How the platform works, how we make money, and how we keep the directory accurate for Manitoba hockey families.
Our mission
PuckReady exists to help Manitoba hockey families find the right programs for their children. Every family deserves access to honest, comprehensive information about hockey development opportunities — regardless of budget or location.
We’ve built our business model with transparency and editorial independence at the core.
How we make money
Premium listings
Hockey programs can choose to pay for clearly labelled visibility. Paid placements may appear in:
- Sponsored or featured modules on relevant directory pages
- Limited sponsor strips in programs, tournaments, arenas, or resources
- Premium listing badges and enhanced profile information
- Seasonal campaign placements for camps, tournaments, or local hockey services
Important: Paid status does not improve ratings, reviews, verification, Find Your Fit recommendations, or public accuracy notes.
All programs are free to list
Any hockey program in Manitoba can list themselves on PuckReady at no cost. There are no hidden fees for basic listings. Premium features are entirely optional.
Whether a program pays or not, they appear in search results, can receive reviews, and are eligible for source-check status.
Ranking and sponsorship rules
PuckReady separates directory usefulness from paid visibility. Families should be able to tell when something is included because it matches their search and when something is being promoted.
| Surface | Default order | Paid influence allowed? |
|---|---|---|
| Directory results | Fit to filters, freshness, relevance, location, and listing completeness. | Only in labelled sponsored or featured zones. |
| Find Your Fit | User goals, age, level, season, travel tolerance, and category match. | No. Paid listings cannot buy a recommendation. |
| Reviews and ratings | Moderated user feedback and visible review status. | No. Sponsors cannot remove valid criticism. |
| Editorial guides | Public usefulness, source quality, and local hockey relevance. | Only with a clear sponsor label and no hidden claims. |
Review moderation and display rules
Reviews are user-submitted feedback, not official quality verification. PuckReady may approve, hold, or reject submissions based on privacy, safety, specificity, and publication standards.
What must be true before display
- Show only admin-approved reviews.
- Label reviews as moderated user feedback, not official verification.
- Keep reviewer email private.
- Allow factual negative reviews that meet privacy and safety rules.
- Route organizer disputes through claim or correction intake.
- Keep paid placement separate from review approval and rating display.
What PuckReady will not do
- Do not fabricate ratings or import third-party reviews.
- Do not publish unmoderated review submissions.
- Do not promote ratings as sitewide quality rankings until moderation capacity, dispute handling, and privacy review are documented for that surface.
- Do not claim PuckReady verifies the truth of every parent experience; approval means the review passed publication checks.
Moderated before display
Reviews and ratings are not public until an admin approves them.
Protect youth privacy
Reviews should not include children full names, medical details, school details, or private player information.
Fair criticism is allowed
Negative reviews can be shown when they are factual, specific, respectful, and privacy-safe.
Avoid unsupported allegations
Reviews should not publish harassment, personal attacks, or unsupported legal, medical, safety, or misconduct allegations.
Analytics and sponsor reporting
Visitor tracking has been discontinued. Current sponsor reporting documents labelled placement locations and dates, not visitor activity.
- Public pages no longer create visitor IDs or record page views, searches, listing opens, outbound clicks, or sponsor interactions.
- Sponsor reports include aggregate counts only; visitor IDs, raw page URLs, contact emails, player details, and family profiles are not exported.
- Historical aggregate sponsor report fields are limited to: placement, type, impressions, clicks, start_date, end_date.
- Previously collected analytics records have not been deleted by this change. Historical reports do not represent current traffic.
- Essential form processing, authentication and operational security logs remain.
How listing sources are checked
The “Details checked” badge means PuckReady compared the listing with where the organizer published it (their website, an official page or a public post) and checked:
- The program exists and is currently operating
- Contact information is accurate and up-to-date
- Program type, age range, and location are correctly listed
- Basic information has been fact-checked
Source checking is about listing accuracy, not quality. A source-checked program could still have low ratings if parent reviews reflect poor experiences.
Directory standards
- Listings should cite an official website, registration page, association page, poster, or direct operator submission where possible.
- Each public listing should show useful parent details: age range, level, location, season, cost when known, source, and freshness.
- User-submitted corrections are reviewed before changing public data.
- Youth privacy matters: PuckReady avoids publishing personal information about children and does not need player-level profiles.
- Program claims like elite, exposure, scholarships, or guaranteed advancement should be treated carefully and sourced where possible.
Editorial independence
Our reviews, ratings, and search ranking are independent from our revenue model. This means:
- Paying programs don’t get higher ratings or better reviews
- Our recommendation engine considers all programs equally
- Paid listings can appear in clearly labelled zones, but our “Find Your Fit” wizard recommendations are 100% merit-based
- Parent reviews are not filtered based on promotion status
Understanding our badges
- Details checked
- PuckReady compared the listing with where the organizer published it, such as their website, an official page or a public post. Families should still confirm dates, cost and spots with the organizer.
- Featured
- A clearly labelled paid or editorial placement. The label should explain which one applies.
- Sponsored
- A business or organization paid for visibility in a defined zone. Not a quality endorsement.
- New
- A program that was recently added to the directory (within the last 30 days).
Our commitment
Every paid placement should clearly show whether it is sponsored, featured, or premium. When you see a paid label, you know that organization is paying for visibility.
This doesn’t mean it’s a worse program — just that they’ve chosen to feature their listing.
Your search results, recommendations, and ratings are never influenced by promotion status.
Have questions about our model?
We’re committed to being transparent. If you have questions about how we operate, reach out directly.
Contact us