Welcome to the 2023 U13AAA Tryouts!

We wish every player all the best on their hockey journey this season.

• For a description of the 5 Stage process and view the process flow chart, click [Here]
• To view the tryout schedule, click [Here]

Below you'll find the groupings for Stages 1 & 2. 

NOTE: Players will be assigned a jersey colour and number on Friday at check in. Players will retain this jersey until their final session on Saturday, September 16th. At that time, some players will be released and new lists will be posted for the sessions on September 17th. There will be new teams and new colours thus we will collect the jerseys at the end all subsequent sessions AFTER wrapping play on the 16th.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15TH GROUPS:

Dear Players & Parents,

Welcome to the 2023-2024 Competitive Level Hockey Tryouts. BDMHA is looking forward to another great season of hockey, camaraderie and fair competition. 

• The full tryout schedule can be found [Here]
• BDMHA's Competitive Team Tryout/Player Selection Information Guide can be found [Here]

NOTE: Only groups for U13AAA have been posted. All other division groupings closer to their tryout date.

Good luck to everyone during evaluations. Try your best to relax and remember to always work hard!

Brian Furdas

Vice President of Competitive Hockey

The BDMHA Coaching Selection Process is underway. This past weekend, the VP of Competitive, Brian Furdas, sent out emails to those interested in being Head Coach for U13AAA in order to set up interviews with the Committee. This part of the process was outlined in an email to the association on July 28^th and posted to the website on the same day (click here). 

To date, no other division has been contacted. The reason we started with U13AAA is that this will be the first evaluation that starts on September 15^th.

No coach selection decisions have been made at this time. 

The plan is to interview coaches for the highest levels - U11AA, U13AAA & potentially U13AA, U15AA, U18AA. The plan is still to have some discussions with those who identified themselves as possible Head Coaches. As you can appreciate we do not plan to have discussions with everyone that applied to be an Assistant Coach, however, if we do have a need for more Head Coaches moving forward we may have to have some discussions with some who have applied as an Assistant.

If you have any questions or concerns please reach out to me.

Sincerely, 

Ken Lenihan, VP Operations 

Attention members, 

BDMHA has booked some additional conditioning camp sessions (2-3) in September for U11, U13, U15, and U18 age groups as we head into competitive team tryouts. 

Registration closes on Tuesday, August 29, 11:59 pm

Cost

• $50 - Skaters (U11, U13, U15 - 2 x 1 hour sessions)
• $25 - Goalies (U11, U13, U15 - 2 x 1 hour sessions)
• $112.50 - Skaters (U18 - 3 x 1.5 hour sessions)
• $56.25 - Goalies (U18 - 3 x 1.5 hour sessions)

Schedule below or HERE - listed on the September Schedule tab. NOTE - U18 Group 2 has been removed due to insufficient regisdtration numbers

Register HERE

Dear Players & Parents,

Welcome to the 2023-2024 Competitive Level Hockey Tryouts. BDMHA is looking forward to another great season of hockey, camaraderie and fair competition.

BDMHA's Competitive Team Tryout/Player Selection Information Guide can be found [Here]

The document is not new and has been used in prior seasons. We are sharing as a guide to the overall historic process at BDMHA. We have hosted a series of coach and manager sessions to gain some feedback into how best to make any necessary tweaks going forward. The discussions were based on what we should keep doing, start doing and stop doing.  A number of those elements will be incorporated into this seasons evaluation and others are more mid-term planning in nature to incorporate at next season’s. Everyone is invested in continuous improvement and trying to make things as smooth as possible. We appreciate your patience and understanding and would be happy to discuss any issues anytime.

At this time we plan the following:

• U11 – our goal is to have 6 competitive teams again this year as was the case the last several seasons.
• U13 – 7 teams were iced in 2022-2023 and 6 in 2021-2022.  The final number and mix will depend on final registration numbers, player movements, player capabilities, and development philosophy.
• U15 - 6 teams were iced in both 2022-2023 and 2021-2022.  Some results last year would indicate a fresh look at number of teams and/or level mix.  Again, this is dependent on final registration numbers, player movements, player capabilities and development philosophy.
• U18 – A number of factors for consideration annually at this level. Competing programs (ex High School, U16AAA minor), along with divergent priorities ex part-time jobs, make this planning slightly more fluid.  

Our fall tryout schedule is starting on September 15^th with our U13AAA group. The schedules will be posted on a global document and we will post schedules on each divisional page as well. The schedules are posted in advance and any final changes will be posted by September 8th. All other related tryout materials and information will be posted to the association’s web site by September 8^th (7 days before tryouts commence). Any changes would relate to assessing the number of teams, or team mix and would be communicated at that time, if necessary.

Before COVID-19, we held our Spring ID sessions and players were assigned to groups 1, 2, 3, 4 at the conclusion of these spring sessions. These groupings were established to streamline the fall evaluation process.  Due to COVID-19, and other factors beyond our control, we have been unable to host our spring ID sessions for the last few seasons. These Spring ID sessions resulted in players being ranked into groups 1, 2, 3, 4 with group 1 being the top group and so on.  For the upcoming season, all initial groups will be balanced. There will be skills/battle/tactical game application sessions, then intersquad sessions with several groups (as registration numbers dictate). After these sessions, there will be a resorting of groups from, for example, 4 balanced groups to 3, ranked groups, for example, A1, A2, A3 (or some other label).

At the U15 level, we usually have some (approx. 20+/- last 2 seasons) players who have opted to play non-contact hockey but wish to try out for competitive as well.  These players, essentially, are trying out for one of our B-level teams as the B league is non-contact. We may have to make some scheduling tweaks at the U15 level given this factor as these players cannot participate in contact intersquad games as they didn’t complete the checking clinic.

As for the overall schedule, Hockey Nova Scotia has established their “Seasonal Structure Chart” for the 2023-2024 season which can be found on their web site. At this time, they have established that U13AAA, U15AA and U18AA can commence tryouts on September 15^th with all other levels commencing on September 22^nd. They have also established that league play starts on October 14^th. Our plan would be to start each level as early as allowable. Other factors at play are potential conflicts with U15Major tryouts, U16AAA and High School with these impacting the timing of commencing and completing U15 and U18 competitive tryouts.

Good luck to everyone during evaluations. Try your best to relax and remember to always work hard!

Brian Furdas

Vice President of Competitive Hockey

Bedford and District Minor Hockey Association

The following flow chart demonstrates the tryout process for U13AAA for the 2023/24 season. Tryouts will begin September 15th, 2023.