This page is very much in development as we prepare for the 2026 season. Check back next week!

-Danny

Development assessments are meant to provide a better understanding of where each MYH player is in their hockey journey. This helps our coaches provide the right challenges, support, and growth opportunities. Development assessments are about helping players improve—not judging them or labeling them. Additionally, we want our assessment days to be meaningful practices to help kids prepare for the regular season.

We understand that this is a complicated process and time for our hockey families. So much hinges on how we talk about development and assessments. It's not meant to be a once-a-year battle against your skater's friends for a coveted place on an elite team. It's a brief look at traits that can be hard to measure correctly and an approximation of what feels like the right competition level for our players. If we're doing our volunteer job right, coaches are going to help your player develop at whichever level they're assigned to for the season.

It's probably obvious that we need to break kids into development levels to form teams and compete each season. That's how youth hockey works in the United States and Wisconsin. Additionally, we want to:

1. Support long-term player development rather than short-term wins.
2. Identify each player's strengths and next growth areas.
3. Build balanced, developmentally appropriate teams.
4. Create positive practice environments that ensure kids are having fun, too.
5. Start our long hockey seasons off on the right foot as a community.

We focus on observable skills, traits, and behaviors rather than relying on our sense of what might be called "talent". Things like skating, speed, and puck skills are obvious ones. Beyond those, hockey sense (or on-ice IQ), decision-making, and composure are important. We also want to see kids who compete and give their full effort for a full assessment practice. When we scrimmage, we're looking for team play and game habits - though these are a little less developed at a Squirt level by design. Perhaps most importantly, certainly when we're discussing kids that fall close to a development level "dividing line", coachability and attitude are key.

We try our best to give quantitative measurements of some of these things, but that's an inexact science at best, and it's perhaps most important to have to enable numerically justifying placement. Our biggest goal is to have an idea of where kids are in their development in these categories to provide the roadmap of what we do with them next to support growth.

Walk MYH families through the timeline.

Number of assessment sessions.

Small-area drills and game situations (bantam scrimmages).

Multiple evaluators.

Standardized evaluation software. Change log.

When teams are formed.

Bubble decisions.

Multiple perspectives and viewing opportunities help us to reduce individual bias.

Multiple viewing opportunities.

Consistent evaluation criteria.

Multiple evaluators.

Focus on current performance.

Every player begins with a clean slate each season.

Players may have good or bad days.

Encourage effort rather than performance.

Remember assessments capture only a brief snapshot of a development arc in time.

Avoid comparing players. There is a positive way to compare, like, "I think I'm as good as that player who made the A team - that means I'm really close, and maybe next year I'll break through to my goal!" There's also an obviously negative way to compare.

Let coaches do the coaching.

Teams are created to maximize player development and enjoyment. Competitive balance, appropriate challenge, practice environments, and roster composition all play a role. We're not simply ranking players from best to worst...

Assessments are simply the beginning of the season. Players continue developing every week, coaches continually observe progress, and opportunities for growth exist regardless of initial team placement.

A growth mindset for life will be far more important than team placement for the winter (though we work to get that right, too!).

We want to remind families of what we're trying to accomplish at each age level.

Every hockey player develops at a different pace. Our goal isn't to predict who will be the best player today—it's to create the environment that helps every player become their best over the long term. Through thoughtful development assessments, deliberate language and behavior, supportive coaching, and age-appropriate challenges, we strive to help every Middleton Cardinal build confidence, improve their skills, and enjoy the game for years to come.

Middleton Youth Hockey Club understands that many hockey players and their families take competitive hockey seriously. Please remember, particularly during a stressful evaluation/try-out process, that hockey is a beautiful game that is otherwise very easy to enjoy playing. We support balance in our kids' lives, trying out and focusing on many different passions and hobbies, and we absolutely support our athletes as students. Study, learn, and cultivate a growth mindset. Hockey is a lot - but it isn't everything.

To that end, please enjoy the article below about achieving balance for your kids as you learn about the Middleton Youth Hockey evaluation process.

Due to the number of hockey players and their range of ability levels, Middleton Youth Hockey intends to support multiple teams at the Squirt, Peewee, Bantam, and High School age levels. The number of teams at each level of competition depends entirely on the number of skaters registering, their developmental levels, and the availability of volunteer coaches. All teams will be selected by skill level (A, B, C1, C2, etc) unless otherwise announced during the evaluation process. All skaters will be placed on a team.

Our mite teams will also be split up by approximate skill level. Unlike squirts and above, RWB will not participate in the formal MYH "evaluation" process. Mite teams will be formed by the coaching staff after observing the skaters for the first few weeks of practice. Mites play half-ice games throughout the season (WAHA rules do not allow full ice games at the RWB level). USA Hockey's mite hockey programming emphasizes fun, community, player development, smaller teams, and local games. The RWB program is encouraged/required for players seeking to play hockey as squirts.

Mite teams may vary from 8-10 players. Squirt teams can expect team sizes of 10 to 13 players. While several factors contribute to team size, the primary deciding factor is skill level. If the skill level of the players drops noticeably after the 10th or 11th player, the coaching committee may recommend a smaller team if this does not create hardship to other teams at the same age level (i.e., too small or too large).

The skill level of players will also determine team sizes for the Peewee and Bantam levels, though as a result of a physically more demanding game (checking and 1.5 hour games vs 1 hour games), those teams will tend to be larger (13 to 15 players). Peewee and Bantam teams may have 2 goalies on the roster. Roster size for the Midget team may vary as the primary goal is to accommodate all eligible Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District players (max roster is 20).

Evaluation Sessions:

Evaluations of squirt players and older consist of a series of on-ice sessions. Players are asked to participate in as many of the designated evaluation ice times as possible to fully evaluate each player. It may be necessary to divide large groups for effective evaluations. The groups will be posted on the MYH website no later than 24 hours after the last session in preparation for the next evaluation session.

If you are not able to make an evaluation session, please notify your Age Level Director (ALD) at least 24 hours ahead of the scheduled session. If your skater is injured and cannot participate in any of the scheduled evaluations, please contact your ALD. An evaluation will be conducted when the skater is ready to return to play.

After the evaluation sessions, preliminary rosters will be communicated within 72 hours of the final session. As previously stated, the ACE may utilize an extended evaluation period if necessary. Rosters will be posted online on the MYH website. There will be a notification email sent to all association members providing the website location of rosters.

Questions or Concerns During Tryouts:

The ACE coordinator is responsible for the running of the evaluation process across the entire club. During the process, the ACE may not have time to directly respond to parent inquiries. If you have any questions about the status or placement of your player during the initial or extended evaluation process, please first contact your applicable Age Level Director (ALD). The ALD is responsible for communication with families during the evaluation process, will be in attendance at the evaluations, and will serve as the liaison between families and the Association Coaching & Education (ACE) Director responsible for conducting player evaluations.

If any player wishes to “play up” at the next age group, the player must be ranked in the top 5 of all skaters at that next age group after evaluations are completed. If the player is not in the top 5, the player will go back to their age appropriate level of play.