Dear AYHL Families,

Please find the following team placements for the 2020-2021 Youth Hockey Season.  

The Amesbury & Triton Board of Directors as well as coaches at every level have provided hours of valuable input during this difficult evaluation process.  This off season has proved to be very different than past seasons due to the Covid 19 pandemic as well as the merging of kids from two different organizations.  We would have liked to have a few more on-ice tryouts to assist with this process, however, that was simply not possible this year.  We used a combination of tryout results and coaches’ evaluations and feedback to finalize the team rosters.  

The Mite, Squirt and Bantam rosters are finalized however at the Peewee level, we will be initiating a call up period at the beginning of the season to further evaluate some of the players to round out the final rosters. The final roster sizes will be based on the final registration numbers when the season begins. As it stands now, we will be looking to bring up one more player to the 1 team.  

Please click on the appropriate level below for the full team roster.

Mite Instructional Roster

Mite Rosters

Squirt Rosters

Peewee Rosters

Bantam Rosters

Thank You,

Amesbury Board of Directors

Hello everyone,

We wanted to provide another season update as things are changing almost daily right now.  Mass Hockey held a meeting for all organizations last week to discuss the latest status on ice hockey as we approach the beginning of the season, and we have some great news to share...Hockey is Back!!  The State of Massachusetts has allowed Ice Hockey to now participate in game play, along with the previously approved practices and skills.  Games can begin immediately however there will be restrictions, as can be expected.  Below are some of the more important notes that we took during the meeting. 

The hockey season will begin on time with practices beginning the week of September 7^th.  Games are expected to begin the weekend of September 12/13 for Mite travel through Bantams.  Mite Instructional games will begin late September or early October and we will provide an update when we receive a schedule from the league.  

It is very important that all players register for USA Hockey immediately.  Our coaching director Bill Stogryn will be following up with a separate email on this.  You can use the following link to register if you haven't already done so… https://membership.usahockey.com/

Mass Hockey Meeting Notes:

• Hockey will be “no-check” at all levels this year.  Essentially, the Peewee rules will be extended up to Bantams.
• Referees are required to blow the whistle anytime players gather in one area for too long so they can maintain distancing. 
• Referees are required to wear facemasks on the ice during games. 
• For practices, we can have two (2) cohorts of 25 per ice surface separated by 14 feet (min).  Certain rinks are restricting this number even further so we will have to work with each rink separately.
• Rinks will be responsible for contact tracing.  We will most likely need to sign in each time we enter a rink. 
• Tournaments are still not permitted at this time.
• No change in team roster limits…still 20/team.
• All families must register with USA Hockey & The Valley Hockey League prior to stepping on the ice.  This is necessary for proper insurance as well as for contact tracing.
• The use of locker rooms is up to each individual rink.  Most rinks are allowing locker rooms to be open to 50% capacity (max). 
• Only one (1) spectator per player is allowed to enter the rink.  Unfortunately, siblings will not be allowed into the rink at this time. 
• All coaches are required to wear face masks while on the bench.
• The rinks are responsible for extending the benches so that social distancing can occur while players are on the bench.  
• Only one (1) player is allowed in the penalty box at a time.  If a team has two (2) simultanous penalties, the second player will stay on the team bench.  
• Neck gaiters are still permitted to be worn as a face mask.
• Each player needs to bring their own water bottle to every practice and game.  The coaches are no longer allowed to bring team water bottles. 
• Parents cannot enter the locker rooms to tie skates.  For younger players, they will need to get their skates tied outside of the locker room. 
• Players do not need to wear face masks while on the ice, except for the centers.  During faceoffs, the centers are required to wear facemasks for the drop of the puck but can then take it off. 

If anyone has any questions or concerns, please reach out to any of the board of directors which can be found on the website.  While we are excited to have hockey back, we ultimately want everyone to be safe while in the rink or on the ice. 

Thank you all and have a great day! 

Amesbury Youth Hockey

Hello AYHL Families,

We hope that everyone is safe and healthy and enjoying the warm weather.  As we enter into August, we have been ramping up preparations for the season, to the best of our ability, and would like to provide a league update to all the members.   

According to the State of Massachusetts re-opening plan, we are currently in Phase 3, Step 1, which does allow Ice Hockey activities.  The downside is that Ice Hockey is still listed as a high risk activity, therefore there are limitations to the types of activities we can participate in while on the ice.  We are allowed to conduct the following individual or socially distanced group activities; no-contact workouts, aerobic conditioning, individual skill work, and drills.  Unfortunately, we are still unable to participate in scrimmages and games at this point in time. 

A little over two weeks ago, Mass Hockey submitted plan to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ youth sports task force that depicted a modified version of a hockey game to meet the standard of a “moderate risk” sport as defined by the Commonwealth in the original guidance published on July 6, 2020.  The plan that has been presented calls for checking to be removed from all levels.  In addition, the plan provides for additional modifications including: expanded bench areas to allow for physical distancing, the requirement of face coverings for officials during faceoffs/player proximity and quicker whistles when players are in close proximity to each other when competing for the puck for an extended period of time. 

We are hopeful that these proposed modifications will provide hockey players with a similar game model in comparison to many of the other sports already approved to play games in the “moderate risk” category.

With all that said, we are still planning as if there will be a season.  Jerseys have been ordered and team rosters are being finalized.  We expect the teams to be announced in the next week or two.  Our practice ice contract begins the week of September 7^th.  We are finalizing the practice schedules with Triton and will provide another update as we get closer to September. 

We would like to thank you all for your patience as we try to navigate through all of this with so many unknowns.  We are still hopeful that there will be some kind of hockey, even if a modified version.

Please reach out to any of the board members with any questions and stay safe.

Thank You,

AYHL Board of Directors