U11 (Atom) Pathways Program (Gananoque Minor Hockey)

PrintU11 (Atom) Pathways Program

Effective for the 2020-2021 season, minor hockey associations, including those in the Ontario Hockey Federation’s Member Partners - OMHA, ALLIANCE, GTHL, NOHA and the OWHA - will be following the U7 (IP), U9 (Novice) and U11 (Atom) Player Pathways that has been designed by Hockey Canada.

It is of interested to those parents of players who will be playing U11 (Atom) next season to take a look at the attached article and read up on the new Player Tryout Policy, especially if your child is considering playing REP.

Taken from OMHA Article December 23 2019 https://www.omha.net/news_article/show/1073503

U11 (Atom) Player Pathway Policy (Must be followed for 2020-21 Season)

1. Player Tryouts

No tryouts prior to or during the first week of school.
- No tryouts during the off-season phase (previous season, including March through August).
- No tryouts during the first week of school where school starts the week after Labour Day.
- Where school starts prior to Labour Day, there must be four skates/practices starting the week following Labour Day before tryouts commence.
Must offer a minimum of four practice/skill sessions prior to formal evaluation starting.
Must have a minimum of three form evaluation sessions:
Players should not tryout based on a specific position, but should be encouraged to play both forward and defense in tryouts.
Players should be selected for teams based on skill, not positional preference.
2. Fair and Equal Ice Time
- Positional Rotation:
  
  All players play all positions
- Goaltender Rotation:
  
  Full-time goaltender allowed.
  
  Goaltenders rotate for equal amount of playing time throughout the regular season and playoffs.
3. Seasonal Structure
- Preparation Phase (up to 4 Weeks)
  
  See Player Tryouts above.
- Development Phase (up to 4 weeks)
  
  Teams must have a period of development time following tryouts prior to the start of the regular season.
- Development and Regular Season Phase (Up to 24 weeks)
  
  Recommended maximum of 45 games per year (includes exhibition, league, tournament and playoff games).
  
  Seasonal Breaks
- Playoff Phase (up to 4 weeks)
  
  Tournament style.
- Offseason Phase (end of season to August)
4. Position-Specific Training
- Small-area games in practice/station-based practices/skill-focused drills
- Only 15% of practice time should be spent on team play and strategy/systems with 85% of practice time spent on skills and tactics.
- Limit position-specific specialization (except for goalies).
U11 (ATOM) PATHWAY RECOMMENDATIONS (MEMBERS SHOULD ENCOURAGE & SUPPORT)
- Season should allow for two (2) seasonal breaks (not including Christmas/long weekends).
  
  Seasonal break would be a minimum of five (5) days without a scheduled game or mandatory practice.