Club Hockey Canada (CHC) and Exchange Solutions score big with TeamHub™, free online team management tool

New feature enhances strong Club Hockey Canada online community, which helps Canadian families reduce the cost of hockey

TORONTO, Aug. 27, 2013 /CNW/ - As part of its mandate to make the sport of hockey more accessible to all Canadians, Hockey Canada and its member branches are proud to announce TeamHub ™ a new online team management tool that helps minor league coaches, managers, players and parents share rosters, calendars and stats in one central location at no cost to members.  Available through Club Hockey Canada's revitalized website, members now have access to a highly personalized, bilingual solution to simplify team management.

TeamHub was designed with the input of hockey team managers and coaches in order to meet their hockey team management needs. Through the Club Hockey Canada online community, everything is now centralized with a broad range of free features developed to simplify team management, such as:

• Messaging: Get a quick message out to the whole team;
• Roster: Track and update the roster with who's on the team and who is playing tonight;
• Calendar: Share the team's game and practice calendar with parents and team members;
• Stats: Keep track of the team's wins and performance against other teams;
• Photos: Share photos of great moments with team members and parents; and
• More exciting new features to come based on everyone's feedback!

To complement the launch, there is a contest for teams that sign up to use TeamHub, with prizes that include Bauer Vapor X90 sticks, plus ticket and travel packages for the IIHF World Junior Championships in Toronto and Montreal.

"TeamHub further demonstrates Hockey Canada's commitment to grassroots hockey by giving minor hockey teams an easy-to use, free tool to organize themselves, providing the ability to focus on the game, not the administration," says Melody Davidson, General Manager, Hockey Canada's National Women's Team Programs.  "Offering TeamHub to teams for free is a big cost savings for many teams out there and a great way to help lower the cost associated with the sport."

"Canadians are talking and we are listening by doing what we can to make hockey accessible to everyone," says Bob Nicholson, President and CEO of Hockey Canada. "Through Club Hockey Canada, we extend exclusive discounts to registered hockey participants, direct opportunities to lower the cost of hockey registration and various other hockey expenses, and with the addition of TeamHub, we provide a free online team management tool to make hockey life easier for team managers and coaches."

In addition to TeamHub, Club Hockey Canada members can buy staples like gas and groceries, and sporting equipment through an online store while earning PUCK BUCKS that can be used towards the cost of hockey registration fees, ice time, tournaments and more. The website also offers exclusive benefits from leading Canadian companies, as well as hosts contests that members can participate in on an individual or team basis. More than half a million households in Canada qualify to be a part of Club Hockey Canada.

Hockey Canada has partnered with Exchange Solutions in designing and administering the Club Hockey Canada program. Sponsors of the community get access to highly targeted and engaged audiences, whom they can offer excellent value on their own merchandise or services through email marketing, advertising banners, social media and the Club Hockey Canada online store.

"With a mission to increase participation in hockey and reduce the associated costs, we knew that the best way to encourage member engagement with Club Hockey Canada was to deliver a compelling and relevant value proposition to all parties - making it a win-win game for everyone!" says Steven Hoffman, President and CEO, Exchange Solutions. "Offering a free tool that managers and hockey coaches can use every day to help manage their teams will heighten the success of this program."

About Club Hockey Canada
Club Hockey Canada is the exclusive online destination for Canadian hockey players, their parents, coaches and officials, brought to you by Hockey Canada and its member branches. All children and adults who are registered with Hockey Canada to play, coach or officiate hockey, including Canlan adult recreational players, as well as the parents / guardians of all registered children under the age of 18 are automatically enrolled in the Club Hockey Canada program. For more information visit: www.clubhockeycanada.ca. For a TeamHub online demo follow this link: www.clubhockeycanada.ca/teamhub

About Hockey Canada
Hockey Canada is the governing body for hockey in Canada and a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), with a membership through its 13 provincial branch associations of over 700,000 players, coaches and officials. Hockey Canada is a not-for-profit organization that creates leading-edge hockey development programs for its members to deliver in communities across Canada, provides consistent rules and regulations and various other membership services from coast to coast, manages numerous regional, national and international hockey championships and events, and leads the operation of all teams that represent Canada in international hockey competition. Hockey Canada's mission is to "lead, develop and promote positive hockey experiences."

About Exchange Solutions
With offices in Toronto and Boston, Exchange Solutions provides one-to-one customer engagement solutions that result in measurably superior ROI to traditional loyalty programs by creating sustainable and profitable communities of loyal customers. With 17 years of expertise, they have maximized relations with their partners and trusted third parties to serve over 30 million customers and support close to 250 million transactions per month — totaling $6 billion in purchases per year. To learn more, visit: www.exchangesolutions.com, Twitter @ExchangeSolns, LinkedIn

SOURCE: Exchange Solutions