At Home In Hastings
By Greg Mergens

In-house Squirts focus on development while cutting costs and travel.

If you’ve ever talked with a parent who has children that don’t play ice hockey, the reason they aren’t involved probably includes the travel and monetary commitment related tothe sport. While these can be legitimate concerns, it is not the case in all communities. In Hastings, the youth hockey association has developedan in-house hockey program that takes the financial and traveling concerns out of the equation for the parents while focusing in on the dev-elopment of the players.

Many associations across Minnesota develop in-house hockey programs for kids that are just getting a start in hockey. In-house programs comprise teams from within their own association and those teams compete against each other rather than traveling to other hockey associations. In-house programs significantly reduce costs related to ice time, traveling, coaching and referees, to name a few. Most in-house programs are usually for Mini-Mites and Mite level players. The Hastings Youth Hockey Association, however, has developed an in-house program that includes their Squirt level players and it has been very well received. The structure of the program is unique and they feel it accomplishes the same things as a traveling program and more.

“The program provides equal playing time for all kids, matches kids against kids of similar talent levels and focuses on developing skills,” said Gary Riveness, director of Hastings’ in-house Squirt program. Starting in October, before teams are chosen, the kids skate three times a week and the eight different coaches rotate running the drills for an entire month so they all get a chance to evaluate all of the kids.

“After Thanksgiving the eight coaches choose the top eight players, and we put them on eight different teams,” said Riveness. “Then we decide on the next best eight and they are divided up. We continue to do this until all the players are on a team.”

Once the teams are formed, the coaches use their practices to divide up their players into 1st, 2nd and 3rd lines based on ability. This classification is important because lines are matched during games so that the first line always plays against similar talent, and the same goes for the second and third lines. “We feel kids should be playing kids of their same level and that they are more challenged that way,” explained Riveness.

Hastings has almost 350 kids participating in their in-house hockey league that includes Mini-Mites, Mites and Squirts with eight teams in each level. The program was launched in the 1989-90 season and at first many parents were leery of the new endeavor.

“For some reason parents thought that their kids were going to be losing out or becoming uncompetitive if the squirts didn’t play teams from other associations,” explained Riveness. “We discovered that this was not the case.”

One measure of the success of the in-house program lies in the fact that the Hastings High School Hockey team made three straight appearances in the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament from 1998 through 2000. Most of the kids on these teams were part of the first Squirt in-house program that was started in Hastings back in 1989-90.

“I’m not sure why parents think that their kids have to travel to be competitive,” said Rick Wolff, sports psychologist and chairman of the Center for Sports Parenting, a national organization based out of the University of Rhode Island.

“The National Hockey League now has almost half of their players coming from outside North America where the kids grow up playing non-travel hockey,” said Wolff.

The Europeans aren’t the only ones making it to the NHL by playing in-house leagues. Minnesotan Dan Hinote of the Colorado Avalanche spent his Squirt years playing in Elk River’s in-house hockey program. Dan Bylsma, assistant captain of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, also played in-house hockey in Grand Haven, Michigan, all the way through Midgets.

“The Eastern European club teams have about three practices for every game and spend more time letting their kids touch the puck than playing games,” explained Wolff. “Their focus is more skill development than games. After spending years driving my son to hockey games up and down the East Coast, I wish someone had developed an in-house program in our community. All that traveling comes at a tremendous price, not only financially, but at the expense of the family as well.”

While there may have been some initial concerns from parents in Hastings about the in-house program, now they really embrace what they have.

“I’ve been involved in several different hockey programs across the state and I can’t tell you how impressed I am by this in-house program,” stated Jeff Tomassoni whose son Nik plays with Hastings’ Squirt program. “I can remember taking my older son to games and tournaments out of town and being away from my wife because she had to stay in town. But with the Hastings program, the kids don’t miss the traveling and I love the fact that it’s here in town.”
The Hastings in-house program has attracted attention of some of the other hockey associations in Minnesota. Several members of the Hastings Youth Hockey Association Board of Directors have been invited to other cities to explain how their program works.

“We’ve been to Shakopee, Winona and Eagan to give an overview of how our programs works,” explained Riveness. “Many other hockey programs see this as a huge step down, and it’s usually the parents who are fighting it the most.”

Many of the concerns from the parents are whether the kids work hard enough in an in-house league and whether the talent level goes down over time.

“You bet they skate hard,” boasted Riveness. “When these kids are playing against their schoolmates, they don’t want to be the ones going to school the next day and being ribbed about a loss.”

There are a few Squirt players from Hastings’ in-house program who do play games against other associations. At the holiday break in December, Hastings puts together a Squirt traveling team that will play in an additional six games a year and in a couple of tournaments.

“But the number one priority is our in-house program,” insists Riveness. “The 15 kids who play on the traveling team still play on the in-house team and we tell the organizers of the traveling team that they can’t schedule anything that conflicts with the in-house games. It’s even written into our bylaws that the traveling team can’t conflict with the in-house program.

“The thing about the in-house program is that it really brings us together as a community,” explained Riveness. “The first priority is the kids, and they love being able to play with and against their friends. After a kid has played as many as seven years in the in-house program, the kids get to know all the players, some of whom they might not have known very well otherwise, and the parents get to know all the different families. The benefits definitely go way beyond hockey.”