Advanced skaters aged 4 (by recommendation of I-Mite Director and with Board approval).
New skaters aged 9 (by recommendation of I-Mite Director and with Board approval).
Cost:
$875 per player
Structure:
Instructional Cross Ice Mites (I-Mites) participate in a season that spans 27 weeks through the fall, winter, and early spring. I-Mites will be on the ice for 50 hours throughout the season. Practices and evaluations are held on Saturdays at Stoneham Arena at 4pm. Games are played on Sunday mornings between 630am and 800am at two locations (Stoneham Arena and Hockeytown USA in Saugus). The schedule will be distributed 12 games at a time. The break week will be used to add more teams to the league if there is interest from other towns or from within the SYH community.
Practices will follow the USA Hockey guidelines for small area games and reduced ice surface practices and games. The focus of I-Mites should be emerging skating and skill development with an emphasis on fun over winning.
Games are played 4 vs 4 plus a goalie with a reduced size net. The game is a running time clock using a “buzzer” format where play is briefly stopped every 2-minutes to change groups of kids on the ice. Scores and standings are not kept. A “referee” is used to keep the game flowing and the action constant – retrieving pucks from the nets, and re-positioning the nets when they become dislodged. Referees are not on the ice to officiate games – no penalties are called. Coaches are responsible for ensuring safe play and good sportsmanship.
Timeline:
The I-Mite season timeline is as follows:
Registration opens in Mid-August.
2-weeks of evaluations beginning in Mid-September.
12-weeks of one practice and one game per week beginning in early October.
1-week break at Christmas time.
12-weeks of one practice and one game per week beginning in early January.
