You’ll meet with the coaching staff following your last session after your child has completed a Learn to Play program. As a reminder, you can only attend Learn to Play one time, after which you will choose a hockey program to continue your child’s development. The staff will make recommendations as to where your child should consider playing and at what level based on his or her current skill level. This is where it gets a bit confusing for new hockey parents – questions like “what is a Squirt?”, “what is ADM/House versus a Tier II program versus a Tier I program”, and “how much does this cost?” start to pop up. This post aims to clear up the confusion that sets in between the levels in hockey as well as the types of programs and levels so that you may make a more informed decision on where to go next.
There are a few ways to slice the levels and tiers, but the most basic concept behind this structure is that it separates the kids into groups of like ages (Age Levels), like skill levels and competition (Tier Classification for the program), which drives the amount of ice time (practices, games, tournaments, etc.) and ultimately the cost. There is another dimension of the league that your child will participate in during a competitive season, but much of that is driven by the age level and tier that you choose, so let’s hold off on that for now.
Age Levels
Before 2016, USA Hockey was using names (and many programs still do) to specify the age groups within youth and girl’s hockey programs. Since that time, they have moved to a more reasonable and intuitive way of describing the levels by using the maximum age for the group followed by a U, for under that specified age. Here are the age groups and names in the early levels since they apply to both youth (co-ed) and girl’s hockey programs:
- Mite/8U – Players 8 and under
- Squirt/10U – Players 10 and under
- Peewee/12U – Players 12 and under
- Bantam/14U – Players 14 and under
Birth Years
USA Hockey uses the child’s birth year as the delimiter between age groups. As an example, for this upcoming fall season all kids born in 2010 and 2011 would be considered Peewee/12U’s. The 2010 kids will all be 12, and the 2011’s will all be 11 during the season, making the team a group of 11- and 12-year-old kids. And unlike kids born in early September being the “oldest kids in class” in school, the oldest hockey players for each birth year are born in early January. By the way, it took me a full year to figure out why my daughter had to choose an odd number for her jersey number when she started playing Mites. In general, hockey programs follow this numbering rule, so if your child is born in an odd year (2011) they will have an odd jersey number. All even years will have an even jersey number. So, depending on the cycle you can always pick out the older kids from the younger on any team – this year the evens will be the older kids, odds the younger. There are exceptions to this rule, but that is one our club does follow.
*The previous two sections are covered in the AHAI rules under Section 5, minus the jersey numbering (https://www.ahai.org/page/show/6335118-bylaws-rules-regulations-and-policies)
Tier Classification
The tier classification system was put in place to divide kids into various levels of competitive play. In Illinois we have three tiers, also sometimes referred to by letter abbreviations, that allow kids to play and compete on teams at their current skill level. The three tiers are broken down in this way:
- Tier I/Tier 1/AAA – This is the highest level of competitive play in the tier system. As such, it comes with the greatest demand in terms of time and financial commitment for your young hockey player. On-ice time is usually 6-7 days a week and out-of-state travel is almost a given. Tier I Girls start at the 10U age group with tryouts being held between May 15th and May 31st , before Tier II team tryouts. Costs for Tier I can range from $10,000 and up plus travel costs. As of this upcoming 2022-23 season there are five (5) Tier I programs that support Girls teams – Windy City Storm (previously Chicago Young Americans), Chicago Mission, Reapers, Chicago Fury, and Team Illinois (https://www.ahai.org/page/show/256704-tier-i).
- Tier II/Tier 2/AA – This is a level of competitive play that is under Tier I level. Demands on a player’s time are still significant, with on-ice sessions 4-5 times per week (which increase as you progress through the age levels). Tier II starts at 8U, although the 8Us play in a different league than the 10U and up Tier II teams in Illinois. Costs can range from $2,500 to $7,500 depending on the club and number of out-of-state tournaments attended. Tryouts are required and usually take place in middle to late August for the 8U-14U levels and dates will vary by club or organization. There are thirty-three (33) Tier II clubs in Illinois that play in two (2) different conferences, the Northern Illinois Hockey League (NIHL) and the Central States Developmental Hockey League (CSDHL) conferences (https://www.ahai.org/page/show/256709-tier-ii)
- Tier III/Tier 3/A – This is the level of play where players who may be new to the game are improving their skills through organized games in order to potentially move up to a more competitive level of play on a Tier II team in the future. This tier is considered the “House” level and there are 2 levels within Tier III. Tier III B, which is sometimes referred to as “House Travel”, where the teams will travel to various rinks within their conference for games, and Tier III C, which is considered the “House League” team where the teams play at their home rink only and against other teams that exclusively use the same rink (e.g. Park District leagues with multiple teams at the same age level). There are no tryouts, however it is space limited on a first come first served basis. This is the least costly option, and unlike Tier I (paid professional coaches) and Tier II (most have paid coaches), Tier III is usually coached by volunteers or parents and may be subsidized by the local park district.
As any hockey parent will tell you, you don’t want to have an extremely wide range of skill and talent where one team wins games by a wide margin or simply dominates every game. Albeit this is bound to happen early in any season as well as at tournaments from time to time and it should be the exception and not the rule. The idea is to allow the kids to have fun, complete, get better, and continue playing the game in the future. So how do I choose?
Hockey Tier Progression
Just as I stated in the previous post, everyone’s journey is a bit different. Following Learn to Play your player will most likely tryout for a Tier I or Tier II team, with most trying out for Tier II given the accessibility and lower cost or going into an ADM (American Development Model) program which allows them to improve skating and handling the puck before they are ready for organized team play. Tier I players do start in Tier II, especially in their younger years of hockey where they are precluded from playing Tier I. As a rule, girls cannot play in Tier I unless they are 10 years old or older per AHAI.
If your child joins a Tier II club and does not make a Tier II travel team, they will most likely be placed on a Tier III B or C team or moved into the ADM program to allow them to practice and improve with the hopes of making a travel team in the future. While every club is different, I like the easy to follow diagram that one of our clubs, the Chicago Stallions, has posted on their site which I included here for reference so you can see how their progression flows.
The answer to which club is right for you will be a balance between the costs, location, Tier of the program that is in line with your player’s skills (and possibly where their hockey or school friends are also playing). My opinion is that paying exorbitant fees for travel teams, buying the best and most expensive equipment, and forcing your child on the ice for “extra practices” does not guarantee they will be top tier future all-stars. While parents may seek out the “best programs at their player’s current age group”, keep in mind those clubs may practice at rinks that are a significant distance from your home, meaning more car ride time than ice time. Find the club that is in line with your budget, is relatively close to your home to reduce travel time, and one that provides an atmosphere and coaching that encourages skill development while also making the game fun and enjoyable. A young hockey player who is having fun will build their skills faster without knowing it, because they will seek out ice time and look forward to going to practice versus being ordered to do so.
Our Journey
This post wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t share our story of how we got started and the progression my daughter took in her hockey journey thus far. We started with Learn to Skate and Learn to Play through the program at Fifth Third Arena – this would be the Tiny through Little Blackhawks programs – and we did so when she was age 7. When she turned 8, we attended tryouts for the Chicago Stallions club and were placed on the Tier II travel Mites/8U team playing in the CUHL conference.
While there are cheaper Park District and club alternatives available, I chose the Stallions organization due to proximity to our home (none of the rinks we play or practice at are more than 20 minutes away), the coaching staff and organization, and the fact that they have teams up through 14U which would give us a bit of runway at the same club should she decide to stay in the game. We were also lucky in that there were four other girls on her Mites team, three of which would move up to Squirt level with us, and hence the beginning of girl hockey friendships. It also helps not being the only girl on the team if we are evaluating the “fun” level of playing!
When it was time to move up to Squirt/10U level we again attended tryouts but hadn’t progressed enough to make a travel team and were placed on the Squirt/10U Tier III team. And then COVID hit! While we still had practices, and some games that were more like scrimmages, it was definitely an odd season. Regardless, her skills continued to improve and the following year we were placed on a Squirt/10U travel team following tryouts. This was also the season that we joined the Wilmette Junior Trevians 10U Girls team. Yes, I know Wilmette is not close to Chicago and heading to practice was sometimes an hour to hour and a half proposition, but it gave my daughter and I a chance to talk and listen to music together. We decided to join the all-girls team for several reasons: 1) The coach, Scott Peach, was super understanding about the co-ed/youth team being the girl’s 1st team, and Wilmette 2nd when it came to conflicts, 2) he’s a great coach that ran different skills drills that taught hockey sense and game concepts, and 3) she now had a chance to play on, and complete against, all girls teams. We managed to place 2nd in both NIHL and State at the Tier II 10U Girls level which is amazing considering the team was comprised of girls from 4-5 different programs who all came together to form a team. I know someone is about to ask a question about dual and double rostering, and I promise to cover that in a future post.
So here we are, a new season of tryouts is already upon us, or should say passed already for Tier I programs. We did attend tryouts for Windy City Storm and Mission and did so not believing she would make the team, but to be able to see what she needs to work on to continue her hockey journey. There are a lot of really good girl hockey players in Illinois was one of my big takeaways – and funny enough, she was talking it up with another girl at tryouts who happened to be on the team that beat us at the Girls State championships last season. Guess they are only enemies for a day it seems. Tryouts for the Peewee/12U Stallions will run in August again and we are enjoying the break between the Spring 3-on-3 season and our upcoming trip to MN for hockey camp.
More Than Practices…
It is worth mentioning that there are opportunities outside of regular practices in terms of skill development that I plan on covering in a future post. That being said, one of the most important things you can do for a young hockey player is let them have fun – if they want to play a different sport in the offseason you should encourage it (softball, basketball, soccer, etc.). The goal isn’t to build one-sport robots, and I would venture to guess that many of today’s elite and professional players were not one-sport athletes growing up. All that being said, if your young player is asking for ice time we should try to accommodate as they are asking to do what they love, not what you’re asking or telling them to do.
