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Start a beer league team: the GM checklist.

By Justis, a GM and a goalie  ·  October 10, 2026

Every beer league team starts with one person who said yes. If that was you, you’re the GM now, and this is your checklist.

Find a league and the ice first.

Don’t recruit a single skater until you know where you’ll play. Adult hockey usually runs one of two ways: the rink runs its own league, or an independent league rents ice at a rink. Either way, the league sets the rules and the rink has the ice.

Call the rink and ask for whoever runs adult hockey. Many rinks call a season a session, and run several a year. Get these answers before you commit:

• Which division fits. Be honest about your level. A team that sandbags a lower division wins a lot of games and makes a lot of enemies.
• What night, and when registration opens. Your players need the night before they need anything else.
• How the fee works. Some rinks charge one flat team fee up front and let the GM decide who plays and what each player pays. Others bill every player on their own.
• The roster rules. The roster limit, the deadline for changes, whether subs are allowed, and how many games a player needs to be eligible for the playoffs.
• Which rulebook. Not every adult league is sanctioned by USA Hockey. If yours is, expect every player to register with USA Hockey for the season and the league to want those numbers on your roster.

Anything about insurance, waivers or liability, check with your league and rink. That’s their call, not yours. Running the league instead? Start at Bifrost Sports for leagues.

Build a roster that shows up.

Reliable beats skilled. A good skater who shows up half the time costs you more than an average one who never misses. Recruit people you’d want in a locker room at 11 on a Tuesday night.

Size the roster for the nights people bail. Under USA Hockey Rule 201(a), a team needs six players to start a game and can dress up to 20, no more than 18 of them skaters. Your league may set a lower cap, so ask. Carry enough skaters that a few no-shows still leave you two full lines, and count your D (defense) separately. Everyone can play defense until they have to.

Collect the basics from every player on day one: full name, email, phone, position and the number they want. The league will want names and numbers on the roster. You’ll want the rest the first time someone goes quiet. Know a skater with no team yet? Send them to Bifrost Sports for players.

Last, pick your letters. Under USA Hockey Rule 202(a), a team names one captain and up to two alternates, and only one of them talks to the ref about the rules. A goalie can’t hold that job, so pick a skater with a calm voice.

Lock down a goalie, then a backup plan.

Speaking as a goalie: find yours before anyone else. A full bench and an empty net is a scrimmage nobody wants to pay for, and a goalie is the one spot you can’t fill with a buddy who “played some D in high school.”

Treat your goalie like the scarcest player on the roster, because they are. Decide up front whether the goalie pays full dues, a cut rate or nothing, and tell the team before the first payment goes out.

Then plan for the night your goalie can’t make it, because it’s coming. USA Hockey Rule 203(c) recommends every team carry a substitute goalie, dressed and ready. If you can’t carry two, here’s the plan:

1. Keep a short list of goalies who answer texts. Goalies on other teams in your league are the best bet. They already know the rink and the rules.
2. Read your league’s sub goalie rule. Some leagues allow no skater subs at all and make an exception only for goalies, and a sub goalie in the playoffs may need the league’s OK first.
3. Know what an emergency backup goalie (EBUG) is. Our guide to what an EBUG is and how teams find one covers it.
4. Know the worst case. Under USA Hockey Rule 203(d), if no goalie is able to continue, the team puts a skater in net as a temporary goalkeeper or plays an extra skater instead. Nobody enjoys it.

When that text comes in at 6 p.m., the sub pool, free agents and EBUG asks Available now in Bifrost Sports give you somewhere to ask besides your own contacts.

Sort jerseys and numbers before the first game.

Jerseys are the first thing that makes it feel like a team, and the first thing that shows up late. Order earlier than you think you need to.

• Ask the league about colors. Some leagues want a dark set and a white set with matching numbers, home in dark. Others just want you to match.
• Everyone matches. USA Hockey Rule 203(b) says the whole team dresses alike, and some leagues send a mismatched skater off the ice until they change.
• One number per player. Rule 203(b) also wants a visible number on every player, a whole number from 0 to 99. A casebook ruling under that rule says 01 and 1 count as two different numbers, if you need a tiebreaker.
• Settle duplicates before the order goes in. Two players who both wore 9 in college is a conversation, not a coin flip. Goalie picks first. (I’m biased.)
• The number on the jersey is the number on the sheet. Your roster, the scoresheet and the back of the jersey should all agree, or a goal ends up on the wrong player.

Set the fees and collect before puck drop.

Money is how beer league friendships end. Make it boring.

1. Add up the real cost. The league or team fee, jerseys, and anything else the team is covering this season. Ask the league exactly what its fee includes.
2. Split it and say it once. Per skater, with the goalie decision already made. The amount, the due date and how to pay go in one message.
3. Collect before the first game. Chasing dues in week eight is a part-time job. Before puck drop, everyone still wants to play.
4. Decide the refund rule now. Someone will get hurt, move or quit by midseason. If the rink charged you one team fee, it may not refund a player who leaves, so the team needs its own answer.
5. Keep a record of who paid. Not a memory. A record.

If you’d rather not chase dues by hand, Bifrost Sports has team fees, paid by bank or card In beta.

Run RSVPs and subs every week.

The weekly rhythm is the real job. Here’s mine:

1. Ask early. Put the RSVP out a few days before the game, not the night before.
2. Chase the quiet ones. No answer is still an answer you have to chase. Nudge them by name.
3. Know your count the day before. If you’re short on skaters or D, that’s when you call subs, not in the parking lot.
4. Check the sub rules before you call anyone. In some leagues, a player who isn’t on your roster or approved by the league costs you the game by forfeit.
5. Keep a sub list by position. A few skaters and a couple of goalies who play your level and are allowed to play for you.
6. Thank your subs. Buy the round. You’ll need them again.

In Bifrost Sports, players RSVP in the thread, and by email Available now. They answer in the team chat, and a teammate with an account who never opens the app can answer from the email. The team calendar feed Available now puts games, plus practices, socials, scrimmages and meetings, in the calendar everyone already uses.

The short version.

1. Find the league and the night before you recruit.
2. Ask about the fee, the roster limit, the sub rules and the rulebook.
3. Recruit reliable people, and count your D.
4. Sign a goalie, then build the backup list.
5. Name your captain and alternates.
6. Lock colors and numbers, then order jerseys.
7. Set the fee, the due date and the refund rule, and collect before the first game.
8. Ask for RSVPs early, every week, and keep the sub list warm.

Then go play. Running a team is a lot of texts for one game a week, and it’s worth every one. When you want to run it from your phone, start at Bifrost Sports for teams.

Bifrost Sports isn’t affiliated with USA Hockey, the NHL, the PWHL, the NCAA or any league or governing body.