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D-Minus Hockey Club

The Substitute Experience

You may have noticed some changes recently to the website, and be wondering what you can expect and what this thing can do for you. So here I will take a moment to try and explain my vision for this page from the substitute player's perspective, and how I have tried to implement that.

First off, the goal is to fill spots that are open because we only have a limited number of full-timers and usually a few cannot make it to games because of work, family, or whatever. So typically, there are 1 or 2 slots open on our team. Players from last season or friends who occasionally play with us are welcome to fill those spots, and hopefully, this system makes that easier.

The team captain has the following controls that concern the team's policy on subs:

which players can play
how much it costs per game to play
what payment options are available
target number of players by position
how many hours before a game that registration opens to subs
whether or not subs' accounts may go negative

I just want to be clear that these are options made available to the captain of the team, and are not set by the website. The policy governing game registration is completely at the discretion of the team captain. If you pay to play, you are paying the team and not myself or the website. See below for a description of how each of these settings effects you. A flow chart displaying more visually how a team's Sub Policy is executed is here (.pdf).
To view the sub policy of current registered teams, click here

~ Team Affiliation

Any substitute player with an ID to log in to dminushockey.net may make an agreement with any participating registered team to be affiliated with that team. There is no limit to the number of teams a sub may skate with, but affiliation must be requested by the player and granted by the Team Captain before a sub can register a spot in one of the team's games.
If you're reading this page, you probably already have a sub ID (Click here if not!). So to become affiliated with a team, just use the 'Contact Us' link at the bottom of the page (or click here) and send a message to the captain, being sure to leave your email address. He'll do the rest!

~ Sub Game Fees

It would be great if we could all play for free, but unfortunately the league charges a hefty fee to teams, which must be distributed amongst the players. Team Captains figure out what that cost breaks down to on a per game basis for the full-timer, and determine a fair price to charge subs for game credits. These credits can be purchased from the team ahead of time, at the point of game registration, or in some cases, after the game has been played. (See 'Negative Credit Balances', below.) This is a transaction between the sub and the team, no payments are made to the website.

It would be great if we could all play for free, but unfortunately the league charges a hefty fee to teams, which must be distributed amongst the players. Team Captains figure out what that cost breaks down to on a per game basis for the full-timer, and determine a fair price to charge subs for game credits. These credits can be purchased from the team ahead of time, at the point of game registration, or in some cases, after the game has been played. (See 'Negative Credit Balances', below.) This is a transaction between the sub and the team, no payments are made to the website.

~ Payment Options

One of the benefits of this system to the teams is that it provides an alternative to cash payments being made in unsecured locker rooms, or having to make change, keep track of who owes what, etc. On the other hand, not all players have the option to make payments online, and not all Captains want to accept payments that way. Either way is fine; Captains can set a team to allow Only PayPal/Credit Card, Only Cash, or Both.
If PayPal Only is chosen, players are encouraged not to bring cash to the game, but to make payments online. If Cash Only is chosen, the PayPal links will be removed. Either way, it's appreciated if subs purchase multiple credits in order to cut down on the overhead and to make accounting simpler.

One of the benefits of this system to the teams is that it provides an alternative to cash payments being made in unsecured locker rooms, or having to make change, keep track of who owes what, etc. On the other hand, not all players have the option to make payments online, and not all Captains want to accept payments that way. Either way is fine; Captains can set a team to allow Only PayPal/Credit Card, Only Cash, or Both.

If PayPal Only is chosen, players are encouraged not to bring cash to the game, but to make payments online. If Cash Only is chosen, the PayPal links will be removed. Either way, it's appreciated if subs purchase multiple credits in order to cut down on the overhead and to make accounting simpler.

~ Target Figures

Each Captain can set the target number of players for each position, to ensure a balanced roster, come gameday. For example, a team could be set for 1/4/6, which would mean there is 1 goaltender spot, 4 defense, and 6 offense. Once these spots are taken, either by full-timers or subs, a sub player will not be able to join that game, even if they have game credits. Note that if a sub's preferences have them listed as a defensive player, and a particular game is full on defense but has an opening in offense, the sub can change their positional preference to O and would then be allowed to join.

Each Captain can set the target number of players for each position, to ensure a balanced roster, come gameday. For example, a team could be set for 1/4/6, which would mean there is 1 goaltender spot, 4 defense, and 6 offense. Once these spots are taken, either by full-timers or subs, a sub player will not be able to join that game, even if they have game credits. Note that if a sub's preferences have them listed as a defensive player, and a particular game is full on defense but has an opening in offense, the sub can change their positional preference to O and would then be allowed to join.

~ Registration Window

In order to give full-timers a chance to register or decline on games first, there is a registration window built in to each game. The game will be open to full-timers as soon as it is added to the schedule, but for a sub the game will not show the registration button until the set number of hours before the start of the game.

~ Negative Credit Balances

If a Captain chooses, he can set it so subs do not strictly need to purchase credits prior to signing up. If this setting is enabled, a sub could join a game despite having 0 or negative game credits, and the debt could be pursued at a later date by the Captain. If this setting is NOT enabled, then a sub with no credits will not be able to register for a game until they replenish their account with that team. This is not dependent on the Payment Options parameter, so for example if Cash Only is what is set for Payment Options and Allow Negative Balances is set to No, the only subs who will be given the option to register for a game would be the ones who have paid cash in advance.

If a Captain chooses, he can set it so subs do not strictly need to purchase credits prior to signing up. If this setting is enabled, a sub could join a game despite having 0 or negative game credits, and the debt could be pursued at a later date by the Captain. If this setting is NOT enabled, then a sub with no credits will not be able to register for a game until they replenish their account with that team. This is not dependent on the Payment Options parameter, so for example if Cash Only is what is set for Payment Options and Allow Negative Balances is set to No, the only subs who will be given the option to register for a game would be the ones who have paid cash in advance.

The various combinations of these settings give Captains a high degree of flexibility to control access to games, but can be somewhat confusing to relate textually. This flow chart (.pdf) illustrates the various logical paths the situation could take.
Basically, if the Captain has added you as a sub, and a game is imminent and has openings, and if you have paid for a credit in advance OR if the Captain is cool with you playing and paying later, THEN when you go to the sign-up sheet for a given game you will be given the opportunity to register and claim one of the open spots. If you try to sign up for a game, are not allowed to and cannot figure out why, send a note to the Captain who may be able to fix the problem.

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