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Casco Bay Hockey Association Travel Program 2010/2011
Mission
Casco Bay travel hockey provides players with the opportunity to play highly competitive hockey in a challenging and rewarding environment. The travel program focuses on individual skill development, teamwork and sportsmanship. Our expectation is ALL players in the program will develop a healthy enthusiasm for the game of hockey, allowing them to reach their playing potential.
Key Principles
· Individual skill development emphasizes skating, passing, stick handling and shooting. We believe practice time is for skill development through the teaching of proper techniques and high-speed competitive game condition drills.
· We offer experienced coaches and outstanding facilities at very affordable costs. Depending on age and tier, we schedule 30 – 55 games per season, including invitational, state and regional tournaments. Practices for the non High School players are held twice per week at convenient times and locations.
· Teamwork and sportsmanship are the foundation for our teams. All coaches, players and families are involved in the success of our programs. We strive to create a positive learning environment and we support the balancing of family time, academics and athletics.
Selection of Coaches
The interview process for interested head coaches will be conducted in the April-May timeframe. The interview committee consists of three of the following Board members: the Travel Director, Coaching Director, ACE Coordinator, Travel Scheduler and President. Following the interviews, the head coaches for the Comp A and Comp B teams will be announced.
Tryouts
Tryout dates and times are as follows:
Squirts (Birth years 2000-2001)
Monday March 29th NYA 6:25pm-7:25pm (All)
Tuesday March 30th NYA 5:30pm-6:50pm (All)
Thursday April 1st NYA 5:30pm-6:50pm (All)
Peewees (Birth years 1998-1999)
Monday March 22nd NYA 6:25pm-7:25pm (Skaters Only)
Tuesday March 23rd NYA 5:30pm-6:50pm (All)
Wednesday March 24rd at NYA 7:50pm-8:50pm (Goalie Session)
Thursday March 25th NYA 5:30pm-6:50pm (All)
Bantams (Birth years 1996-1997)
Monday March 22nd NYA 7:35pm-8:35pm (Skaters Only)
Tuesday March 23rd NYA 7:10pm-8:30pm (All)
Wednesday March 24th at NYA 7:50pm-8:50pm (Goalie Session)
Thursday March 25th NYA 7:10pm-8:30pm (All)
All players should register for the tryout by Sunday March 21st at https://casco.goalline.ca/registration.php. The travel tryout fee will be $40 and must be paid by credit card when registering online.
Casco Bay Hockey Association makes every effort to ensure the tryouts for the travel teams are thorough and fair.
1. There will be three tryout sessions for each division. Peewees and Bantams will also have a separate tryout session for goalies. Attendance at all tryout sessions is strongly recommended. Excused absences can be obtained through the Travel Director. Illness and/or injury are considered examples of valid excuses.
- Teams of five evaluators rank skaters by score in a variety of categories over three sessions. The Comp A coach from the prior season will be part of the five-member evaluation team. The remaining evaluators have proven credibility in the hockey community and have very limited or no knowledge of the players beforehand. The players will be evaluated on their skating/puck handling skills (forwards, backwards, agility) and scrimmage skills (offensive skills, defensive skills, and hockey sense). We will do our best to have consistent evaluation teams for all three tryout sessions.
- Squirts/Peewees. The top 15 skaters and top 2 goalies by evaluator score make the Comp A travel team. The next 15 skaters, (ranked 16-30) and 2 goalies, (ranked 3&4) make the Comp B travel team. Any skater who does not make a travel team returns to the house level for evaluation and placement in the house draft.
- Bantams: the top 9 Forwards, 6 Defensemen and 2 goalies by evaluator score make the Comp A travel team. The next 9 Forwards (ranked 10-18), next 6 Defensemen (ranked 7-12) and next 2 goalies (ranked 3&4) make the Comp B travel team. Any skater who does not make a travel team returns to the house level for evaluation and placement in the house draft.
The evaluators take the tryout process very seriously and make every effort to chart accurate evaluations of all of the players. The evaluators only have skater bib numbers (no names) on the evaluation sheets. The scores from the 5 evaluators are added up and the total score ranks the skaters. There is no draft or group of coaches picking the teams. The travel teams are simply the mathematical result of adding the evaluation scores of the 5-member evaluation teams over the three-tryout sessions. Results of the tryouts will be posted on the Casco Bay Hockey website no later then the Monday following the last tryout session for each division.
Comp A Teams
In addition to the regular 16-20 game Maine Amateur Hockey Association (www.meaha.com) schedule, the Squirt and Peewee Comp A teams will play in the Valley League for the 2010-2011 hockey season.
The Valley League (www.valleyhockeyleague.com) is run out of Haverhill, MA and offers a 27-30 game schedule starting in early September and ending in early April with playoffs. A sample of teams includes: Burlington, Reading, Peabody, Lexington/Bedford, Melrose, Andover, Stoneham and Beverly to name a few. The first six or seven weeks of the season are defined as "parity round." The purpose of the parity round is to determine the level of play for each team with the goal of grouping teams of similar skill level in the same division for the regular season. A few additional "parity" adjustments are likely in November and December, but the overall goal is to have divisions set for the final two rounds of regular season games from January through March. To help keep travel to a manageable level, the Valley League makes an effort to schedule our games on average every other weekend and double up with games (2 per day with adequate rest between games) when we do make the trip. All games are played in the area of Exit 42 to Exit 50 off 495 in Mass or approximately an hour and 20 minutes from NYA. The expectation is that on average one-day every two weeks the Squirt and Peewee teams will travel to Massachusetts to play two games. As a result, there should be a number of weekends with one day off.
In total, we are looking at approximately 55 games depending on Tournaments, results in State Playoffs, etc. The Squirt and Peewee Comp A teams will practice twice per week. We expect the cost for the season (excluding additional tournaments) through March and the Valley League Playoffs to run in the $1,100-$1,200 range. Given the number of games and practice hours (over 105 hours combined), we believe the overall value is unmatched by other travel programs in the region.
Bantam’s - Comp A
Bantam Comp A will have a limited game and practice schedule. They will play the regular 16-20 game Maine Amateur Hockey Association (www.meaha.com) schedule as well as an additional 6-8 games against some of the top Tier 1 programs in New England which may include: Spartan’s, Manchester Flames, Warriors, Vermont Glades, and Monarchs. They will also play in the State Tournament and possibly beyond if they advance from the State Tournament. As this team is largely made up of high school players, the Bantam A’s will play games on most Sunday’s once the high school season starts. Every effort will be made to avoid conflicts with the high school schedule. We expect the cost for the season (excluding additional tournaments) to run in the $600 range and will include 1 to 2 practices per week during the fall. Once high school hockey season starts the team will likely practice 1x per week, however there may be some weeks when the team does not practice at all. It is important that all kids not going in to high school next year understand this is a limited schedule and not a traditional Casco Bay travel schedule.
Comp B Team’s
In addition to the regular 20-24 game Maine Amateur Hockey Association (www.meaha.com) schedule, the Squirt and Peewee Comp B teams will play in the Valley League (www.valleyhockeyleague.com).
The Valley League (www.valleyhockeyleague.com) is run out of Haverhill, MA and offers a 27-30 game schedule starting in early September and ending in early April with playoffs. A sample of teams includes: Burlington, Reading, Peabody, Lexington/Bedford, Melrose, Andover, Stoneham and Beverly to name a few. The first six or seven weeks of the season are defined as "parity round." The purpose of the parity round is to determine the level of play for each team with the goal of grouping teams of similar skill level in the same division for the regular season. A few additional "parity" adjustments are likely in November and December, but the overall goal is to have divisions set for the final two rounds of regular season games from January through March. To help keep travel to a manageable level, the Valley League makes an effort to schedule our games on average every other weekend and double up with games (2 per day with adequate rest between games) when we do make the trip. All games are played in the area of Exit 42 to Exit 50 off 495 in Mass or approximately an hour and 20 minutes from NYA. The expectation is that on average one-day every two weeks the Squirt and Peewee teams will travel to Massachusetts to play two games. As a result, there should be a number of weekends with one day off.
In total, we are looking at approximately 55 games depending on results in State Playoffs. The Squirt and Peewee Comp B teams will practice twice per week. We expect the cost for the season (excluding additional tournaments) through March and the Valley League Plaoffs to run in the $1,100 -$1,200 range. Given the number of games and practice hours (over 105 hours combined), we believe the overall value is unmatched by other travel programs in the region.
Peewees - Comp B
In response to the large number of players at the 1998 & 1999 age groups with travel level skill sets and their success at the travel level this past season, our current plan is to have two Comp B travel teams. The plan is to split the teams evenly based on the tryout results. No requests will be taken for pairing up friends or neighbors for carpooling/social reasons. As a result, we will take skaters ranked 16-45 and goalies ranked 3-6 and place them evenly on the Peewee B teams.
Bantams - Comp B
Bantam Comp B will have a limited game and practice schedule. They will play the regular 20-24 game Maine Amateur Hockey Association (www.meaha.com) schedule as well as an additional 6-8 games against teams of similar skill in New England.
They will also play in the State Tournament and possibly beyond if they advance from the State Tournament. As this team is likely a mix of middle school and high school players, the Bantam B’s will play games on many Sunday’s once the high school season starts. Every effort will be made to avoid conflicts with the high school schedule. We expect the cost for the season (excluding additional tournaments) through the State Tournament to run in the $600-$700 range and will include 1 to 2 practices per week during the fall. Once high school hockey season starts, we anticipate 1 practice per week.
Bantam Travel Team for Non-High School Age Travel Players
In response to the demand for a full travel season for our Middle School Bantam travel players, we will have a third Bantam team comprised of those players who make the Bantam A or Bantam B travel team and are still in Middle School.
This team will practice 1x per week beginning in November and play an additional 15-25 games either through a league outside of Maine or tournaments/scrimmages on mostly Saturday’s against teams of similar skill in New England.
The cost for the team is TBD and will be based on coach and parental input for the number and type of games for the team. The goal is to keep these players in the Casco Bay program by offering them the opportunity to play a full season of competitive travel hockey.
From mid November through February, the weekly practice schedule for Bantams could look as follows:
Tuesday: Bantam Middle School
Wednesday: Bantam A
Thursday: Bantam B
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As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at traveldirector@cascobayhockey.com.
David Weatherbie
Travel Director
