2023-24 12U  PROGRAM

General

The 2023-24 Casco Bay Hockey 12U Tier IV (“House”) Division is open to boys and girls with birth years of 2011 and 2012.  To be eligible for Tier IV play, the player must have completed at least one season of Casco Bay Academy’s Learn to Play program. The Learn to Play program focuses on building skills and confidence prior to joining their age division and participating in games. Players transferring from other organizations are exempt from this requirement if they have played one season of organized play in their previous organization.  All new players with no organized hockey experience must register for Casco Bay Academy.  If you have any questions related to the 12U Tier IV Program eligibility requirements or the program in general after reviewing our 12U page, please contact the Division Director, Caitlin Jordan, whose contact info is on the right side of this page.

Registration

To register, click the “2023-24 Skater Registration” link on the right side of the home page and follow the instructions. All players must register with USA Hockey and Casco Bay Hockey PRIOR to the first evaluation. Players will not be allowed onto the ice for evaluations without proof of registration. This policy will be strictly enforced. 

Casco Bay Hockey will be capping the number of players it will accept this season, with priority going to returning Casco Bay players.  After the signup deadline, we will be assessing our registrations and if there are openings, CBHA will accept new players in good standing transferring from other organizations.  However, if our registrations of returning players fill our capacity, we will notify potential transfers via email that we are full and are unable to accept their registration.

Evaluations

12U Evaluations are not yet scheduled.  They will be held in October.  Once dates and times have been scheduled, they will be published on this page and sent out to all registered players

In order to ensure that all teams are equally balanced, it is important that each player attend all of his/her evaluation sessions. Please note that these are not “try outs.” All players with accepted registrations will make a team. These evaluations are mandatory to attend.  In early October, all registered families will receive a notification of their evaluation times.  Establishing teams that are all competitive and evenly balanced is the most difficult AND most important task we must accomplish in order to make certain every team and every player has an enjoyable and successful season.

Players that are interested in playing goaltender this season must register as goaltenders so that they can be evaluated and evenly distributed among all of the teams.  In Tier IV play at the 12U level, goaltenders have the option of either skating out as a player when they are not the goalie that day or, if they are not comfortable skating as a player, they may serve as the backup goaltender.  They will not be forced to skate out as a player if they do not wish.         

Selection of Teams

After all of the evaluation sessions have been completed, the coaches will hold a team selection meeting at which time all players will be assigned their team for the 2023-24 season.  The coaches will then contact their players directly by phone or e-mail.  Please know that there is absolutely no “carryover” from last season.  If you played in Casco Bay last season, your child will not be placed on the same team with the same coach.  The upcoming season is completely independent of the prior season.  Additionally, Casco Bay does not select teams based on any regional bias.  We are a fully integrated, regional program without town distinctions. 

General Schedule of Games and Practices

Our Tier IV season runs roughly from late October through the middle of March.  Our general week for all teams will be two practices per week on Monday evenings at Casco Bay Arena and either Friday evening or Saturday morning.  Our home rinks are NYA, CBA, TIA, and FIC.  Games with other Casco Bay 12U teams will be on Sundays in the late morning or early afternoon.  Games are full ice with all traditional rules of play, including penalties, change on the fly, offsides, icing, and all required faceoffs.  There will also be Conference games with other local organizations such as Maine Evolution, Biddeford Youth Hockey, Gladiators, Nordiques, and SAM Youth Hockey. These added games will usually occur on Saturday afternoons if they are home games.  Away games will be scheduled as best suited, mostly on Saturdays.

Additionally, there will be several tournaments throughout the year, such as possibly a Christmas Holiday Casco Bay internal tournament, and a season ending Conference Tournament in February.  Also, most teams opt for one, out of town, “hotel stay” event towards the end of the season.  We will have more information on these events in November.

Goalies

Players interested in playing goal must notify the Division director of their interest prior to evaluations.  During the team selection process, the Coaches split the goaltenders evenly among all of the teams so all teams have 2 goaltenders, who rotate games evenly.  Goaltending equipment is not provided at the 12U level.

Coaching

If you are interested in coaching a Bantam team as either a head coach or an assistant, please contact Caitlin Jordan, 12U Division Director.  All Coaches must be USA Hockey certified and more information concerning that can be found in the coaching item on the menu to the left.  All registered Coaches must have all of their background checks, all specific modules, and Level certifications complete in order to be on the ice or on the bench this season!!  No exceptions.

Thank you for your interest. Feel free to contact me with any further questions. Let's have a great season!