The “Ice Puppys” Program is Meadowvale’s “Initiation to Hockey Program”. We’ve been at it for quite a number of years now and continually modify the program to suit our needs and the needs of the developing hockey players within our community.

Generally speaking, our program consists of 12 teams of 16 boys and girls made up of 4, 5 and 6 year olds. We would ask that your 4-year old have some background in skating (ie: having been on the ice in some form - either at various public skates, or at a Parent/Tot session with the City.

The Ice Puppy Program runs from mid-September through to the end of March. In September we will have 2 evaluation sessions in order to “start” your child at the appropriate skill level. Basically, each of our 12 teams consists of 3 lines - a Red line, a White line, and a Blue line. The Red line are the more skilled players, through to White and then Blue. Every effort is made to ensure that each child plays with and against players of his or her own skill level. Children can move up or down between colours as the year progresses, depending on his or her own development. 

The whole ice puppy program is all about fun and learning, and the coaches all work to ensure this is the main goal at all times!

The season begins in the last week of September where each team practices early Saturday morning and mid day Sunday.   For the first 6 weeks or so, we run instruction only on both Saturday and Sunday in a solidly laid out practice format.  After 6 weeks, we start our game schedule on Sundays. From this point on, Saturdays will be for practice, and Sunday will be for games.  Games are running time with buzzers every 3 minutes. This ensures that the same colour lines play against each other. (ie: Blue will play blue until the buzzer and so on.) We do not keep score as this is all for simple enjoyment.

Optionally, there is a Monday Power Skating session that is available for the players to help improve on their skating skills.

We also have one more sheet of ice that is rotated between teams throughout the year for additional instruction.

Additionally, Meadowvale runs a program for the top 6 year olds called Select 6.  The Select 6 coaches will choose 15 players and a goalie to compete against other organizations and enter a few tournaments throughout the year. 

The main purpose of the Select 6 program is to prepare the players for the Minor Novice Gold division of the following year.  They will be taught the rules of hockey including:  where to be during a face off, icing, offside, penalties and playing in a position.  All games played with Select 6  are refereed with certified referees. 

The Select 6 team will be allocated an additional sheet of ice each week to learn the game of hockey and all its rules. 

At the end of our season (around the end of March) we hold our “ALL STARS WEEKEND”. It is “all stars” because, in our program, ALL the kids are stars.

On this last Sunday of the season, we have a big day of fun, games and music, ending in our season ending banquet. We have and need many sponsors for this day and it is made possible by the many volunteers.

Our program is only as good as the volunteers that help, and we need to hear from anyone that can help, be it coaching, helping on the ice, or administratively.

Every year we have a parent’s meeting before the season starts (after our evaluation days), to introduce the coaches, talk about the program and answer any other questions.


To sign-up, please visit the “Registration” section of our website.
If you have any further questions please contact:


Ice Puppy Director – Jeff Sherman 905-826-8641
jeff.sherman@sympatico.ca

Ice Puppy Asst. Director – Steve Goertz 905-567-5894
stevegoertz@sympatico.ca

MMHA President – Lorraine Muise 905-824-2244
president@meadowvalehockey.com
 

V-P of Operations – Jim Barbour 905-824-6094
barbour@idirect.com