Mites (U8)

Practice Groups, Jersey Handout

Hello All - See the below list for practice groups at the start of the season. Following USA Hockey's Player Development Model (ADM), practice groups will be set and monitored to ensure groups are of small sizes (5 - 8 players) of age/skill appropriate players. This is proven to be the best way for players to learn to love the game and excel at their highest potential. These groups will change throughout the year as players develop individually at different rates. That rate can also change throughout the year as well. If you ever have any questions about your player's development, don't be afraid to reach out!

Before stepping on the ice today, I'll have a box of practice jerseys to put on right by the door that goes onto the ice closest to the lobby. Players wearing gold can wear their game jerseys (old one for now until we get our new ones), or I have gold practice jerseys.

When you are asked to change groups, we ask that you wash and swap that jersey. Group changes will happen on a rolling basis, but the biggest changes will occur every 7 weeks.

See you today!

Holland Jamboree Schedule

See below. 8:50 and 9:14 am games.

Ignore the date they put on the schedule - it is incorrect. Correct date is October 5th, 2024

Please RSVP - Jamboree This Weekend - Holland

Sorry for the late notice on this one! We actually have games this weekend in Holland at the "all invited" jamboree.

In Crossbar, there is an "Availability" tab. Please note your availability so I can plan accordingly for teams.

Remaining game weekends are getting loaded soon as a placeholder. Note the weekends listed besides the blue rows are our jamboree weekends. Unfortunately we do not know where and what times just yet but will share as soon as we know. Only one you can count on knowing is November 30 at 11-2pm as this is our home jamboree!

Skill Sessions

If you look at the calendar, you will see what looks like a squirt practice listed on Fridays and Sundays occasionally. Please note that this is the scheduled time for the Blades Skills Sessions, which Mite and Squirts do a skills session together. See below for detailed information!

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The Grand Rapids Blades are excited to announce a 10-week skills and power skating program this fall to help bolster and refine core skills. Six of the initial sessions will be led by Mitch Parsons (Parsons Hockey School), as noted below, while later sessions will be run by Blades Director of Player Development Alec Slazas along with help from current Calvin players when available.

Coach Cassady, Blades Director of Goaltending, will work with the goalies in the sessions noted below. We ask that all goalies attend the first session of the week(s) they plan to attend, as goalie instruction will be available for those sessions only. If goalies wish to skate out for the other weeks, they are welcome to do so!

The sessions are open to Blades players only and will be broken up by age group. We encourage all eligible Blades players to participate as there is no additional cost to join for these skates!

Schedule

Friday dates: 7:00 p.m. – 7:50 p.m. (Mite/Squirt), 8:00 – 8:50 p.m. (Peewee/Bantam)

Sunday dates: 2:30 – 3:20 p.m. (Mite/Squirt), 3:30 – 4:20 p.m. (Peewee/Bantam)

Session dates are as follows:

Friday, October 4 - PARSONS

Friday, October 11 – SLAZAS (GOALIE SESSION)

Sunday, October 20 - PARSONS

Friday, October 25 – PARSONS (GOALIE SESSION)

Sunday, November 3 – PARSONS (GOALIE SESSION)

Sunday, November 10 - PARSONS

Sunday, November 17 – PARSONS (GOALIE SESSION)

Friday, November 22 – SLAZAS

Sunday, December 8 – SLAZAS (GOALIE SESSION)

Sunday, December 15 – SLAZAS (GOALIE SESSION)

To learn more about Parsons Hockey School, check out parsonshockeyschool.com for a complete bio of Coach Mitch and his team. We look forward to seeing you on the ice!

On-Ice Volunteering

Hello Everyone! The first week is finally here. I will send out more season start information later today.

I've been fielding many requests for volunteering to help out on ice. Thank you in advance to everyone who has offered to volunteer your time. If you have interest in volunteering, please feel free to reach out to me! I just wanted to share the information below for requirements prior to stepping on the ice to help. Requirements can be lengthy, but important. We are a USA Hockey affiliated organization and must abide by their requirements before allowing any volunteers step on the ice.

Let me know if you have any questions about on-ice volunteering. If you have issues with registration or training, reach out to registrar@grblades.org. Go Blades!

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See below for registration and training requirements before hopping on the ice this season. Note that if you are a first time volunteer, the initial training can be lengthy. However, following seasons will be much less work for refresher training.

For LTS, the age module below is not required. We understand that this may seem like a lot for volunteering in learn to skate, however, our learn to skate is covered under our USA Hockey programming and must abide by the requirements as such.

Grand Rapids Blades will reimburse volunteers the cost of USA Hockey Registration, Background Check, Age Modules, and Certification Clinics. Please send your receipts to accounting@grblades.org along with your name and the areas you are volunteering for.

Must be completed before you can get on the ice for practices or any LTS sessions:

USA Hockey Registration (please send me your confirmation number or PDF ASAP so I can start rosters) - YOU MUST SUBMIT AS A "COACH", NOT AS A "VOLUNTEER" TO BE ON THE ICE!

Background Check: Must be done every two years. If you do not remember if this is needed, I will know the status once I have your USA Hockey number.

SafeSport (this is now required every year)

Age Module (if you are moving up a level or have not coached this level before. Modules only need to be done one time per level) - NOT REQUIRED FOR LEARN TO SKATE

If you have any questions on the above registration and certification information, please reach out to Registrar at registrar@grblades.org.