HighSchoolHockeyForums.com

Minnesota hockey rules state:
Limit games (league/ tournament/exhibition games) to a maximum of 35 per season. Each game played in a tournament shall be counted as one game. Controlled scrimmages count toward the total of 35, but must meet the definition of a controlled scrimmage as outlined in the paragraph in the Playing Rules section entitled "Exhibition Games and Controlled Scrimmages."

and then defines "Controlled Scrimmages" like this:

Coaches-on-Ice scrimmages or “controlled scrimmages” are allowed as a coaching tool for teaching position play and to address various game situations. The following criteria identify minimum requirements for Coaches-On-Ice Scrimmages. All of the criteria must be met for the event to be considered a Coaches-On-Ice scrimmage.
a. At least one coach from each team must be on the ice for the purpose of instruction.
b. No official scorekeeper, timekeeper or “game clock” can be used.
c. Teams can switch ends at some point, if desired.
d. The event is conducted as a practice, with the coaches stopping play from time to time to make observations and provide instruction on player positioning, etc.

So since I have heard so many different opinions of this ranging from if you don't scrimmage "for more than 1/2 the time" to "if you run some shared practice drill" it doesn't count.

Can anybody clear up what is allowed or is it a district thing as to what they allow?

From my knowledge district 6 and district 8 have allowed "competitive practices." This means a maximum of a 20 min. 5 on 5 scrimmage with no refs, clock, etc... This is a way for people to get some game experience with out using any of your 35 games. For the other 40 min. you can do small area games and stuff like that against the other team. But 20 min. is the big thing the district board is stressing.

goinbardown wrote:From my knowledge district 6 and district 8 have allowed "competitive practices." This means a maximum of a 20 min. 5 on 5 scrimmage with no refs, clock, etc... This is a way for people to get some game experience with out using any of your 35 games. For the other 40 min. you can do small area games and stuff like that against the other team. But 20 min. is the big thing the district board is stressing.

Interestingly enough i also learned of this.

Practice plan: http://www.minnesotahockey.org/coaches/ ... 20Plan.pdf

Here is a copy of the practice plan that D6 and D3 and MN Hockey approved with the help from the coaches from Eden Prairie, Edina and Wayzata. It work great and really gets the kids into the practice. A couple of side notes, teams can not wear their game jerseys in this practice, wear the same color practice jerseys on your team, when you spilt the kids into groups take your top 8 vs. there top 8 and 7 vs. 7. Have at least 5 coaches on the ice and move quickly when setting up and changing drills. We did this last year a few times and it is great and very intense and great for the kids to go against a different team.

Has this been approved by MN hockey or just D3 & D6?

Sure would be nice to have all the Districts agree so that we all know what is allowed.

D3, D6, and D8 have approved it. Those are the only ones i know of.

Seems more like the Squirts are being trained in early to prepare for that sweet 24 game high school season they can look forward to.

In fairness, the high school season is @3 months long for the majority of teams while the association season is closer to 6 months.

Practice to game ratios only make sense if you run really good practices. Kids should/could also be working on skills and small games at the local outdoor arena.

I did see a great squirt practice which was shared with another team. I think there were 3 game areas set up and the kids kept rotating 3 on 3 or 4 on 4 games against each other. Almost like a little tournament. I'm sure they were working on skating and skills together before I got there. It looked like fun.