Hockey Groups: Pickup, Drop-In & Clinic Crews Without a Season

Not every hockey crew is a season-long team. Sometimes it's a Sunday-night pickup skate, a drop-in group at the local rink, or a clinic that runs for a few weeks. There's no commissioner, no standings, no playoffs — just a group of skaters who want to know when the next session is and who's showing up. Rosterlytic's Hockey Groups are built for exactly that. (For season-long team and league play, start with our getting started guide instead.)

What a hockey group is

A hockey group is a lightweight home for skaters who play together but aren't organized as a fixed roster competing in a league. Think pickup games, drop-in skates, and clinics — informal hockey where the crew matters more than the bracket.

It's a separate system from Rosterlytic's leagues and teams, built around how loose hockey crews actually operate: a named group, a shareable join code, scheduled events, RSVPs so you know who's coming, simple game scoring, a group chat, and a shared Files & Links area. It runs on the same idea as our pickleball and tennis groups — a parallel system designed for player-based sports rather than team-based ones.

Hockey Groups work on both mobile and web, and they're free on every plan — no subscription required.

Creating a group

You create a group from the Hockey section of the app.

• On mobile: open the Hockey sport card from the Welcome screen and tap Create a Group. You can also create one from the Hockey Groups list screen using the menu in the top corner.
• On web: go to the Hockey Groups area in the sidebar and use Create Group.

Give the group a name (required) and an optional short description — for example, "Tuesday Night Drop-In" with a note about the rink and skill level. Any signed-in user can create a group, and whoever creates it becomes the owner automatically.

The 6-character join code

When your group is created, Rosterlytic generates a unique 6-character join code (uppercase letters and numbers). This is how skaters get in.

You'll find the code on the group's Settings tab, with a one-tap copy button. Share it however you like — text, email, a sign at the rink. To join, a new member opens the Join Group screen and enters the code. Codes aren't case-sensitive when typed in, so lowercase entry works fine. If someone pastes a join code into the universal code field on the Welcome screen, Rosterlytic recognizes it as a hockey group code and routes them straight to the right place.

Roles: owner, admin, and member

Hockey groups have three roles:

• Owner — Full control. Creates the group, manages members and their roles, can transfer ownership, and can delete the group. There's always at least one owner.
• Admin — A trusted helper. Can create, edit, and delete events; start and complete seasons; record game scores; and manage the Files & Links area. Admins can't change roles, remove members, or delete the group.
• Member — Joins with the code. Can view everything, set their own RSVP, post in chat, and delete their own chat messages.

Owners and admins together are the group's staff — they handle the scheduling and scorekeeping. Everyone else just shows up and RSVPs.

A few safeguards worth knowing:

• The last owner is protected. The final remaining owner can't leave the group or be demoted. If an owner wants to step back, they first promote someone else to owner.
• Transferring ownership promotes the new owner, then demotes the previous owner to admin. On mobile you'll see a confirmation note that you'll be moved to admin.
• Rejoining resets your role. If a former admin or owner is removed and later rejoins with the join code, they come back in as a regular member.

Optional seasons

If your group wants a little structure, owners and admins can create seasons — named time periods like "Spring 2026" or "Fall Drop-In." Seasons are entirely optional; a group works fine without one.

When a season is active, any new event you create automatically attaches to it, so all that period's games and practices are grouped together. When the season wraps, staff mark it completed. Past events stay visible, and you can start a fresh season whenever you're ready. The active season and the option to start a new one live on the group's Settings tab.

Scheduling events

Events are the scheduled happenings of your group — the reason everyone's there. Owners and admins create them; members see them and RSVP.

Every event has a type, chosen from five options:

• Game — A competitive game (these get score tracking — see below).
• Practice — A practice session.
• Clinic — A skills clinic or instructional session.
• Social — An off-ice gathering.
• Other — Anything that doesn't fit the above.

When you create an event, you set the type and a date (both required), and you can optionally add a title, a start time, a location, and notes. If a season is active, the event attaches to it automatically.

On mobile, events live on the group's Events tab, split into Upcoming and Past. Tap any event to open its detail screen. On web, events appear on the group page with their own new-event and event-detail pages. Only staff see the buttons to add, edit, or delete an event — for members the schedule is read-only.

RSVPs

Once an event is on the schedule, members say whether they're coming. On the event's detail screen, each member picks one of three options:

• Going
• Maybe
• Not going

Until someone responds, they're listed as No response. Each person sets only their own RSVP — no one can RSVP for someone else. The event's attendance card groups everyone by their answer, so staff can see at a glance whether there are enough skaters for the session.

Game scoring

For events typed as Game, staff can record a final score.

On the game's detail screen, owners and admins enter the home and away scores and pick how the game was decided:

• REG — Regulation
• OT — Overtime
• SO — Shootout

Tap Save Score and the result is recorded. If you need to fix a mistake, a Clear option wipes the score so you can re-enter it. Once a score is saved, everyone in the group sees it — the event card shows the score, and the detail screen shows it larger with an OT or SO tag when the game went past regulation.

Game scoring is intentionally simple: one final team-vs-team score per game. There are no per-player stats, no goals or assists, no leaderboards, and no standings — that's what Rosterlytic's league system is for. Hockey Groups just capture the result.

Group chat

Every hockey group has a built-in group chat — a simple text thread for coordinating skates, sorting out who's bringing pucks, or talking through the schedule.

Any active member can post and read messages, and you can delete your own messages (long-press on mobile, or use the delete control on web). The chat refreshes automatically every few seconds so new messages come through without a manual reload.

The chat is text-only in this release — it's a straightforward way to keep the crew on the same page.

Files & Links

Each group has a shared Files & Links area for the documents and links your crew needs in one place — a rink schedule PDF, a waiver, a parking map, a link to an online sign-up sheet.

You'll find it on the group's Settings tab. All members can view and open whatever's posted there. Owners and admins can upload files and add links, and they can remove items too. Uploading works on both mobile and web — PDFs, images, and spreadsheets up to 25 MB.

For a deeper look at how files and links work across Rosterlytic, see the Files & Links guide.

Leaving or deleting a group

Any member can leave a group from the Settings tab. Your past events, RSVPs, and chat history stay intact for everyone else. If you want back in later, you'll need the join code again. (The last remaining owner can't leave — they transfer ownership first.)

An owner can delete a group from the Settings tab. Deleting is permanent: the group and all its members, seasons, events, RSVPs, and chat messages are removed for good. Only the owner can do this, and it can't be undone — so be sure before you confirm.

Getting started

1. Download Rosterlytic and open the Hockey section
2. Tap Create a Group and give it a name
3. Share your 6-character join code with your crew
4. Schedule your first event and watch the RSVPs come in

Hockey Groups are free on every plan, so there's nothing to set up beyond the basics. Download Rosterlytic to get started, and visit our features page to see everything else that's included.

Related guides

• Pickleball & Tennis Groups — the sibling group system for player-based sports
• Organizations — managing multiple teams and leagues under one roof
• Guardian-Managed Children — setting up accounts for younger players
• Staff Roles & Private Stats — controlling who sees and edits what
• Files & Links — sharing documents and links across Rosterlytic