Welcome to the 2023-24 Hockey Season Evaluations!
Hello players & families of Whitemud West. I hope this letter finds you well and growing with excitement for the upcoming hockey season. As the VP of Evaluations for Whitemud West Hockey Association, I am thrilled to extend a warm welcome to all players and families as we gear up for another great year of minor hockey!
The goal of the Whitemud West Player Evaluation Process in the U9, U11, and U13 categories is to be the best hockey association for player development and placement. This starts by fairly and consistently evaluating players for the purpose of ensuring that they are placed appropriately to enjoy all aspects of the game. The intent is to maximize the player’s ability to develop, compete, contribute, and succeed by playing with peers of equal strength and ability. This will be achieved through a consistent evaluation process that is open, transparent, fair, and objective.
We understand the significance of these evaluations to players and their families, and we are committed to ensuring a fair and transparent evaluation process. Our goal is to create an environment that allows players to showcase their skills, sportsmanship, and teamwork. To provide you with a clear understanding of the evaluation process, allow me to outline what you can expect:
Independent Third-Party Evaluators:
To assess players and goalies, Whitemud West has engaged a third-party evaluator. For the 2023-24 season, we are introducing an electronic evaluation platform. Evaluators will utilize electronic devices such as mobile phones or tablets to record player evaluation scores. Goalies will be evaluated by a dedicated third-party goalie evaluator.
Seeding Skate:
The evaluation process begins with a seeding skate, which consists of timed drills that will evaluate the players forward and backward skating abilities. Players will then be ranked based on their timing assessment and will be grouped according to their skating skills. This step ensures that players of similar skating abilities compete against each other in the subsequent scrimmages, allowing for fair and meaningful assessments.
Scrimmages:
Following the seeding skate, players will be grouped based on their results and will participate in two scrimmage games. After the first scrimmage is played, players will be adjusted into new groups for their second scrimmage based on their evaluation results. These scrimmages provide an excellent opportunity for players to showcase their skills, teamwork, and understanding of the game. It’s important to approach these scrimmages with a positive and sportsmanlike attitude, as they play a pivotal role in determining team compositions. In the U9 age group, positions will not be assigned to players. For U11, players will be assigned a position for each shift by the bench-lead. The player is expected to play the position they are assigned for that respective shift. The shift rotation process ensures players have equal amount of playing time and shifts at each position. New this year, for U13, players were asked to specify their preferred position during registration. The position selected at the time of registration will be used to group the players in our digital evaluation platform. Players will still rotate through forward and defence during the scrimmages, however evaluators will be assessing players based on their preferred position and will take this into account while performing their evaluations.
Team Formation:
Upon the completion of the scrimmages, our evaluation team will carefully analyze each player’s performance. Teams will be formed based on the evaluation results from the seeding skate and scrimmages. Our goal is to create balanced and competitive teams that will enhance each player’s development and enjoyment of the sport.
Evaluation dates have now been posted. Times and skate groups will be posted to the website at the beginning of September. Please ensure all registration requirements are completed by September 5th or players will not be allowed on the ice for evaluations. For more information on evaluation scoring and timing skate drills, please see our Evaluation Scoring & Goalie Evaluation pages for further detail.
We recognize the anticipation and excitement that this process brings, as well as the potential challenges that it may pose. Whitemud West is committed to supporting both players and their families throughout this journey. We believe that the experience gained during the evaluation process is invaluable and contributes to each player’s growth on and off the ice.
Thank you for being part of our hockey community, and for your commitment to fostering a positive environment for our players. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out. We wish each player the best of luck during the evaluations and hope you all have a fantastic hockey season!
Claudio Virga
VP Evaluations