Season registration opens in the autumn. Registration is easy and can be completed online! Just click the big red "Registration" button near the menu at the top of our website and choose the program you want to register for. In addition to the registering for the regular hockey season - this is where you'll find registration options for skills camps and clinics available in the spring, summer when those registration periods open.

Learn to Play (Initiation) is for new skaters ages 4 & up

Red/White/Blue (Mites): 7 - 8 years

Squirts: 9 - 10 years

PeeWees: 11 - 12 years

Bantams: 13 - 14 years

18U: High-school-aged players 18 and under

You will register your child for a program based on the year they were born. The years & levels are indicated in registration instructions. Get used to referring to your children as a "2015" or a "2018". It's kind of weird...but it's a thing.

In general, as long as they are patient and able to tolerate a little failure/struggle - they can play! Many kids don't find out about hockey until their school friends tell them about it. Ideally, you would probably want to start with ice hockey by 6 or 7 years of age but kids learn so fast that we have had 10-year-olds that are new to the sport do very well their first season. The best thing to do is to contact us at info@middletonyouthhockey.com and we can evaluate your kid to see where to best place them or give suggestions for local clinics/camps that might help them to catch up. Another potentially method for helping kids get up to speed is to see if inline/roller hockey is fun for them and use that to practice a bit more.

If your child is 4 years or older you can register them for Learn to Play. LTP is our beginner hockey/skating program that covers the basics of standing on skates, skating, stopping, falling down and getting back up, playing games, etc. Learn to Play is for kids that don't have a ton of experience on skates or with hockey.

If your 5- or 6-year-old child has skated a decent amount and is confident at basic skating, falling and getting back up, handling a puck - you can register them for Cross-Ice (which focuses a bit more on hockey skills and plays weekend games).

Your child will need full hockey gear and use a stick in either program. Read more about our age-level programs here.

You aren't alone! There are many first-time families that have stumbled into hockey and it has become a big part of their lives. Since the season is relatively long, you will become a part of a community and find that there's a certain rhythm to hockey life.

If you haven't skated much or it's been a long while - we encourage parents/guardians that think they'd like to eventually coach or volunteer as a team manager to join their kids on the ice during Learn to Play practices. You don't need to be the strongest skater on the ice to be involved in hockey with your little ones. It's far more important to just be there! If skating definitely isn't for you - tons of parents enjoy hockey from the stands or find other ways to volunteer.

The first month of your hockey life might feel foreign and uncertain. We'd bet it's going to get easier and will become something that you enjoy & cherish. Please contact us if we can help you with anything!

There are many opportunities to get involved with community hockey and support your hockey players. Check out our volunteering opportunities page for details. To learn about coaching youth hockey, click here.

Just like our new little hockey players - there's a window of time when they're first starting that offers an excellent opportunity for parents to get comfortable on skates. If you haven't skated much or it's been a long time - we'd love to have you help "coach" your Learn to Play skater. We need to have a lot of parent/guardian coaches on the ice for our Learn to Play and Cross-Ice groups because there are a lot of kids. That's a great time for family members to improve with their little skaters! If you don't do it - it will be a lot harder to join them on the ice down the road.

If you're contemplating coaching but have questions, please email our coaching director at ace@middletonyouthhockey.com.

For skaters Mites level and above parents must either volunteer 7 hours with the club or pay a volunteer fee of $200. If you have more than 1 skater, the hours increase to 12 hours for 2 or more skaters and the volunteer fee increases to $400. If you complete the hours, your volunteer fee will be refunded to you.