AHC's Hockey Program Progression

This page provides information on how the Arlington Hockey Club's programs are organized for the 2026/ 2027 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: 

2018 and 2019 (Mite Program)

2016 and 2017 (Squirt and Girls U10 Programs)

2014 and 2015 (Peewee and Girls U12 Programs)

2012 and 2013 (Bantam and Girls U14 Programs)

For the 2026/ 2027 season, tryouts were held in April. 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 how many players register. 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 not considerations for player placement.

Following tryouts, the season will start in September 2026 and run through April 2027. Most AHC Intercity Travel games are not played in Arlington because the Valley Hockey League would not accept the available ice times that Arlington Recreation offered the league for games. MYCGL Girls Travel games are sometimes played in Arlington, as well as AHC Winter Classic games, and periodically State Tournament District Playdown games.

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!!