Reply To: Diary of a Season 2012-13

I was just putting our practice schedule into my phone. I was wondering where a few of the arenas are so I looked up the webiste for Calgary Arenas. http://www.hockeycalgary.ca/arena I count 66 indoor hockey rinks. We have at least three times that many outdoor rinks. Wow.

Our tryout week starts tonight. Two 90 minute ice times run by other coaches while we watch. The players are in 4 teams of about 15 and practice together and scrimmage while we evaluate. Sun, Mon. Tues, Fri. Sat and a prospect game on Sunday followed by a draft.

We are going from 3 teams to 2 so after the second practice we have a dispersal draft of the defunct teams players and will pick up 5 each. After Tuesdays practice we turn in the names of 6-8 skaters from our last years team along with those new players picked up in the dispersal draft. We have 6 returning skaters and 2 returning goalies but can protect only one.

Players are chosen for the Prospect Game on Sunday night followed by a draft. Draft order is by lottery. The draft goes 1-2, 2-1, 1-2, 2-1, 1-2 and then if one team protected less players than the other they chose one or two players and then the draft continues with the other team. We then get 30 minutes right after the draft to make trades

We chose 20 skaters and 3 goalies who try out (along with 2 affiliate players who don't try out). We have to cut down to 17 skaters and 2 goalies after that.

So the next week is to try to make sure that the players who deserve to make this level are selected. This is their Jr. A as they go to university right out of this league. In boy's hockey the players usually play a few years of junior first.