Squirt Coaches Guide
Philosophy
As a Mini-Mite coach and then a Mite coach, I found most of our games to be pretty low key. We want
the kids to have fun first and foremost and be safe. Squirt hockey is still about fun at Edgcumbe, but it
is a little more serious. For example –
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You don’t skate with the kids during games, all coaching is done from the bench. After the
game, you still line up behind the goalie, shake hands etc.
We keep score, we have refs. More on that below, but it is important to note that refs are paid
to show up, so scheduling/re-scheduling protocol is important. Some clubs/coaches are a little
more particular than others.
The league games count toward standings that have implications for the year end tournament
(District 1 Festival).
So while Edgcumbe is always an inclusive club that is about getting kids out to have fun and learn the
game, the level of organization steps up quite a bit from Mites to Squirts.
Software
Get used to using SportNgin for lots of things. When you log into SportNgin and go to the Edgcumbe
home page, you should an Admin indicator in the upper right corner, you should also see a toggle button
that allows you to switch from Edit to User mode. If you do not see these, let the Squirt Coordinator
know so that you can have access. It will affect your ability to do other things, like send messages to
parents.
YouthHockey.com is the application used to schedule games. You’ll need it at the beginning of the
season, but not much after you get the games scheduled.
League
http://district1.pucksystems2.com/
We play in Minnesota District 1 at the Squirt C Level. Our opponents include Langford (usually 2 teams –
Blue and White), City of Lakes, DinoMights and the other Edgcumbe Squirt teams. For 2015-15 we had 4
Edgcumbe Squirt teams, for a total of 8 teams in the league. Edgcumbe tends to have home games at
either WestSide or sometimes Pleasant. Langford generally plays at Oscar Johnson arena. City of Lakes
plays at Augsburg’s arena.
Our league games consist of one home and one away game with each of the other teams. Your job as
coach will be to schedule these games (more below in the game scheduling notes). The league games
count in the standings and determine matchups in the District 1 year end Festival (tournament) in midFebruary.
Every team gets 1 point for playing a game. If you tie, you get an extra point (total of 2), if you win you
get an extra 2 points (total of 3).
You can lose your fair play point (FPP). At least one way this happens is if you are assessed more than
10 penalty minutes in a game. This could be 5 minor penalties, or it could come from one major penalty.
Scheduling Games
You are responsible for scheduling games through a system. You will select times for a home game
against each of the teams in the league and you will propose these times to the other team through
YouthHockey.com. It’s important to propose them rather than just pick a time and schedule it, so make
sure you understand how to do it.
Coaches from the other teams will propose games to you. You should end up with a total of 7 home
(your responsibility) and 7 away.
Re-Scheduling Games
If you need to re-schedule a game, let the Squirt Coordinator and the Club President know. We are
charged a $25 fee when we have to re-schedule. There is a good format for the game re-schedule
request on the District 1 web site. It suggests to include the following information –
Requesting Team:
Requesting Team Manager:
Requesting Team Manager Email:
Requesting Team Manager Phone:
Reason for Request:
Involved Team:
Involved Team Manager:
Involved Team Manager Email:
Involved Team Manager Phone:
Cancelled Game Date (mm/dd/yy):
Cancelled Game Time:
Cancelled Game Arena:
Rescheduled Game Date (mm/dd/yy):
Rescheduled Game Time:
Rescheduled Game Arena:
Outdoor Tournaments
There are a few outdoor tournaments we participate in, including the Edgcumbe Squirt tournament.
These are a lot of fun. Be cognizant of the weekends when scheduling league games. While some
teams from our league also participate in these tournaments, these games do not count toward league
standings.
Scorebook/game clock
You’ll need to recruit parents to help keep score in the official book and also to run the game clock.
Generally the home team runs the clock and the away team keeps the score book.
Stickers - The score book is a 4-part NCR form. It’s a pain to write down the roster for each team while
making sure you press hard enough to get through all 4 pages. The solution is stickers. There is a
template on the Edgcumbe Website. For each game you need a sticker for each sheet. You’ll also need
your CEP # as coach, and you will sign the score sheet for every game.
A complete scorebook sheet looks like this (this is the yellow copy obviously). Note the stickers
Note from District 1 Scoring Coordinator -
It is important to follow scoring procedures. After game completion, the home team is responsible for
submitting the score within 48 hours. Please email all scores and a scan of the score sheet to
[email protected]
A hard copy of the score sheet should be mailed to:
Tom Mickus, 700 Parkview Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55117. Please mail the score sheets in w2 week
intervals.
Forms
You are supposed to carry a copy of the consent to treat form with you for each player on your team. If
the parents aren’t in attendance to provide consent, you need to have the form in order for the player
to be treated.
You are also supposed to carry a copy of the USA Hockey approved roster. You should be able to access
this roster from the team screen in your USA Hockey registry.
For tournaments outside of the city (Saint Mary’s Point for example), the tournament hosts did expect
us to have these forms in hand.
Year End Festival (tournament)
The schedule apparently follows the same organization each year. All games are at Northeast Ice Arena
– 1306 Central Avenue, NE, Minneapolis
I had a hard time getting any information about the schedule for 2016. Actual game times weren’t
posted until Wednesday, games started on Friday. That doesn’t give parents much time to plan. Here is
the 2016 schedule as reference.
Squirt Bracket
Friday, 16 February, 2016
5:30 PM
Squirt Game 1
6:40 PM
Squirt Game 2
7:50 PM
Squirt Game 3
9:00 PM
Squirt Game 4
Saturday, 17 February
10:30 AM Squirt Game 5
12:00 PM Squirt Game 6
4:00 PM
Squirt Game 7
5:15 PM
Squirt Game 8
(1) vs. (8)
(4) vs. (5)
(3) vs. (6)
(2) vs. (7)
Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser
Game 3 Loser vs. Game 4 Loser
Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner
Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner
Sunday, 18 February
8:00 AM
Squirt Game 9 - 7th Place Game 5 Loser vs. Game 6 Loser
10:30 AM Squirt Game 10 - Consolation Champions Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner
1:15 PM
Squirt Game 11 - 3rd Place Game 7 Loser vs. Game 8 Loser
4:00 PM
Squirt Game 12 - Championship Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner
Game Socks
All players new to Squirts (Mites moving up, or new to our club) receive a set of game socks (1 pair of
white and 1 pair of green). You will be responsible for distributing these to the appropriate players.
Goalie Position
In Mites, lots of kids want to play goal, and the equipment tends to rotate around. I would encourage
you to find out who is interested in playing goal early in the season. Let each of the interested players
try out the gear for a practice or two. Some may want to continue, some may not. It’s fine to rotate
through a couple of kids playing goal, but you don’t want someone learning to play goalie at the end of
the season in league games. The other kids on the team want to play competitively too.
Other random things
Safety - Kids shouldn’t go on the ice until a ref (game) or a coach (practice) is on the ice.
Puck bucket - You should have a puck bucket, Edgcumbe will provide it, with pucks.
Absences - Encourage parents to let you know if their child is not going to make a game. 7 skaters and a
goalie is a lot of ice time for squirt age kids.
Reminder email - Some parents look at the calendar on the web site, some look at the calendar on Sport
Ngin. It can be useful to spend a few minutes on Sunday evening and send out a reminder email to the
parents on your team with the upcoming ice time for the week as well as any reminders, like
volunteering for flooding.
Game pucks – the home team provides two game pucks to the refs. Pick two while the kids are warming
up so you don’t have to scramble and find them right in the middle of your team doing their cheer.
Birth certificates – Parents will often bring them to practice and hand them to you expecting you to get
them to our club president. I found it easiest to take a picture of it with my phone and email it in.