Patriots/Maulers Partnership

We are excited to announce a partnership with the Maulers hockey program begining Fall 2013 to once again offer competitive travel hockey out of the RecPlex. As a result of the limited available ice at Rinkside Sports the Maulers haven't been able to maximize their growth potential in recent years. By working together, our two house programs (which remain seperate) can now feed into one travel pipeline that calls Rinkside Sports & RecPlex "Home." With three sheets of ice to work with and over 250+ kids in our house programs, the growth possibilities for highly competitive travel hockey teams is substantial.

http://www.maulershockey.com/

Maulers Background Information

The Maulers are a Tier II A/AA organization offering teams at the Mite, Squirt, Peewee & Bantam levels and currently compete in the Northern Illinois Hockey League (NIHL): http://www.nihl.info. NIHL is a Tier II level youth hockey league consisting of over 30 club level organizations from Illinois, Northern Indiana and Southeastern Wisconsin. Teams are registered according to USA Hockey age classifications starting at the Mite level through the Bantam level. Within each age level NIHL is further subdivided into metallic levels based on team skill level. Teams participate in a seeding round at the beginning of each season to determine which metalic level they will participate at.

Format

• Our teams will be on the ice 3-4 times per week for practice, skills and games beginning immediately after tryouts (early September). One slot is specifically designated for power skating/skill development.
• Skill focussed training every other week at Beyond the Edge (formerly Puckmasters) for all teams.
• All age groups will utilize ice slots at both facilities. Initial plans are that the majority of weeknight ice will be at RecPlex. However, this information is subject to change based on final registration numbers.
• Initial thoughts are that we will have 1 mite, 3 squirt, 2 peewee and 2 bantam teams for the 2013-2014 season. Please note that Wisconsin residents are not eligible to participate at the mite level due to new NIHL rules.
• Maulers fees are all-inclusive (no hidden fees or substantial volunteer requirements). Teams that opt to participate in additional tournaments will have to fundraise or pay additional fees toward those extra tournaments.  It should be noted that two tournaments are included in the base fees.
• Most teams come very close to reaching their maximum game counts (as suggested by USA Hockey - see below).

USA Hockey Age Classifications

For the 2012-2013 season, the age divisions are as follows:

Mite: Born in 2005-2006
Squirt: Born in 2003-2004
PeeWee: Born in 2001-2002
Bantam: Born in 2000-1999

Game Limits

Games will be made up of league play, tournaments and practice games. Travel teams typically participate in two to three tournaments, with at least one tournament out of town. Teams may also play in league playoffs.

Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois (AHAI) is the governing body of Illinois amateur hockey under USA Hockey. AHAI has announced a limit on the number of games (regular, practice and tournament) allowed to be played by each team. This is an effort to increase the ratio of practices to games in order to foster player development.

 

Note that these limits do not apply to end-of-season state and NIHL playoffs (Blackhawk Cup and Wolves Cup, respectively).