us about yours on the sign-up form and we'll come back with details.
Who can see our calendar?
By design, a visitor who has not signed in sees only team, rink and time. Event titles, notes, the game check and the swap board are for signed-in staff of your association.
What if we aren't in PCAHA?
The calendar, unused-ice view, practice swaps and double-booking alerts work for any association that uses TeamSnap. The league check and Add to TeamSnap are built for PCAHA schedules in Spordle first. Tell us your league on the form and we'll say what is possible.
Can we leave, and what happens to our data?
Yes. Ask us and we'll delete your association's data. Nothing in TeamSnap is lost, because TeamSnap stays your system of record.
Is Ice Agent connected to TeamSnap, PCAHA or Spordle?
No. Ice Agent is independent. TeamSnap, PCAHA and Spordle are their own organizations and trademarks.