General Information (Barracudas - Burlington Girls Hockey Club)

Great to see so many familiar faces and to be joined by some new Cudas this year.
Huge thanks to Celina Clark and her development team as well as Sherry Beard and Justin Cloutier and some U15AA volunteers for running some fun and exciting sessions. Also thank you to the HL Head Coaches who were able to join for the evaluations. We really appreciate all our volunteers!!

BGHC HOUSE LEAGUE PROGRAM 2023-24
General Information

The BGHC offers a house league program to girls aged 4 through 19. This year, the season begins with House League Assessment Skates on September 9 + 10 and a House League Day on September 16th 2022 where players pick up jerseys and meet the coach.  Practices and games will begin the September 29/30 weekend and culminates in late March/early April with a House League Championship weekend in which all teams participate and all girls leave with a medal.

Girls with no hockey experience are welcome at any stage in our program.  

House league teams are always on the ice with another team, whether it be a practice or a game.  There is an attempt at approximately one practice and one game per week for age groups up to and including U15.  Our U18 girls do not practice, but rather play two times every week.  This excludes holiday breaks and weekends where teams are participating in tournaments.

Our house league program is focused on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as this is when the BGHC has the vast majority of its ice - which is allocated to us by the City of Burlington.  Girls at the U11-U13 age division do have occasional 6 AM practices.

For registration, please go to our Registration page where you will find more details about the registration process, deadlines, fees and payment options.

AGE CATEGORY U- DESIGNATIONS
(designated by birth year)

Equipment Required

The BGHC supplies each house league player with a house league jersey and socks.  Goalie equipment can be provided on loan for the season if required.

Parents need to provide:

• CSA approved helmet with full face cage or shield
• Neck Guard (BNQ certified)
• Mouth guard(optional, strongly recommended)
• Shoulder Pads
• Elbow Pads
• Jill
• Garter Belt/Shorts with Velcro (to hold up socks)
• Hockey Pants
• Shin Guard
• Skates
• Gloves
• Stick

Other equipment to consider:

• Hockey Bag
• Stick tape
• Sock tape
• Pony tail elastics or head scarf
• Light long sleeved tshirt and pants to wear underneath equipment

Specifics

Girls can join the house league program at any age and with any amount of hockey experience.  No prior skating experience is required.

The number of teams each season depends on registration.  We anticipate four teams at U9, six teams at each of U11, U13, U15 and U18.  Girls are placed on teams based on prior season coach ratings together with NEW player ratings assigned during "Back-to-Hockey" days in September.  The goal is to achieve balanced teams while also honoring, to the extent possible, "Friend Requests" for 1 friend per girl ONLY IF that request is reciprocated.  We do not entertain requests for coaches.  Friend requests are made during the online registration process.

For the 2023-24 season Jana Harrigan and Becky Keller with be providing on-ice sessions for all House League players to further their development.

Assessment Dates/Times:

U11 - Sep 9 12-1pm and 1-2pm - Mainway

U15 - Sep 9 6-7pm and 7-8pm - Central

U9 - Sep 10 12-1pm and 1-2pm - Mainway

U13 - Sep 10 6-7pm and 7-8pm - Central

Goalies - BGHC House League Puck Stoppers Program

The BGHC is a strong supporter of Goalie development and training. We want our Tendies to feel safe, prepared, and to develop their skills as much as their love of the game.  Stepping into the net is not for the faint of heart and our brave athletes deserve an extra pat on the back to help them achieve their goals and succeed on the ice.

All Goalies register for FREE at all House League Levels! In addition, our official BGHC Goalie Development Coach, EJ Milne-Price, will be providing House League Goalie sessions once per week from September through November, as organized by the league.  



Fees for the 2023-24 season:

Age Category	Regular Fee	Early Bird
U18	$950	$950
U15	$750	$700
U13	$750	$700
U11	$750	$700
U9	$750	$700
IP2 (Grow the Game)	FREE	FREE
IP1 (Grow the Game)	FREE	FREE

 

Games and practices are held in Burlington at:
Appleby Ice Centre
Mainway Recreation Centre
Central Recreation Centre
Mountainside Recreation Centre

The girls will typically practice once a week on shared ice with another team from their division and play a game once a week.  There are weeks where our ice is not available due to other associations holding tournaments.  In these weeks, there will be no practices and/or no games depending on what ice is available to us.  Our house league teams will participate in tournaments as well.  Practices and/or games otherwise scheduled for weekends when a tournament is booked may or may not be made up depending on available ice.

Tentative Schedule for the 2023-24 season:

Division	Practice	Game
U9	Saturday 4 pm or 5 pm	Sunday 8 am or 9 am
U11	Friday 5 pm or 6 pm *may include 6am	Sunday 8 am or 9 am
U13	Friday 6:30 or 7:30pm *may include 6am	Saturday 8:30 am or 9:30 am
U15	Friday 7 pm or 8 pm	Saturday 10:30 am or 11:30 am
U18	GAME #1 Wednesday 8:30 pm or 9:30 pm	GAME #2 Sunday 4 pm or 5 pm

NOTES  

1.  Ice days and/or times for the first few weeks may be inconsistent with the rest of the season as certain arenas open later than others.

2.  WHY 6 AM ICE TIMES?  There is no other ice available to fit our programming if we do not use these ice times.  We are required, by contract with the City of Burlington, to purchase a minimum number of hours of ice and there is not sufficient ice pad inventory in Burlington to allow all of those hours to be in the evenings.  All other Youth ice users in Burlington also use ice at 6 AM for their programs.  This is standard throughout hockey in general.  The same reasoning applies as to WHY 5 PM ICE TIMES? and WHY LATE EVENING ICE TIMES?.  With the number of hours of ice available in Burlington and the number of Ice Users, demand exceeds availability.  Therefore, all ice users receive a share of all ice times, including "desirable" and "less desirable" times.  We all have frequent 6 AM, 5 PM and late evening weekday ice.  Compared to many other municipalities, our ice times are in fact far more reasonable.  In many municipalities, teams get much less ice overall or settle for ice at 10 PM or even later at ages as young as U13.  
3.  U18 house league will play 2 games every week this year.

BREAKS

At the moment it is planned that there will be no hockey at the following times.  This is subject to review as the season approaches.  

1. Thanksgiving Weekend
2. Christmas break - HL programming to resume the last weekend of Christmas Break
3. March Break

HOUSE LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND

This is scheduled for the first weekend of April and will be a 2-day event with all teams playing Saturday and the "semi-final" winners advancing to GOLD MEDAL games on Sunday.

REFUND POLICY – 2023-2024 Season

Once registered for House League and Rep teams, members have 24 hours to request a refund by email ([email protected]) if they no longer wish to participate. For House League and the Rep program, there will be a $100 administrative fee per withdrawing player if a request is submitted within 24 hours of registration. No refunds will be administered after 24 hours from the time of registration unless the 2023-2024 season ends prematurely due to unforeseen circumstances.

 

PAYMENT

The BGHC only accepts credit card payments for all registrations. This allows any refunds to be issued in an expedited manner. Payments will be made through the RAMP registration system.