Hello and welcome to a new season of hockey.

[also sent as an email to the parents of all registered players]

Please read and review the following as it provides an overview of the season start-up process for all divisions.  As previously communicated, our rep tryout process is scheduled to begin on August 23rd.

The recreational program officially begins the week of Monday, September 1st.  Some age groups will have practice that afternoon (Monday of a long weekend), so please keep an eye on the schedule section of our website.  There will be no other ice over the Labour Day long weekend.

Our coaching director and recreational governors have already begun the process of reaching out to potential head coaches for our various teams.

Initial groupings for recreational teams will be posted on our website over the next week.  Please check your grouping assignment and cross reference with the schedule for the first few weeks (also to be posted later this month) to determine your ice times.  Groupings and the ice schedule will be posted here: https://www.victoriaminorhockey.ca/schedule/ when they become available.  As we work through the first few weeks, changes can and will happen, so please review often! Also it is very helpful to ensure you download the Teamsnap App as you will see your team and schedule once you are moved into your team/group.

Information session for parents new to Minor Hockey

Please note that we will be hosting an in-person information session for parents of new players only, on

Monday August 25th from 7:00-9:00pm in the Lam Room at Pearkes.

Details on the new hockey parents in-person session here.

Information sessions for those parents interested in Volunteering

Please also note that we will host an online meeting for all other parents interested in volunteering in any capacity with the association or your player’s team. Feel free to join and listen, or ask questions. No participation required. We will discuss some of the team staff roles and requirements, including course requirements for managers, safety people, on-ice helpers and coaches. We will also discuss some other roles that desperately need filled at VMHA to ensure successful program delivery. These will be held August 21 and 28 at 7-9pm (ending when finished)

Victoria MHA Volunteer Info Sessions:
Thursday, August 21st and Thursday, August 28th · 7:00 – 9:00pm
Time zone: America/Vancouver

Google Meet Video call link: https://meet.google.com/tgj-uxgs-gsw
Or dial: ‪(CA) +1 289-949-7742‬ PIN: ‪238 726 964‬#

More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/tgj-uxgs-gsw?pin=9746869710286

 

Please see below for further information regarding your divisions:

U7 & U9 will look a little different this year. We are going to try a slightly new coaching model for this year focusing more on skill ‘stations’ and development. The goal is to build up skills first and foremost and provide as much ice time as possible. This means that at the beginning of the season we will have larger practice groups than we typically do. By doing this and running a station based practice system we will be able to effectively manage and utilize our resources to their highest potential. This will also allow us to, at least initially, provide two ice times per week at this level – more time on the ice means more time to grow and master skills.

We will be constantly evaluating this program and can make adjustments as needed. We will also be using the first month to better balance teams. Even once teams are formed players and coaches are encouraged to view the group as one big team, practice plans will be provided so all players are receiving the same development.

 

U11 will be sorted into 3 initial groups and will have 4 bust the rust/warmup practices over the first two weeks. The players will then be divided into assessment teams and will have a total of 4 assessment sessions in mid September (1 skills based and 3 scrimmage based) to determine our development A and B teams – the remaining players will then be placed into evenly balanced C/recreational teams, based on the assessment scores. This process will be complete during week 3 and teams will begin practicing and playing balancing games that week – more details will be sent to this group at a future date regarding the assessment process.

 

U13 through U21 on the recreational side will all be placed into initial groups. They will each practice in those groups in week 1 before moving into assessment games in week 2 (each team will get 2 assessment games). From there, we will hold a coaches draft for each age group in week 3. Once complete, we will hold balancing games over the next week and a half (through the end of week 4), to ensure that our teams are as evenly balanced as is reasonable. This will allow us to have everyone up and running as fast as possible. Players who are released from rep tryouts (U13, U15 and U18) will be assigned to these initial groups as cuts occur.

*Please note, however, that our recreational governors will not be able to keep this timeline intact without division coordinators to assist with this process for U15 and U21 – both of these roles are currently vacant–we need volunteers.

Please consider volunteering your time during the assessment process for your division – there will be many opportunities to do so.  The more volunteer help we have, the better this process will be for everyone.

A few other housekeeping items:

1 – All fees must be paid in full before September 1^st (unless alternate arrangements have been made with our bookkeeper) before players can be rostered to a team.  We do accept ETFs.

2 – There will be additional fees for players who make representative teams at U13, U15 and U18, as well as the U11 development teams.

3 – Please keep in mind that until rosters are finalized on Team Snap, our registration system only sends emails to the address of the parent who registered the child.