Welcome to Brock Hockey!
Below, we will try to summarize how hockey works within Brock Township, the relationships between our governing bodies and partnering associations, and what role the Brock Minor Hockey Association can play in your child's hockey experience!
What is the Brock Minor Hockey Association?
Brock Minor Hockey Association is a volunteer based association that essentially provides hockey to youth under 18 years of age residing in Brock Township, the opportunity to play both representative (REP) and local league (LL) levels of hockey. Further information can be found within our
Association Constitution. We are a member of the OMHA, OHF and Hockey Canada, all of whom provide us with governing rules and policies that we must operate within. For Example, Hockey Canada produces the programming rules for each Age Category, known as "Player Pathways" and the OMHA ensures that local Associations follow them. More information on the Player Pathways can be found
here.
We are also members of both the Victoria Durham Minor Hockey League, and the Three County Minor Hockey League. Because we are a small, rural association, we typically only have enough registrants to field a team in each available division of play, REP and LL. We occasionally have a 3rd Team available, in which case, we typically (not always) are able to offer a Second Entry Rep Team.
Our Rep teams (including any second entry teams) play in the Vic Durham Minor Hockey League, and the Local League teams play within the Three County Minor Hockey League.
These leagues are responsible for putting together a group of associations, such as ours, and coordinating game play between centres throughout the season.
What are the differences between the levels (REP and LL), and what are the benefits of each one? (explanation below is from edited from Hockey Canada to suit how it effects our organization):
Most local hockey associations offer two to three levels of play in any given age category: House/Local League, Second Entry and Rep. (Note that not all associations or leagues are able to offer Second Entry)
Local League hockey, is a recreational level of play. Also known as House League in larger centres, most teams at the local league level have 1-2 practices and one game per week, making it easy to fit house/local league hockey into a hectic family schedule. Local league players are almost always given equal ice time regardless of skill or talent, and teams play in fewer tournaments throughout the season. Due to our small centre size, travel is required for games for our Local League Players, as our teams numbers only support 1, maybe two teams at each age group. Opposing teams are located within approximately an hours drive from Brock Township. This travel requirement for games is the distinguishing difference between "Local" League and "House" League. Larger centres (North Durham, Oshawa, Whitby etc.) are large enough in registration numbers that they can offer this level of play within the city/town limits of the organization.
Second Entry hockey (not available in all associations) is a higher-calibre level of play for players who show strong skill and promise. SE teams are comprised of players who show sufficient skill to perform as Rep players, but, due to team roster size constraints, cannot be placed on the association’s primary Rep team. Most local hockey associations require players to try out for Rep hockey before they will be considered for an SE team. SE teams serve as the official alternates for Rep teams, and are typically formed in local hockey associations where there are enough skilled Rep-level (or near-Rep-level) players for two teams in any given age group. Not all communities have a population that can support an SE team, and therefore your local hockey association may or may not offer SE hockey, instead offering multiple Local League teams instead. This last section is especially true for Brock Township, and other Member Associations within Victoria Durham Minor Hockey. Not only does Brock Township have to have registration numbers to support at Second Entry Team, Victoria Durham Minor Hockey would have to have enough teams to support a second entry loop. Thus, this level of play is not always available to be offered within Brock Minor Hockey and Vic Durham. In this case, we would typically enter a second, Local League Team in place of Second Entry.
SE teams typically play away games that are up to a 90-minute driving distance from their home arena, and play several tournaments throughout the season. Most SE teams have 1-2 practices per week, plus one home game and one away game. SE teams often participate in overnight tournaments.
Rep (Representative) hockey is the highest calibre of hockey available in any given association. Rep teams typically have 11 to 15 players who represent the more skilled and talented players in their age group. Rep hockey is a fast-paced, highly-competitive level of hockey that offers exceptional players a challenge.
Rep hockey can be twice the time commitment of local league hockey or more. Expect a minimum of one practice, one development session and two games per week. Rep teams also participate in 2 or more overnight tournaments per season.
Representative Hockey in our area is Categorized as "B" and Below, we are classified as a "C" level Representative Organization. Our "C" rating is relative to the size of our membership / association population. "C" is still considered REP hockey, the same as "B", "A" and "AA", however, the size of the population of the association determines what letter category they fall into.
Our "C" level Rep Teams play against other B, C or D level organizations throughout the regular season, and teams are re-seeded before playoffs begin to determine who will play whom.