The Development Stream (DS) is a subset of the House League Program, offering an enhanced opportunity for players who are looking for more development and an option to play more hockey with the potential to stream toward competitive hockey in the future. It is also ideal for House League players that are not interested in making the commitment of playing competitive hockey, but are looking for more than the House League program offers.
DS teams are permitted to roster up to 25 players; however, only 17 players are able to play in any given game or tournament. Players are expected to play in at least one of the out-of-town tournaments and a portion of the exhibition games.
U11 : 2014 & 2015
U13 : 2012 & 2013
U15 : 2010 & 2011
* Age as of December 31st
Due to the popularity of this program, tryouts are necessary and usually take place in late November.
Generally, DS practices will be scheduled once a week on the weekend and will not be scheduled at the same time as house league ice. DS teams may also be assigned practices occasionally on weeknights depending on ice availability. The teams will practice on a regular basis and operate separately from the house league teams. There are no league games for DS.
Some of the DS tournaments that the NGHA typically participates in are held as follows: between Christmas and New Year’s, Family Day weekend, March Break, and at Easter time. U13, U15 and U18 DS teams are permitted to play in a maximum of 3 tournaments and 8 exhibition games against other DS teams.
Please note: A player’s house league team is their first priority. Players are required to fully participate with their house league team if they wish to play DS.
Team fees for DS will be communicated to parents ahead of the tryouts so that they can be fully informed before making a decision to participate. It should be noted that tournament registration fees are outside of the team budget, so only the players who are participating in the tournaments are responsible to pay a portion of the registration fee. Additional expenses, such as hotels, food, etc., are the family’s responsibility as per usual.
