Welcome Warrior families to the 2023/24 hockey season! As we launch into evaluations this week, it’s great to see familiar faces at the rinks, along with plenty of new ones. Hockey is back, and in a big way this year. Our registration numbers are officially back up to pre-covid levels, and the same is true across all associations in the city. It’s a great testament to the strength of our Calgary communities and all of the parents and players who make our sport thrive and grow.
Thankfully, at the conclusion of the Hockey Calgary boundary review this spring we were able to preserve our association in its entirety, and our communities will continue to stay united as Warriors on and off the ice! Our white jerseys with the updated logo have now arrived and the players will look great with matching sets of home and away jerseys during games this year. We have a few more warrior brand surprises this year, so please keep your eyes open as you visit our rinks this season!
So now that you’re registered, what’s next? Our Evaluations and Team Formation Committee is busy getting ready to welcome you to the 23/24 season. New to the format this year are pre-skates at all age group levels, which began this week. These informal ice times are designed to get the players back on the ice with their friends prior to jumping into the formal evaluation process. So far this week there’s been lots of smiles and chatter and the players are clearly eager to catch up after the summer break. As we transition into the actual evaluations process for each age group, note that they are all structured slightly differently, so please keep an eye out for information and instructions via TeamSnap emails from our Age Group Coordinators.
Looking for more details? Please visit our website Evaluations page, where you’ll find our evaluations manual and all of the tech skate drills the players will be doing. If you have any questions, please reach out to your age group coordinator directly. Furthermore, the success of the evaluations program is dependent upon having a large number of volunteers. We always need and welcome more helpers, both on and off the ice. It is never too late to step up and so please connect with your Age Group coordinator to indicate your willingness to volunteer. Each year our evaluations volunteers commit countless hours to this process, so even if you’re unable to commit yourself, please take the time to thank them when you see them.
Last year we introduced our player development program which consisted of additional Sunday ice sessions with paid professional coaches for those players looking to get an extra edge in their performance. These sessions were well received and are now almost full for the fall, so if you haven’t registered yet, don’t leave it any longer! We are also introducing a comprehensive coach development program this year, so please stay tuned for more information as we roll out the courses and tools we’ll be making available to our coaches early in the season. There will be a mix of resources for new and veteran coaches, and we encourage anyone, regardless of gender, who is interested in helping out on the ice to consider signing up to coach in some capacity. All new and returning coaches please register via our website and update your profile here: (NWW Registration) We strongly urge coaches to volunteer as evaluators during our evaluation games, provided they are not evaluating ice times where their own child is playing.
Evaluations isn’t the only part of the season that needs volunteers, however, and one of the best ways that we can improve the experience for all NWW participants is with a high level of community engagement. The better we work together, the better the experience for our kids. There are many jobs to be done, so if you have some time and energy to spare, we will find you a job! From team level positions to committees and board positions we are continually recruiting, and if you’d like to learn more, please reach out to our Volunteer Director at volunteer@nwwarriorshockey.com
Welcome to the Warriors community and we wish you all the best for a fun, safe hockey season!
Sean David, President
Northwest Warriors Hockey Association
