Squirt Development Season

Our Squirt season will be divided into three parts: 

• Development Season: October–November
• Team formation (tryouts): First week of December
• Team season: December–March

Unlike past seasons, we will spend the first two months focusing on skill development and small-area games before players are divided into teams.

A few things to know:

• Ice times will include a combination of skill-focused full-ice sessions and smaller-group studio ice sessions
• The full-ice sessions will include all Squirt players and include specialized skill sessions, run by guest supplemental coaches.
• Studio group sessions will primarily be used for in-house games (see next bullet point)
• We will not play full-ice or travel games against other clubs during this portion of the season. Instead, players will have opportunities to compete against other Polar Cap Squirts in 3v3, 4v4, and 5v5 half-ice and studio-ice games.
• Players will not be divided into permanent teams during this time. For studio sessions, players will be divided into smaller groups that will change frequently throughout the development season.
• Each player will have approximately 5–6 ice-time opportunities per week

Do players need to attend every ice time?

No! Players are encouraged to attend as much as they can, but they are not expected to attend every scheduled ice time.

We know many of our Squirts participate in multiple sports and activities during the fall, and we do not want the increased ice-time opportunities to interfere with those commitments.

Our goals for player attendance: 

• Each player should aim to attend 4-5 sessions per week when possible. Some weeks your player will be able to attend all scheduled sessions, and some weeks they may only be able to attend 3-4 (and that's okay!) 
• Players should prioritize attendance at specialized skill sessions (those led by supplemental coaches) and full-ice skill sessions over games
• To note: Once teams are formed in early December (see below), the schedule will be similar to that of years past: 2-3 practices per week with 1-2 (home or away) games per weekend. Players will be expected to attend all practices and games with their team (with the typical exceptions for illness, travel, etc.)

Our goal is to allow every Squirt player to develop important skills before teams are formed and the team season begins, giving the teams (once formed) a competitive advantage as we enter the travel and tournament season.

We hope to accomplish this through:

• Increased ice-time opportunities
• Consistent access to coaching throughout the Squirt program
• Opportunities to practice and play with a variety of players
• More time focused specifically on individual skill development and small-area play

If you weren't able to attend the in-person or Zoom meeting for Squirt parents earlier this summer, click here for the PowerPoint slides from that meeting, where we took a deeper dive into the advantages of giving our players this development season. 

Team formation (evaluations) and the team season will begin the week of November 30th. Keep an eye out for more communication regarding those portions of the season in the coming months.

A couple of things to know ahead of time:

• Evaluation dates: Week of November 30th 
• Team practice schedules and game schedules will be approximately 2-3 practices per week with 1-2 games per weekend. Games may be home or away. 
• Teams will participate in two tournaments this season (rather than three as in past seasons), likely in January and February