1. Tryouts:

Dates are posted on the website (Aug 19th - 22nd). Not all kids will be skating each night and coaches will determine who should attend what night(s) as tryouts draw nearer. Tryouts will be closed to all non-players.

• 8/21: 8:40-9:40 pm on A Rink
• 8/22: 5:20-6:20 pm on A Rink

We expect all three teams to be announced on Friday, August 23rd. We will be having a Varsity Green, Varsity Gold, and JV team. Varsity Green team will be the SHL Varsity team and Varsity Gold will be the AHL team.

Based on summer registration we are expecting a large group of players for tryouts and, as previously mentioned, we are expecting a number of cuts to be made. The exact number will be a function of how many kids actually register for tryouts but here is what I can tell everyone. We had 72 skaters and six goalies registered for the summer and we had 2-3 additional skaters who played in the spring but were unavailable to play this summer.

We do not expect to roster more than 56 skaters across the three teams. Cuts will be made at the conclusion of tryouts. There will be no rolling cuts during tryouts.

We understand that cuts can be a difficult time but would ask everyone to please respect the "24-hour rule" if your player is cut. 

2. Tryout Registration:

Registration for tryouts will be open by August 2nd or 3rd. We will close tryout registration on August 16th at 10:00pm so there should be plenty of time for everyone to register. We will NOT reopen registration so please be sure to calendar the deadline. There will be NO EXCEPTIONS.



A valid 2024/2025 USA Hockey Registration is required to register

There will be a $325 non-refundable tryout fee for ALL players (goalies included). This is in line with many organizations. If a player is selected for a team the fee will be applied towards full season dues. If a player is not selected for a team, does not show up for tryouts, or declines a position after being offered a spot then no refund will be issued.

3. Full Season Registration:

Once teams are selected we will then open a separate registration for the balance of season dues. Balances can be paid all at once or in 3 installments (at registration, on November 1st, and December 1st). Dues will be $5,600 for all skaters this year ($2,800 for goalies). The dues include one tournament registration per team.  There will be an option to purchase an insurance policy as part of registration.

Slush fund amounts will be determined by each team but have historically been in the $400-500 range and will be paid separately.

4. Early season planning:

For those who will be new to GBN Hockey, the season starts immediately after tryouts. You can expect practices the week of 8/26. Practice times that week will be a bit different than the rest of the season as the rink does not begin their Fall programming schedule until September 1st.

Practice slots for the week of 8/26 ONLY:

V1 (Green):

8/27 on B from 9:40-10:40pm

8/28 on B from 5:10-6:10pm

V2 (Gold):

8/27 on A from 9:20-10:20pm

8/29 on A from 8:50-9:50pm

JV:

8/28 on B from 6:20-7:20pm

8/30 on A from 6:30-7:30pm

Pre-season tournaments will begin the following weekend.

Off-ice training will begin the week of September 9th. There will be 17 sessions throughout the year. We expect both Varsity teams to be at WIN in Highland Park on Monday evenings. The JV team will likely be at RPE on Monday evenings. Off-ice is mandatory and attendance will be taken. Fees for off-ice are paid directly to WIN/RPE and are expected to be $420-430.

5. Goalie Clinics:

Clinics are expected to once again be held late Friday afternoons at West Meadows. Please note that the Varsity Gold team will be practicing on Friday nights at about 8:00pm in Northbrook so our Varsity Gold goalies will be on the ice twice that evening.

6.  Ice:

Practice times for all three teams for the week of August 26th are posted on the website. These times are only for the week of August 26th. Our regular practice times will begin after Labor Day and continue throughout the year with all three teams practicing on Tuesday nights, Varsity Green and JV practicing on Thursday nights, and Varsity Gold having a Friday night practice. There will also be "flex-time" practices for teams on two Sundays (early evening) per month. Game schedules will dictate which team(s) will practice on which Sunday.

7. Player/Parent meeting:

Once teams are selected we will hold a mandatory player/parent meeting to go over season expectations and the like. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 27th at 7:30pm in the Community Room at the rink. Uniforms will also be distributed to all new players selected to a team at this meeting.

8. Spring Jersey Refunds:

We have not forgotten about this and thank you for your patience. SporstEngine would not allow partial refunds and since Olga was not a fan of issuing 70+ checks/Zelle payments we are going to refund everyone in cash. We will announce a couple of dates/times when refunds can be picked up either at the rink or at my house.

9.  SafeSport Training:

As a reminder to all players born in 2006 and 2007, you must complete on-line SafeSport training prior to August 25th. This includes players who will not turn 18 until after the season concludes. This is a USA Hockey requirement and you will not be allowed to participate in any team activities if this is not timely completed. For those who completed SafeSport last year, you will be required to complete a refresher course. The good news is that the refresher course is only about 20-30 minutes. For those who will be doing SafeSport for the first time, please plan on spending 2-3 hours. You need not do it in one sitting and can save your progress. For ease of reference, here is the link for SafeSport training:  https://www.usahockey.com/safesporttraining. I strongly urge everyone to get this out of the way ASAP as the system can sometimes take 24-48 hours to update us with a record of your completion. If you have any SafeSport questions please reach out to our registrar, J-P Contreras, at jpcontrer@yahoo.com

Contact: Jeff Sandler (847-624-2400) or jeff@glenbrooknorthhockey.org