Who: Open to boys & girls born 2012-2015 who have completed a season of 8U House or Travel or least one session of Learn to Play (LTP) or equivalent.  Please direct questions to Scott Richard, our 8U Spring Hockey Director at scottrichard@gmail.com

What: The 8U Spring Program follows USA Hockey’s American Developmental Model (ADM) and uses station-based skill development, technical skating instruction, cross-ice games and most of all a fun and safe hockey experience.

When: The 8U Spring Program runs from March 16, 2020 through May 17, 2020.  The following table shows the ice slots used by the 8U Spring Program.  Using these slots, 8U players will be on the ice two times per week. There are no events the following dates: March 14-16 and April 25-27.

In addition to the above, we will have two sessions used for practice & evaluations. The remainder of the schedule will be distributed upon team creations.

Where: All ice slots are at the Mt Vernon Ice Rink, 2017 Belle View Blvd, Alexandria, VA 22307

Structure: Like the Fall/Winter season, we will be dividing the players based on skill level into 2 divisions: Metro and Atlantic. We are expecting 4 teams in each division; however, this could adjust based on overall registration and team creation.

After assessments, players will be placed in either the Metro or Atlantic division and placed on a team. In distributing ice sessions between practices and games, we will strive for roughly a 3:1 ratio of practice sessions to game sessions.

Practices will follow USA Hockey’s ADM practice plans.

Our plan for Game Days is to have 4 cross-ice games simultaneously running, with the 4 Metro teams playing on two “rinks” and the 4 Atlantic teams playing on the other two “rinks”. We will use bumpers and 8U-sized nets. On game days, teams will play 2 games. Each game will be 20-24 minutes running time with the buzzer sounding every 2 minutes to change lines.

Cost: $200 includes a practice-style jersey and the above

CLICK HERE to register for the 8U Spring Program