Across the US and Canada millions of families of tuning into the NHL Playoffs. One team will walk(skate?) away with the Stanley Cup, but what is even more amazing is the increase in kids who want to give ice hockey a try. New to the world of hockey? I was too! Read on for a handy guide on how to start playing youth ice hockey.
Welcome New Hockey Parents!
I’m just a mom that grew up with a younger brother that played travel hockey and going to enjoy a St. Louis Blues game or two each winter. My pre-mom experience with hockey stops there. When my two kids decided to give ice hockey a try I had a million questions and can’t tell you the amount of online searches I did to try to find information that would guide me as a new hockey parent on next steps and best practices. Heck, I am still that parent today.
Joining youth hockey is full of choices and there is no one right way to go about it, but I hope that I will be able to provide a light overview of a typical youth hockey player’s path through the hockey world.
The Path to Playing Youth Ice Hockey
Please note that this suggested path is just that: a suggestion. Some players go through all of these, and some(like us) skip parts. Hockey development is not one size fits all.
Public Skates at Your Local Ice Rink
Does your kid have a new found interest in hockey? Great! Grab the family and head to a local ice rink to get out there and skate. Skating is a wonderful excercise for all bodies and a true skill to develop.
If you have zero experience on the ice, I would recommend packing along a pair of inline skating wrist guards and knee pads at the very least. Falling on ice(it will happen) is no joke and the last thing you want to do is walk away with a broken wrist your first time out.
Ice rinks are also cold, so bring along some gloves, a hat, and jacket that you can move in.
Try Hockey for Free
cost: $0
Please note that Try Hockey for Free and Learn to Skate could be done in any order. Maybe even sign up for a Try Hockey for Free session during your Learn to Skate time. We did not participate in either of these options, so I can’t really offer good guidance on which to do first. Reach out to your local program and get their opinion if you are on the fence.
How I wish this was a thing at our local club years when my son signed up for his first learn to play program in 2020. Maybe it was, however I did not have a resource like Hockey With Mom to guide me in the right direction.
The name really says it all. This should be an opportunity to let your kid get on the ice in either minimal or full gear(provided by the program) and play hockey.
Learn to Skate
cost: $100+
Before signing up for your first season with a local club, you need to know how to skate. I wish I would have done this for both of my kids, but you don’t know what you don’t know, right?
Skating is the foundation of hockey. Do a quick search for ‘how to get better at hockey’ and almost every single article, video, or Redditer is going to tell you to work on your skating.
Learn to Play
cost: $250+,
Ok, here is where you will start to see the costs rising for your new player. If you are lucky, your local rink will have a partnership with an NHL team to have a low cost Learn to Play that even includes all the gear. If not, you will have to purchase full gear before being allowed on the ice.
Yet again, pretty self explanatory: During this 6-8 week session, your player will be introduced and guided through a series of drills that will help develop the skills needed to play a game of ice hockey. While there aren’t usually any games played, you might get to have a half sheet game at the very last session.
In my opinion, a great learn to play should also help educate the parents on what signing up for ice hockey means. The Learn to Play my kids attended had an excellent info session that broke down everything from the different levels to zip code rules to how to save money. If your Learn to Play does not offer this type of info session, I would definitely reach out to the organizer and ask if there is anything you should know as a new hockey parent in your area.
House League
cost: $400+, gear and travel costs are kept to a minimum and no team fees.
I liken house league hockey to playing soccer with your local park district. Ideally, your club will have multiple teams that all get to play against each other. Or, in our experience, our house league played against other local club house leagues.
Depending on the age of your player, your team will get to play on either a half sheet or full sheet of ice(8U and younger typically play on half sheets). House league is an awesome opportunity to get that team experience and really see how fun hockey can be.
Travel League
cost: $1600+, plus team and travel fees
This is where we are currently. Also called Developmental Hockey. Travel teams spend at least half of their regular season games travelling to other teams’ rinks for games. How far? Well, if you live in a city with several clubs you may not really have to travel very far. However, if your city only has one club you can pretty much guarantee that your away games will be at least an hour away, if not more.
The teams you play against will all belong to the same league or division. For example, our club is in St. Louis and belong in the Missouri Hockey Division for regular season games which is comprised of teams in St. Louis, Mid-Missouri, Kansas City, lower/western Illinois and NW Arkansas. Alternatively, the club could choose to be a part of Northern Illinois Hockey League which is comprised mostly of teams in the northern and central Illinois as well as lower Wisconsin.
Within your division or league, teams will be categorized into different levels based on the overall skill of the players. MO Hockey uses A, B, C with A being the highest. NIHL uses premiere, elit, gold, silver, etc. for their levels. Each team’s level will be decided during evaluations before the season starts. Our league calls this short period at the beginning of the season: Declaration Season or Dec Season.
Just remember that as a parent or a player, there is absolutely no shame in being placed on the lowest level team for your age bracket. All players get to play and while of course everyone wants to win, it is best to keep it fun for everyone.
AA/AAA
cost: $4000+, plus team and travel fees
For 99% of players, travel hockey will be the highest level they will be able to or want to achieve. For the other 1% who show extreme dedication and skill, there is AA and AAA youth hockey.
Don’t go into your child’s hockey years with the goal of them reaching a AA or AAA team. These levels are not only extremely time intensive, but the costs can be astronomical. My daughter’s teammate last year was previously on a local AAA team and her mom told me it cost them an extra $15-$20K beyond the registration fee. Yikes!
Could this level be in your hockey player’s future? Maybe, especially if they want to play D1 hockey in university or play in the USHL or NAHL.
Just Remember, Hockey Mom
That was a LOT of information, I know. Just remember that just as Rome wasn’t built in a day, your hockey player won’t develop fully in a day or a month or even a year. And no matter what, let’s make sure to keep it fun for all our kids and parents since the more players we have the better it is for all.
Are you a new or veteran hockey parent and have questions or advice? Drop them in the comments and maybe we can all help and learn from each other!
