There was some confusion last week on how players were selected to attend the U11 Development Stream (DS) tryout. Some clarity on this:
Given a time and available ice crunch the association decided to invite the 25 highest ranked players from the HL assessments done a few weeks ago to the first two DS tryouts. There was multiple coaches, assistants and non parents ranking and evaluating players at that time. This was deemed a fair way to quickly narrow it down to determine what 16-17 players would be chosen to play in games for the DS team. There was not enough ice available and time to invite every house league player to DS tryouts this year. This program is meant as a bridge between house league and competitive hockey. It offers players a chance to practice with and compete with and against players at an appropriate skill level. In previous seasons a similar though not exactly the same process was used to invite a portion of the group to tryouts. Those players ranked by the group in the above range received an email from myself.
It is understandable that some players and families felt left out. That is the nature of ability based selections and teams with only a certain amount of spots. The head coach of the team was not who chose the invite criteria or list, but will have say on who makes up the final game roster. Jamie Melling has agreed to be the U11DS coach and we excited for him to lead the group.
The DS program comes at an added financial cost to those selected. Families share the cost of the additional ice, jerseys, referees and all other costs to operate the program.
If anyone should have questions about the process please reach out to:
Matt Dale
Director of Development
[email protected]
519-521-5719