AHC's Hockey Program Progression

This page provides information on how the Arlington Hockey Club's programs are organized for the 2025/2026 Season, beginning with the Instructional and Developmental Programs, and leading into our Intercity and Girls Travel Programs.

These programs offer opportunities for kids to learn and play youth hockey with practices primarily at Ed Burns Arena in Arlington and games throughout the greater Boston area. Within the travel programs, teams are organized according to age (birth year) and skill level. Accordingly, kids born in the following years would be placed in the associated program: 

2017 and 2018 (Mite Program)

2015 and 2016 (Squirt and Girls U10 Programs)

2013 and 2014 (Peewee and Girls U12 Programs)

2011 and 2012 (Bantam and Girls U14 Programs)

For the 2025/ 2026 season, Mite tryouts will be in early April, while tryouts for the Squirts, Peewees, and Bantams will be likely be a week or two later, depending on how many players register.  It is intended that all registered players will be placed on a team or given some opportunity to play. The goal of tryouts is to place players on teams that are most appropriate for their current abilities, giving them the opportunity to be challenged, compete, and learn hockey in the most effective way possible.

Tryouts usually consist of 1-3 hours for each program, depending on the number of registered players. At tryouts, players engage in a variety of drills specifically designed to test their (age appropriate) abilities. These usually include a series of skating, stick handling, passing, and shooting drills. They also play in games to assess their game performance. Tryouts are evaluated by 3-5 experienced, certified coaches, which usually includes the coach of the AAA-team at the level, with the majority of evaluators not related to players in the tryout. Each evaluator scores players at each hour in multiple categories related to their skills for each hour of tryouts. Software is used to help normalize and aggregate scores for each player, which provides the initial basis for the players placement on a team. Other considerations are reviews from previous coaches and any special needs for players. Friendships among players and carpooling requests are generally not considerations for player placement.

Following tryouts, the season will start in September 2025 and run through April 2026. The AHC follows USA Hockey's American Development Model (ADM) for player development.

If you have questions, please contact Bruce Newell (ahfscregistrar@gmail.com). 

We look forward to seeing you at the rink!!