Welcome to the Ottawa Centre Initiation Program.

Welcome to the Ottawa Centre Initiation Program.

The IP Hockey season will start the morning of Sunday, September 16 at Brewer Arena.  

The Objectives of the IP Program

The Ottawa Centre Minor Hockey Association follows the standards and guidelines for Initiation set out by Hockey Canada. The fundamental purpose of the program is development.  The program is designed to ensure your child's first contact with hockey is a safe and positive experience. It's a structured, learn to play hockey program designed to introduce beginners to the game's basic skills. It enables skaters to become contributing members of a team effort, develop self-confidence, and experience a sense of personal achievement. These goals are achieved in an atmosphere of fun and fair play.

First Practice:

We have the ice that day between 8am and 11am, and will assign your child a 1 hour time slot within that range in the coming days – stay tuned.

• Plan to arrive early enough at the first practice to pick-up the hockey jersey that your child will wear.  
• For the IP kids it is expected that a parent will always stay at the arena while their child is on the ice. 
  
  

The first ice time will be devoted to orienting kids and parents to the program, and to some preliminary sorting of the kids by skill level.  By the end of September, we will have the kids sorted into beginning, intermediate and advanced groups (though there is movement between these groups during the year). 

Please arrive at the arena early enough to register and pick up your child's practice/game jersey (jerseys are loaned for the season; you do not buy them or keep them after the end of the year).  The dressing rooms at Brewer are small and due to the number of kids/parents it is best to come to the arena dressed in all gear except skates, helmet, mouth guard and gloves.   Please have only one parent or helper with each player in the dressing room.

If you believe that your child is a beginner skater, please email the IP Convener David Loehr at ocmhaip@gmail.com by September 10th?  (We want to get them off to a positive start)

Regular Practice Schedule times:

Each IP Team will have 2 practices each week.

Sunday: 1.5 hours     alternating each week starting at either 8:00 am or 9:30am.

And

Alternating 3 weeks Tuesday from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm and every 4th week Thursday from 6:00 to 7:00 pm.

Team schedules will be posted on the OCMHA website.  We will try to have a consistent schedule but it is important to check the schedule before each practice as some rotations can change due to games or other events.
 

Equipment

All IP participants MUST wear proper hockey equipment in accordance with Hockey Canada and ODMHA rules and regulations. This includes mouth guards and neck guards – kids cannot go on the ice without them.

Equipment need not be new, but whatever your child wears ought to be in good condition and fit properly.  It is especially important that skates be the right size and sharpened regularly during the season.

A general list of required equipment can be found here; if you are new to hockey and require some additional details email me at ocmhaip@gmail.com.  

For IP, OCMHA provides the game/practice jerseys, you do not have to pay for them, nor do you get to keep them at the end of the year.

FREE HELMET/MASK from GM.

If your child is born in 2007, and registered for minor hockey, GM Canada will give you a free helmet and mask.   More info here https://www.facebook.com/ChevroletSafeandFunHockey.  A copy of the registration receipt should be enough as proof you have registered.

Breaks

It is important that new and young skaters have fun on the ice; so let them know that they can take breaks on the bench or leave the ice as necessary.  Please bring a water bottle every practice.  Make sure your child’s name is clearly marked on the bottle and fill them with water – not juice.

At the rink, parents can watch from anywhere except for the benches. Benches are for kids who need a rest and for parents to help their child; benches are neither for parents to socialize nor siblings to play.

Games, Tournaments and Team fees.

Although the focus of IP is on skills development, we do play a few fun games with other organizations as well as a few tournaments.  The games and tournaments are typically after the Christmas break and will not be over family day weekend or March break.  

In addition to the registration fees you've already paid to the association, we will be collecting additional dollars to cover the registration fees for tournaments and a yearend party.  We will be putting a budget together within the next few weeks and collecting money shortly after.   The amount collected is typically between $75 and $100 per participant.  If this is going to be a financial burden to anyone, please contact me at ocmhaip@gmail.com.

I am happy to answer questions at ocmhaip@gmail.com.


David Loehr

IP Convener