New England Womens Hockey League

NEWHL Teams and Games

Our Friday games are played for FUN and to develop our game skills. We find that hockey is most fun when the teams are as evenly matched as possible. We prefer to have small teams, to give everyone plenty of ice time during games. We also like to choose new teams each season so people can make new friends and have the opportunity to play with different team mates and team captains.

The games are refereed but not coached.

NEW Team and Game Organization
for the 2007- 2008 Season

In the 2007-2008 season, we expect a larger number of people who want to play games than in previous seasons. Many of our women who were new to NEWHL last season are ready and eager to play games. We expect to have players at a wide range of levels, from Recreation to D to C.

This season we are going to try something new, to accommodate two distinct and different goals:

Support leveled teams and leveled games. For example, NEWHL might have two C level teams and two D/Rec level teams. The C level teams will play against each other and against external C teams. The D/Rec level teams will play against each other and, hopefully, against external D/Rec level teams. We are planning to have leveled games approximately every other week. Leveled teams allow for competitive games at different levels.

Support multi-level teams, each containing players at Rec, D, and C level. We are planning to have games of NEWHL mixed teams play against the each other regularly throughout the season. Multi-level teams allow newer players to learn from more experienced players, promote camaraderie, and can be more fun and less competitive than the leveled games.

Each player will belong to one leveled team and one mixed team.

Please note that the details of this plan depend on the number of people who sign up to play Friday games. The number of teams and the levels depend on the number of players and their levels. We also need to coordinate with external teams to get them on our game schedule. To make all this work, we need to have application forms and deposits ASAP from people who want to play in Friday games.

The coach will choose the players on the C team or teams.

Team Captain
Each team has a player-captain, whose responsibility is to do all communication and organization for the team, set the lines for games, call in subs if necessary to have enough players, ensure that a goalie will play in each game, and make decisions during the game. The captain is not a coach, but is an experienced hockey player and team leader.

Tournament Teams and March Ice Program
After our regular season ends in February, we create new teams with players who will play in our April Showers Tournament. Those new teams are leveled for the tournament. Only players who are playing on a tournament team are invited to skate in our March Ice Program.

In March and April, we ratchet up the level of competition, give the higher level players the chance to play together, and encourage everyone to achieve her personal best.

Goalkeepers and Women’s Teams
We are always looking for goalkeepers and for women's teams that can play daytime games. Please contact newhl@ospf.org if you are a goalie or women's team organizer who could play day games with NEWHL.