Falcon Families,

We hope you are having a great summer and taking advantage of the Falcon Summer Skates we have assembled.

For the last several years, USA Hockey has been promoting the American Development Model (ADM) which was created to best serve a young hockey player’s development starting at the Mite level. The ADM program is structured to teach the sport of hockey in a fun, healthy way with a child’s long-term development as the primary consideration.

Since the ADM program was introduced by USA Hockey, the Falcons Hockey Association has employed many of the principles and concepts that the ADM model promotes – e.g. small area drills.

One of the key components of the ADM program is the use of cross-ice games. The reasons for cross-ice are:

• Same number of strides to cover 85 feet for a 6U or 8U player as 200 feet for an adult player

• Young players have more energy with which they can improve their skills when they are skating 85 feet across the ice surface as opposed to the full 200 feet length of ice surface

• Hockey is the only sport not utilizing a smaller playing surface for younger players

• More puck touches for each player due to smaller space • Better develops puck handling skill & confidence

• Decision-making skills are enhanced, as more decisions must be made more frequently at a higher tempo

With the above in mind, USA Hockey issued a mandate that all 8U (mite) hockey be played in a cross or half ice format beginning with the 2013-2014 season. Understanding that half ice games are an important part of 8U hockey but full ice games are still critical to development, AHAI (Amateur Hockey Association Illinois who governs all youth hockey in IL) in conjunction with USA Hockey has announced the following program for 2013-2014 Mite Season:

1. All 6U players will only be allowed to play cross-ice/half-ice. There are no exceptions.

2. 6U teams will not be allowed to travel outside the state.

3. 8U players will not be able to play any full-ice games until around the Thanksgiving holiday. All games prior to this date will be cross-ice/half-ice. During the Thanksgiving timeframe 8Us may play 18 full ice games as part of the remaining season.

4. AHAI and the various associations/leagues will continue to host cross-ice jamborees throughout the full-ice playing season with a minimum of two each year.

5. 8U will play a geographical based schedule, with no more than 20% of their games outside their geography.

6. 8U teams will only be allowed one out of state tournament each season.

7. No 8U will be allowed to play up at Squirt level, no exceptions.

The Falcons Hockey Association remains committed to providing our Mite families with the best possible experience for our youngest players while working within the confines of the AHAI rules. We can assure the Mite families that our program will be a great experience with excellent skill development along with an appropriate amount of highly competitive games.

While all the specifics have not been finalized, the Mite travel season will generally follow this schedule/format but is subject to change:

9/1: Tryouts/Start of Season – There will be 5 pre-season clinics and 2 days of try-outs for Mite 8U.

9/1 – 11/27: Mites will follow the same basic practice schedule we have had in the past (same number of practices and amount of ice time) and we will work with other local organizations to organize half-ice games with other teams

11/28 – 12/8: NIHL Mite seeding round games 12/16: Regular Season play begins for Mites

2/1: Regular Season play concludes for ALL NIHL ages (including Mite)

As part of the new rules, Mites will be limited to 20 game seasons with tournaments counting as 3 games and not including playoff games. As such, we anticipate a 4 game seeding round, 10 game regular NIHL season, two tournaments and at least one NIHL playoff game.

Finally, the new rules are very explicit with respect to 6U players being prohibited from playing on a full-ice team. We are currently in detailed planning sessions with the FHA house program to develop a robust development regimen for players born in 2007. Again, we assure all our 6U families that we will create an excellent experience for our 6U players.

This is certainly a bit of a change to Mite hockey so please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns. Thanks for your support and have a great summer!

Sincerely,

David Carlson
carlson@falconshockey.org
President, FHA

Tom Miller
tommiller@falconshockey.org
Hockey Director, FHA