Team Placement Guidelines

Every Spring the North Andover Board of Directors goes through an extensive process to place players on team rosters for the following season. Our goal is to fairly and objectively place each player on a roster where they will continue to develop their hockey skills and play at a level they can compete within their age group. The intent of this document is to give you a general understanding of the process and answer questions you may have (see FAQs). If you have additional questions you should feel free to reach out to any board member.

There are two main components that go into the team placement process. The first component is the evaluations. Player evaluations consist of two sessions for each level (e.g. Mites, Squirts, etc.). The first session is geared toward “skills” with focus on the player's ability to skate, stickhandle and shoot. The second session puts players in game situations with 3 on 3 cross ice or full ice scrimmages.  Each player is evaluated by 3-6 evaluators who are primarily made up of coaches and/or independent people who don’t have their own child on the ice.  The second component is the coach evaluations from the player’s most current team. The coaches are asked to rank their team based on the player's hockey skills and development over the past year. The evaluation sessions and coach evaluations are the basis for team placements for the upcoming season.

Once all the data has been compiled, the Board will invite all of the head coaches from the most recent season to review it. The purpose of this review is to make sure we have the data correct. Once the data is complete, the preliminary team rosters are forwarded to the Board of Directors for review and approval. This completes the process for assigning players to their initial roster.

The Board of Directors recognizes a lot can occur between the setting of the initial roster in the spring and the actual start of the season in the fall especially with players leaving or moving into town. In setting the initial rosters we try to leave room at the higher level teams to allow for player movement. This is not always the case, but it does give us an opportunity to recognize players who have further developed their skills from the previous season.

We hope you find this document helpful. There is a tremendous amount of effort and time that goes into the team selection process. The Board of Directors does not take this process lightly and we recognize the importance that the parents have an understanding on how placements work.  If you have any additional suggestions on this document or have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact a one of the Board Members.

Q: When do the Evaluation Sessions take place?

A: Generally the two evaluation sessions take place in mid-March.

Q: What if my player misses an Evaluation Session?

A: We understand there are circumstances for a player to miss an evaluation session. We will use the other session as well as the coaches’ evaluation to make the best determination on where to place your player.

Q: How are the Evaluators determined?

A: 3-6 off-ice Evaluators are assigned to each session. The Evaluators are made up of coaches as well as volunteers from outside the program with hockey knowledge. Generally, the coaches assigned to a session do not have their own child on the ice; however in the circumstance they do, they cannot submit an evaluation score for them.

Q: How will my player be evaluated?

A: During the evaluation sessions, players are evaluated based on their skating, passing and shooting skills as well as how they play in game situations (Cross ice 3 on 3, full ice scrimmages). In addition, each player is evaluated by their head coach & assistant coaches and stack ranked with the players they played with during the season

Q: How are the number of teams determined at each level?

A: The number of teams determined at each level is based on the number of registered players at the time of the initial team placements. 

Q: How many players are assigned to a team roster?

A: A team will generally have 11-16 players assigned to their final roster. Final rosters are generally determined by the end of September.