Read on to find out everything you need to know about tryouts starting in May
EXCITING NEWS regarding
tryouts starting May 5
We are pleased to announce that the
kick-off to the new season with our U15 BB Red team is right around the corner!
We’re excited to welcome interested
players to our evaluations. First, a
quick shout-out to last year’s BB Red team who brought home the Alliance
Championship! We’ve proudly linked to the article here. If you’re interested in elite player (and
goaltender) development, a fantastic team spirit and tons of fun, we look
forward to seeing you in a few weeks.
Key Changes to Player Movement
Regulations for 2025
Last fall, the Ontario Hockey Federation
(the governing body for Alliance Hockey) made changes to how players are
selected by removing any residency requirements. In other words, players may now tryout for
any association they wish. This is often
referred to as “open borders”. For more
information see the press release here.
Now, what does this mean for you? Tryouts will appear a little different this
year. On behalf of all coaches at BB
Red, BB White and BB Blue, we plan to move quickly during the first few days of
tryouts to secure the most capable teams possible for the 2025-2026 season. Don’t worry, coaches have been
viewing/evaluating resident players from this cohort for months now, and we are
extremely excited!
Are you curious about team culture on BB
Red? Click here and click
on “more info” on Coach David’s picture.
Below is an outline of what to
expect:
Day one May 5- Due to the sheer number of registered players already, we
will begin with two 1-hour sessions of "skills/flow and compete
drills" in order to provide each player with an opportunity to showcase
their talent. This will include a heavy focus on skating/edge work, compete
level, hockey IQ, confidence with the puck and many other attributes that will
assist our team by identifying well-rounded players capable of playing BB
hockey next season.
You will
receive your cohort before tryouts begin.
This will indicate whether you are in Cohort A (hour one) or Cohort B (hour
two). This is no indication of ranking
or skill. We simply had too many
interested athletes to fit everyone on the ice at once.
Day two May 6- This group will be reduced to a much smaller number of
athletes competing for spots across 3 teams, in an intrasquad format with a
tighter talent pool to compete against.
Day three May 7- We will continue with the intrasquad format game play and
place our top athletes against one another. We feel that our Kitchener area of
players are among the very best and we look forward to pushing these players
against one another as our assessment tool.
The intrasquad format also allows our coaches to participate closely by
working on the bench in order to witness first hand how players respond to
instruction, as well as their overall behaviour, compete level and positivity
toward their potential teammates.
Day four May 8 - We will continue
with the exhibition format game. At this
point, only players continuing on with BB Red will be invited to continue
for day-four evaluations. BB Red has
first selection, and players will only be offered spots on BB White or BB Blue once they have
been released from BB Red. Click on the
links above to reach the home page for each team. You’ll automatically be placed in the
evaluations for Blue/White if released from Red.
Before this
intrasquad game, we will conduct a quick 30 minute player/parent meeting where
we’ll communicate player expectations. Our
roster will consist of approximately 21-25 players still at this point. We plan to discuss a foundation of what to
expect as a group going forward and the level of commitment that will be
required to be successful with our team.
Selections will be made for BB Red following day four to give time for
BB White and BB Blue to make final assessments.
Over the weekend leading up to May 5, please
follow our team news
for updates and procedures. We will be sharing more details on who will be
expected to report to each ice-time. Players will be required to arrive one
hour prior to their scheduled ice-time in order to register in the arena
lobby. At that time, you’ll receive your
team and obtain tryout numbers and pinnies/jerseys for the session.
On behalf of myself, Lou and Jon we look forward to a spirited evaluation and
wish all participants the best of luck.
Reach out to any of us at any time with any questions.