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A.C.F.Y.H.A.
Avon-Canton-Farmington Youth Hockey Association
www.avonhockey.com
April 2010
Dear Avon Hockey Parents and Players:
As we officially concluded the 2009 season with the banquet Sunday night we now begin to turn our attention to the 2010 season. Hard to believe but tryouts are just around the corner and we want to make sure to communicate with everyone some important information regarding tryouts and next season. We have some exciting changes planned for the upcoming year. Highlights include plans to finally move forward with a girls program at the U12 and U14 level, the introduction of a PeeWee Minor team for our first year PeeWees and additional enhancements to our tryout process. We certainly appreciate all of your support and feedback throughout the year and we will continue to look for ways to improve our program and create a great experience for each player.
Tryouts:
As you know, we changed our tryout dates for many of our travel teams from the fall to the spring last year and are planning to continue with the same plan this year.
Our tryouts are designed to ensure that each player is placed on the team that will give him/her the greatest opportunity to develop their hockey skills and that provide a positive learning experience. There is no process that is perfect but we spend a lot of time evaluating and enhancing our process to ensure that it is fair and objective and that each player is given an opportunity to exhibit their hockey skills through numerous non-game and game situations.
Tryouts shall consist of skill evaluation in the areas of skating, passing and receiving, stick handling, shooting, play making, stamina, and checking (if applicable). Goaltenders will be evaluated in the areas of skating, movement, angling, making saves and puck control. Players may also be evaluated in scrimmage or game situations to determine positional play and competitiveness.
The selection process is led by the Co-Coaching Directors with input from the Evaluators from within and outside of ACFYHA, Division Directors, prior year Coach evaluations and, where appropriate, the current Coach.
Tryout Dates:
Tryouts for many of our travel teams will begin on April 26th and run through May 7th. The format will be different this year, as we will have three tryout dates for A teams and two tryout dates for B and C teams. All the dates will be posted on the website within the next week. Based on anticipated registration numbers, the tryouts will be conducted as follows:
Mites: We will have two full season travel teams: Mite A and Mite B. All players interested in trying out for Mite A should show up during the first week. All players who do not make the Mite A team or are only interested in trying out for Mite B should show up during the second week. We are anticipating having a Mite C team. This will again be a limited travel team (15-20 games). Tryouts for Mite C will be conducted in the fall.
Squirts: We will have a minimum of three teams: Squirt A, Squirt B and Squirt C. All players interested in trying out for Squirt A should show up the first week. All players who do not make the Squirt A team or are only interested in trying out for Squirt B and C should show up during the second week. We may have a fourth team. If so, that team will be determined as part of the B/C tryouts.
Limited Travel: We would like to continue with our Limited Travel team next year. There will be no separate tryout for this team rather it will be put together during the Squirt and PeeWee tryout process for those players who evaluators believe would benefit more from this type of development team.
PeeWees: We will likely have three teams: PeeWee A, PeeWee Minor and PeeWee B. Please see the description below of the PeeWee Minor team as this is a new team to our program. All second year PeeWee players should tryout the first week for PeeWee A. All first year PeeWee players should tryout the second week for PeeWee Minor. Players who do not make the PeeWee A or PeeWee Minor team will be evaluated for either the PeeWee B team or Limited Travel.
Bantam: We will have two teams. Bantam A and Bantam B. All players interested in trying out for Bantams should show up during the first week.
Midgets: We will have up to two Midget teams. We are planning to continue with the full year Midget team. This team provides an outlet for our kids beyond Bantams. Tryouts for this team will be during the second week. The tryout for the split season midget team, if necessary based on numbers, will be conducted at a later date.
Girls: We would like to have two teams: U12 and U14. Please see below for more information on the girls program. All girls interested in trying out for the girls program should attend the separate girls tryout. We are still finalizing the dates but plan to conduct tryouts during the 3rd or 4th week in April. Information will be posted to the website by the end of the week.
Tryouts are not optional. Please try to have your son or daughter tryout for the appropriate team based on their ability. Any player that is not able to attend tryouts must notify one of the Co-Coaching Directors, Tom Regan or Scott Miller, or Registrar, Sue Allen, prior to tryouts and will be placed on a team based on the written guideline in our most current policy and procedures manual.
Tryout Schedule (all tryouts at ISCC in Simsbury):
Monday, April 26th
5:00pm MITE A TRYOUT
6:10pm SQUIRT A TRYOUT
7:20pm PEEWEE A TRYOUT (all second year PeeWees)
8:30pm BANTAM A/B TRYOUT
Tuesday, April 27th
6:10pm MITE A TRYOUT
7:20pm SQUIRT A TRYOUT
Wednesday, April 28th
6:10pm PEEWEE A TRYOUT (all second year PeeWees)
7:20pm BANTAM A/B TRYOUT
Thursday, April 29th
6:10pm MITE A TRYOUT
7:20pm SQUIRT A TRYOUT
Friday, April 30th
6:10pm PEEWEE A TRYOUT (all second year PeeWees)
7:20pm BANTAM A/B TRYOUT
Monday, May 3rd
5:00pm MITE B TRYOUT
6:10pm SQUIRT B/C TRYOUT
7:20pm PEEWEE MINOR TRYOUT (all first year PeeWees)
8:30pm FULL SEASON MIDGET U18 TRYOUT
Tuesday, May 4th
6:10pm MITE B TRYOUT
7:20pm SQUIRT B/C TRYOUT
Wednesday, May 5th
6:10pm PEEWEE MINOR TRYOUT (all first year PeeWees)
7:20pm FULL SEASON MIDGET U18 TRYOUT
Thursday, May 6th
6:10pm MITE B TRYOUT
7:20pm SQUIRT B/C TRYOUT
Friday, May 7th
6:10pm PEEWEE MINOR TRYOUT (all first year PeeWees)
7:20pm FULL SEASON MIDGET U18 TRYOUT
Registration Information
The registration process has been adjusted to accommodate the change to a spring tryout schedule. The registration process for the 2010-2011 hockey season for Mite (A and B only), Squirt, PeeWee, Bantam and Midgets will consist of two steps and is outlined below. Registration for Learn-to-Skate, Developmental, Mite-in-House, Mite C and Limited Travel will be conducted at a later date.
Step One
Registration for the 2010/2011 season will be done through the website. Registration includes a non-refundable Tryout fee of $100. Payment for the Tryout fee will be through the website although as an alternative a check can be sent to the Treasurer, Kurt Erickson. The $100 fee is for all players trying out for the 2010-2011 season, regardless of level with the exception of the girls teams where there will be no Tryout fee.
Step Two
After tryouts have been conducted all players must complete the remaining registration forms as well as register with USA Hockey. The deadline will be one week after the teams are selected and communicated on the website. We will provide the forms for this part of the registration process at a later date.
Included in this step of the registration process is a Letter of Commitment form and associated non-refundable $400 commitment fee. This is a form and fee that commits players to play with ACFYHA for the upcoming season. This type of form is very common for youth hockey associations conducting spring tryouts as it provides some degree of certainty in planning for the upcoming season.
The Tryout and Commitment fees are part of the overall registration fees for the 2010/2011 season. The registration fee will be determined after the tryout process, as we need to understand the number of players and obtain our ice costs before we can finalize out fee. Our expectation is that the fees will increase no more than 5%.
Coaches:
The preference of ACFYHA is to assign qualified non-parent coaches to the A travel teams in each division. While this is our goal our first priority is to make sure we have the appropriate coaches for each of our teams. If we do not have a qualified non-parent coach, we will select a qualified, well-suited parent coach.
We typically communicate coaching information after tryouts but we are making a change this year to communicate the coaches for our A, PeeWee Minor and Bantam B teams in advance of tryouts. This change is based on feedback we have received as many have expressed interest in understanding this information before the tryout process begins. The coaches proposed for next year are as follows:
Mite A: Chris Hocevar
Squirt A: Tom Lacourciere
PeeWee A: Rob Arena
PeeWee Minor: Spike Szykowny and Tom Regan
Bantam A: Chris Dipace and Sean Cole
Bantam B: Eric Krauss
All coaching decisions for the remaining travel teams will be announced after the tryout process.
PeeWee Minor:
We are planning to create a PeeWee Minor team that will begin play next year. This will be an “A” level team that will be comprised of our strongest 1999 birth year players (meaning, first year PeeWees). The rationale is that the PeeWee level is the first time that players are able to check and we want to create a team that will play largely against other first year PeeWee teams to allow players to play against kids who are the same age. Playing by birth year is becoming more common across USA hockey and our belief is that this will be a better experience as players transition from non-checking to checking hockey. This team will play against PeeWee Minor teams and other PeeWee teams in CT as well as other PeeWee Minor teams located within a similar travel distance in Mass and RI.
We expect our PeeWee A team to be comprised of our strongest 1998 birth year players (second year PeeWees) and players who did not make either the PeeWee A or PeeWee Minor teams will be evaluated for our PeeWee B or Limited Travel teams.
Avon Girls Program:
We are planning to add one or two girls teams to the program next year. We have been evaluating this for quite some time and with the continued growth in girls hockey across the country as well as within our program we believe it is time for us to offer girls teams. Our current plan is to try and offer U12 and U14 teams. The thought is that we would start at the older ages to provide our girls with a solution once they reach the PeeWee age and above.
Tier Designations:
The CHC is continuing with Tier format for all of its Tournament-bound teams this year. There will again be 4 Tiers in the CHC. Tier 1 will be comprised of two “elite” teams and was not a consideration for ACFYHA (Tier 1 programs are not allowed to skate B or C teams). Tiers 2-4 will consist of every other program that will be eligible for end-of-year State Tournament.
Our preference is to place our A teams into Tier 2 but we will make the Tier designation based on where we believe the team will be the most competitive and have the best development experience. This decision will be made after tryouts are complete and before we need to submit to CHC in June/July.
Skill Development:
One of our key areas of development this past year involved the expansion of our skill development program. In previous years we have focused our efforts on power skating and this year we began to introduce other clinics such as checking and shooting. We are planning to continue to look for opportunities to enhance and expand this program and plan to continue with our partnership with CT Crease for our goalie development program.
Feedback and Support:
The ACFYHA exists to enable your child to play the exciting game of ice hockey. Our goals are to have your child learn sportsmanship, teamwork and discipline while developing the skills necessary to improve as hockey players.
We as a Board are interested in your feedback. We have begun to utilize surveys to collect feedback on certain issues (for example, tournament participation) but would also like to hear directly from you as well with your thoughts or suggestions. Our preference is to receive the feedback directly as opposed to in an anonymous manner so that we can have the appropriate conversation and share any resolutions.
Although we are blessed with tremendous volunteers we are always looking for more support. Two immediate ways you can help include:
1. Join the Board of Directors – The nomination process for new Board members will be taking place in May/June so consider whether you are able to support the various responsibilities of the Board of Directors.
2. Help with Coaching - Please contact the Co-Coaching Directors, Tom Regan or Scott Miller, if you are interested in coaching during the upcoming season.
Thank you for all your support and commitment to our program and to our kids. It is our goal to provide each of our kids with a positive and rewarding experience and without your support this would not be possible.
ACFYHA Board of Directors
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