Parents and players,

Tryout season has begun with the U13AAA level, and we are gearing up to kick things off for the rest of our competitive divisions beginning on September 28th, 2024.  The purpose of this email is to provide relevant information as it relates to schedule, process, and expectations for our competitive levels.

This year we have approximately 440 players registered to try out within the U11/13/15/18 divisions to represent our competitive teams. 

This year BDMHA has appointed tryout out coordinators, Dave Thibeau (U11), Nick Yuill (U13), Todd Shupe (U15) and Terry Yuill (U18). They will report into the try out committee and are assigned a division. The coordinators will primarily work with the evaluators to ensure they are set up and supported to allow them to focus on assessing the players. They will also be the representative during discussions with the evaluators post sessions to ensure updates are provided to Matt Oxford for communication out to the members as well as troubleshoot off ice items that come up day of within the assigned division. 

BDMHA will be utilizing external evaluators to assess all players each session. There may be a case where we use internal resources that have the skill set to perform evaluations and do not have a direct conflict within the division. No evaluators external or internal will have a direct relationship to the players trying out to ensure the integrity of the process. Evaluators will utilize a new software tool through GrayJay to mark scores and notes on the criteria set out by our Hockey Development Professional. Access to the GrayJay evaluation tool will be limited throughout the entire process with Matt Oxford and Nick Yuill being the only ones with full administrator rights. 

Schedule and Process:

What can players and parents expect this year? All registered players for U11/13/15/18 are guaranteed two ice times which will begin on Saturday, September 28th. Scheduled ice times can be found on their respectivie divisional tryout pages. Any changes or updates to the schedule will be posted on the BDMHA website. 

Draft flow charts which outline the stages that BDMHA will follow for each division during tryouts can be found under the try out section of the website under each division. Final flow charts and groupings for each division and ice times will be released Tuesday, September 24th.

• U11-AA/A/B Tryouts
• U13-AA/A/B Tryouts
• U15-AA/A/B Tryouts
• U18-AA/A Tryouts

It is our goal to make this process as efficient as possible.  There are a lot of moving parts requiring a lot of coordination on behalf of staff and volunteers to ensure we take the right amount of time to place kids where they will thrive and exceed this season.  Our goal is to update and post lists as quickly as possible.  As a rule, we do NOT post lists during the school day. 

***U18*** schedule will be posted at a later date.  This is due to CPA and West Bedford holding their tryouts currently although they are expected to conclude by September 28th.   The U18 schedule and process document will be posted at least 1 week prior to any planned session.  

Coaches:

The Coaching Committee has met to initially review applications.  As we get further along in the try out process, we will start to look at coaches at each division and level and will be in contact as soon as reasonably possible. Given the majority of the coaches will be parent coaches across these teams we will not finalize those decisions until players have been assigned a level/group and our volunteer coaches are able to confirm commitment.

We look forward to a great season ahead and creating a great culture on and off the ice for all players and parents. 

Bedford Minor Hockey Association