BGHC HOUSE LEAGUE PROGRAM

The Halton Local League is Coming!

The Oakville Hornets, Burlington Barracudas, and North Halton Twisters will be introducing an exciting new House League concept for the 2025-26 season – a Halton Local League!!

In a local league, house league teams from all three organizations will play games against each other in a regularly-scheduled loop. Games will be scheduled on weekends and played in Burlington, Oakville, and Milton. Teams will continue to practice in their own municipality as they do now.

At the end of the regular season, teams will be tiered based on their standings to ensure everyone has a chance for exciting and meaningful playoffs culminating in a championship weekend at the end of March.

This new concept will allow for greater variety in games and permit all three organizations to host strong teams that will have a great season while still keeping travel to reasonably short distances.

More details will be coming soon. We look forward to having an exciting inaugural season of the Halton Local League!

QUESTIONS ??

The BGHC has TWO House League Directors.  Should you have any questions, please first look for an answer on this page or on the other House League pages in this section of our website.  If you do not find your answer, reach out to one of our House League Directors.  Their contact information can be found HERE.

THE BGHC HOUSE LEAGUE PROGRAM

The BGHC offers a house league program to girls aged 4 through 19. The season begins with House League Assessment Skates and a House League Day in September where players pick up jerseys and meet the coach.  Practices and games begin the last week in September and the season culminates in late March with a House League Championship weekend in which all teams participate.

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 schedule is focused on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.   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.

The number of teams each season depends on registration.  We anticipate eight teams at U9 and four 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.

Teams are encouraged to participate in up to two tournaments - one local and one overnight - during the season to give players the opportunity to play different teams and bond together as a team. Tournament entry fees and hotel costs are not included in registration fees but will be collected separately by the team.

AGE CATEGORIES

(designated by birth year)

ONLINE REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT

Registration for the 2025-2026 season OPENS at 12:01 AM on Tuesday May 6, 2025.  Register EARLY to avoid disappointment.  Please click HERE to access the House League Registration Page with details of our fees and our Refund Policy.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  FIRST TIME HOCKEY REGISTRANTS - The OWHA requires that each player has a Hockey Canada Registry ID (HCR#) PRIOR TO registering. Within the RAMP registration you will be directed to create this number.  Questions about the HCR# are to be directed to the OWHA Registrar at [email protected] - the BGHC is not involved in this process and cannot assist with this. 

Previously registered players should have a HCR# already in their profile - if not, follow the link within RAMP to find the number.
 

NON RESIDENTS - Non residents of the City of Burlington can register to the U11 through U18 age categories ONLY, not to the U9 age category.  In accordance with the BGHC's Hockey Operations Policy, Burlington resident players have priority for registrations completed up to and including June 30, 2025.  If the BGHC is not able to accommodate a non-resident registration due to capacity limits, the registration will be refunded IN FULL with no administration fee. 

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 are directed to the Hockey Canada website for full details of the specifics related to required equipment. You can also refer to the Hockey Canada Equipment Poster.

In general, parents needs to supply:

1.  CSA certified hockey helmet with attached CSA certified facial protector
2.  BNQ certified throat protector
3.  mouthguard
4.  shoulder pads
5.  elbow pads
6.  pelvic protector
7.  wrist pads
8.  hockey pants
9.  shin pads
10. hockey gloves
11. stick

BACK-TO-HOCKEY/ PLAYER ASSESSMENT DATES/TIMES

 

U9 -TBD

U11 -TBD

U13 -TBD

U15 - TBD

ARENAS USED

(click for location)

Aldershot Arena
Appleby Ice Centre
Central Recreation Centre
Mainway Recreation Centre
Mountainside Recreation Centre
Nelson Recreation Centre
Skyway Arena

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE FOR THE 2025-26 SEASON

NOTES: 

1.  All of the times below are subject to change.  

2.  With the new Local League for U11 through U18, game times for out-of-town games will be on the weekend, but we do not currently have details as to the days and times. Oakville home games are expected to be at Canlan Ice Sports in Oakville and North Halton home games are expected to be at Sherwood Arena in Milton. Burlington HOME games will follow the anticipated schedule below.

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.

AGE CATEGORY	PRACTICE TIMES (Game 1 for U18)	GAME TIMES (Game 2 for U18)
U18	Tuesday at Mountainside 8:30 PM or 9:30 PM	Sunday at Central  4 PM or 5 PM
U15	Friday at Mainway  8 PM or 9 PM	Saturday at Mainway 11 AM or 12 Noon
U13	Friday at Mainway 5 PM/ 6 PM or 7 PM OR Friday at Mainway at 6:30 AM (approximately once every 4 weeks)	Saturday at Mainway 9 AM or 10 AM
U11	Friday at Mainway 5 PM/ 6 PM or 7 PM OR Friday at Mainway at 6:30 AM (approximately once every 4 weeks)	Sunday at Mountainside 12 noon or 1 PM
U9	Saturday at Aldershot 1 PM / 2 PM / 3 PM or 4 PM	Sunday at Central 8 AM / 9 AM / 10 AM or 11 AM
U7	Saturday at Appleby 9 AM / 10 AM or 11 AM	Sunday at Mountainside 8 AM / 9 AM or 10 AM

 

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 and the Halton Local League calendar is finalized.  

1. Thanksgiving Weekend
2. Christmas break  
3. March Break

HALTON LOCAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND

This is anticipated to be scheduled for the last weekend of March. It is expected that all teams will play Saturday with teams that win advancing to play Sunday.