Effective with the upcoming 2019-20 season Hockey Canada
together with the OMHA have mandated a number of changes to programs for 7-8
year olds - Formerly Tyke now Minor Novice and Novice. These changes are
designed to increase emphasis on basic skill development and fair play and
reduce emphasis on competition and include:
* No
competitive team tryouts before September
* Minimum of 4 pre-try out
“skates”
* Structured try outs-
skill, small area game, formal game.
* No elimination style
play-offs
* No tournaments before
January 15
* Half ice games for Minor Novice; half-ice games for Novice until January 15
* No full-time goalies, players rotate thru all positions
* Blue pucks first half, black pucks second half
* Fixed practice/game ratios “Development Phase”(8 weeks), “Regular Season Phase” (20 weeks)
* No Rostered Select teams
The WSMHA will be implementing these changes to both our House League and Rep programs and will be supporting the benefits of these skills as mandated by Hockey Canada. For more information on the Novice Development Program please visit at the following links:
OMHA - Novice and below
Programming Novice Below - Implementation Guide