Program overview.  

The purpose of this page is to provide a brief program description so that athletes and parents have a basis for choosing among the different minor hockey programs offered in Cochrane.  More detail is provided in the individual sections of this website.  All of the programs offered are sanctioned by Hockey Alberta and subject to Hockey Alberta guidelines for competitive hockey.  Please see the Regulations and Operating Policies manual for detailed program information. 


AA.  CMHA offers the Bow Valley Timberwolves AA program for PeeWee, Bantam and Midget players who want to play hockey at a high level, and are interested in AAA and Junior hockey.  Please see the AAA and AA hockey pages for more information.  Although the AA program is a "boys" program, skilled female athletes are encouraged to try out and have often participated in this program, particularly at the PeeWee level.  Timberwolves encourage registration from Banff, Canmore, Cremona, Sundre and Morley athletes as well as residents in the Cochrane Minor Hockey Association. 


Rep.  CMHA offers a traditional competitive Rep program for male and interested female players, and a Female Rep program for female players.  This is competitive hockey and involves travel to other southern Alberta towns outside the Calgary area.  The Rep program is a tiered program - athletes go through a competitive tryout process and are placed on tiered teams according to skill level.  Playing on a team where players are generally at a similar skill level offers the best development environment for most players to improve their game.  Rep teams register and play in the Central Alberta Hockey League (CAHL).  

Practice ice will be about the same as year for all levels, both in terms of the number and length of practices.  For Atom and above all teams will see some full ice practices.  We expect Novice through Bantam will have 3 practices every two weeks.  Midget teams will have one 1 1/2 hour practice every week, which is more practice time than currently and better matches school and after-school job schedules.  Although costs will have to increase to reflect the shortfal in lasts year budget for ice cost, CMHA feels that athletes in this program deserve and require practice time to develop properly.

Female Rep.   CMHA offers a competitive program for Novice through Midget female hockey players.  This year Midget  teams played in the Central Alberta Hockey League (CAHL), and PeeWee teams played in the Rocky Mountain Female Hockey League, which includes teams from Calgary and surrounding rural communities.  Female Rep is tiered hockey with players placed on teams after competitive tryouts, but the number of teams per age-group will depend upon registration numbers.  Historically some teams have had a wide range of skills and hockey experience, but have succeeded anyway. 

One question that parents sometimes ask is at what agegroup female players should shift from "boys hockey" to "female hockey", recognizing that many girls start hockey in the Initiation and Novice programs which don't offer a separate female program and some girls come to hockey later after playing Ringette or other sports.  We welcome girls into hockey at any age level.  The decision that female athletes and their parents make to shift from "boys hockey" to "female hockey" is an individual choice, and depends upon many factors.  Many girls simply enjoy the game more as part of a girls team rather than being one of a couple of girls on a boys' team.  Other girls simply want to play at the highest level they can achieve at any agegroup - so that some of the best female athletes will choose to play PeeWee AA before shifting to female hockey at the Bantam or Midget age level.   Hockey is a contact sport at all age levels, but open-ice hitting is allowed in boys' hockey starting at the PeeWee agegroup, so some girls move to female hockey after Atom.  As female hockey grows and develops the caliber of play at younger age levels continues to improve by leaps and bounds, so that this issue at some point will become irrelevant. 

Parents wishing more information on this issue are welcome to contact Jenn Lunn, who is the Corrdinator, Female Athlete Development for Hockey Alberta.  You may reach Jenn at jlunn@hockeyalberta.ca.  Jenn looks after high performance female hockey. 


House League.  CMHA offers a House program for Novice to Midgetage players.   This program is built on the concept of one practice and one game per week during the season.   A major focus of the program is to play competitive hockey, but perhaps with less rigour and with a less demanding practice, game, and travel schedule than the Rep program.  There are tryouts - but the purpose is to create even teams.  This means that every team will contain a variety of skill levels and hockey experience which supports an old-fashioned small town fun hockey atmosphere. 

For 2010 we expect the PeeWee, Bantam and Midget programs will interlock with the Airdrie House league playing away games in Airdrie.  We anticipate that the Novice/Atom House programs will interlock with Canmore, and play some away games in Canmore.  By interlocking with a neighbouring community there is less risk that we cancel a house program because insufficient players register to permit a minimum number of teams at a given age-group. 

For 2010 with Spray Lake Phase 3 on line, we will augment the House program ice times, but only slightly in order that we can keep cost increases reasonable.  Player surveys undertaken during the 2008 season suggested that House players would accept modest fee increases to add a few more games, but that reasonable registration fees was one of the attractive features of the House program. 

Parents and players choosing between House and Rep should recognize and understand the differences between the programs.  On a Rep team you have more practice and game ice, and you will play with other players of similar skills and ability, but it will involve higher registration fees.  On a House team you will have fewer games and practices, and you will play with players of differing skills and abilities.  Teams in both programs are encouraged to consider tournaments, but tournament participation is up to the individual teams. 


Initiation.  CMHA offers an Initiation Program for 4, 5 and 6 year olds that runs on Saturday and Sunday mornings.   Initiation is a House League program which means there is no travel and is focused on fun, fair and safe experiences that reinforce basic hockey skills.  Cochrane hosts an Initiation tournament towards the end of each season and relays on assistance from a volunteer committee.  Individual teams may also travel to other tournaments and is coordinated in discussion with the Coach and parents.  For more information about the Initiation Program please contact Shawn Polley at Shawn.Polley@gov.ab.ca

Cochrane tournaments.  With the availability of more ice with Spray Lake Phase 3, CMHA plans to encourage teams to host more tournaments during the season.  Stay tuned for details.