Frequently Asked Questions
1.) How long is the season?
Fall season goes from roughly September to March.
Spring season goes from April till early June
2.) How much ice time per week?
Your Mite 8U and Squirt 10U player will have 2.25 hours of on ice practice a week. Peewee 12U, Bantam 14U, and high school will have 3 hours of on ice practice a week.
For spring season we have one, 1 hour practice per week
3.) When will practices generally start?
Practices begin in September. Each team will have a set day and time each week for their team practice that stays consistent through the full season. We work very hard to ensure our team practices begin no earlier than 5:00 PM and end no later than 9:00 PM for Coyotes players.
4.) How much game play will my player get?
The season is roughly 20-30 games. This depends on each team. Our league play is typically 20 games. (pre-tier / post-tier / playoffs) A seeding round and post-seeding season play and playoffs. Tournaments are 3-4 games each and teams may schedule scrimmages on top of all this if they choose at an added cost.
5.) Will my player get to play?
For Coyotes levels we have a Balance Ice Time (B.I.T.) rule that will require the coaches to keep all player ice time fairly close during the season for league games.
6.) Is my player too old to start?
At KYHC we are a teaching organization. We are here to teach everyone the game of hockey no matter the skill level. We highly encourage prospective players to go through Learn to Skate and beginner hockey programming with Ice Valley Centre but it is not a requirement.
7.) Tournament options
One tournament is included in our fees. Each team has the ability to do more at an additional cost.
Typically we look at tournaments during Thanksgiving, MLK day, and Presidents day holiday weekends, but actual tournament dates are based on factors such as availability, coaches schedule, team preferences, etc.
8.) Who coaches?
Our Coyotes coaching staff is mostly made up of parent volunteers, some with prior youth playing experience and some that learned the game later in life. We are also lucky to have experienced non-parent coaches on our coaching staff as well. All coaches are subject to background checks, coaching training modules and classes. We continue working with every coach at every level to ensure that we are hitting the right benchmarks in player development. Skate, Skate, Skate, Pass, Pass, Shoot is a big part of what we want to accomplish at every level.
9.) What are the benchmarks my player should be hitting?
Mites: Skating, Skating, Skating. We will touch on positioning and passing. If we do not teach the kids to skate and skate well they will always struggle with passing, shooting and positioning.
Squirts: Skating better and puck control. This will be more difficult skating and edge work. We will push to include skating with pucks and a little passing as they progress. If you can skate and can skate with a puck passing becomes easy to teach.
Peewee: This is a critical stage. If we have created a good foundation then we should be introducing hitting, fine-tuning passing and shooting, and introducing breakouts and systems.
Bantam: This level will be treated as HS light. Sharing ice on the same night as HS team we hope to allow kids to participate in some skates and further push their skills more competitively.
New Player getting started
1.) Your player will need to register with USA hockey, this is a yearly recurring requirement.
2.) We use the team snap website to aid with communication, team information, and payments for the club
3.) We do have fundraisers throughout the season. Fundraisers are optional and profits go toward player fees. Occasionally, teams elect to do in-game fundraisers to help cover additional team expenses such as extra tournaments, team events and gifts. Examples include: Split the pot and chuck-a-puck. We are always open to new ideas and looking for additional fundraising opportunities to help offset individual and team costs as well.
We have started to incorporate fundraisers to benefit the club as a whole. These are fundraisers that help offset increasing expenses and assist us in keeping year-over-year fee increases as low as possible. These fundraisers include dine and donate events as well as our annual KYHC day. We ask for as much family participation as possible to help make these fundraisers a success.
4.) All players must provide their own equipment including sticks, hockey pads, skates, helmets, neck guards, and mouth guards for all practices and games.