WCHL Registration is now OPEN.

ABOUT WCHL

Philosophy - The purpose of house league is to provide recreational players the opportunity to play organized hockey in an environment that is affordable, fun, and safe with moderate time commitments allowing for participation in other social, academic or recreational activities.  It also provides a less intimidating and competitive format for players with limited skills and knowledge of hockey.

While House League emphasizes fun hockey with no statistics or standings, skill development is still provided by certified volunteer parent coaches and games are played with certified officials.  There are fewer ice times on mostly fixed dates and times and less travel.  All teams play in one division and are equally balanced with a variety of skill levels. The season runs from early October to the end of February with pre-skates and evaluations usually beginning the last weekend of September. All teams have one practice and one game per week.  Practice schedules are fixed as much as available ice will allow and game schedules released with as much advance notice as possible so families have reasonable knowledge of how their schedule will look.  Teams are not permitted to play games or participate in tournaments outside their league or purchase additional ice for practices. There are no cash calls or fundraising permitted.  As demand for this program is high, registration is on a first come basis with a maximum number of players allowed per age division so register early. Every registered player is required to have a valid Respect in Sport – Parent certification.

League Location/Home arenas -  we have worked closely with Hockey Calgary to secure ice at George Blundun/Optimist arenas (Optimist Park) for WCHL practices and games. This location is central to the boundaries of WCHL members and assists with reducing travel time for families during the season.

Ice Shortfalls Exceptions may occur in location(s) where ice was not available to be secured at Optimist Park, the WCHL Home arenas.  To accommodate the shortfall(s), ice will be pooled from the South West quadrant (Trails West, Glenlake and Springbank home arenas) and these secondary locations will be rotated equally through teams of the age groups affiliated with that set day.

Game Jerseys – WCHL game jerseys are sponsored by the Calgary Flames every other year and supplied by WCHL for the other year and players may keep their jerseys every season.

Friend Requests - Revised 12Jun24 - Friend requests must be made at the time of registration. Every effort will be made to accommodate ONE RECIPROCATED friend request per player but requests are not guaranteed. The league retains the right to place players on teams with the priority of coach placement and forming balanced teams over accommodating friend requests. Due to the volume of requests, friend requests will NOT be accepted after registration is submitted, NO EXCEPTIONS.

Respect in Sport - Parent - Hockey Alberta has instituted a mandatory RIS Parent program with the goal to educate our membership for all new families to Hockey Calgary.  Recertification for current families is required every 4 years.  If Respect in Sport-Parent was taken in the 2019-2020 season, re-certification prior to a player's registration for the 2024-2025 season will be required.  Note:  players will not be permitted to participate in pre-season skate or evaluations for the 2024-2025 season unless a valid RIS-Parent certification is noted on the player’s Hockey Canada Registry profile. For more information, please review the Respect in Sport-Parent section under your Association’s Registration tab.

Coach Qualifications - Coaches for House League are required to have the same coach qualifications as community stream. Exception is U11 Head Coaches are not required to have the Checking Skills qualification but it is strongly recommended.  Coaches may submit a request for reimbursement of clinic fees after they have been selected as part of the coaching staff for a team.  For further information, please reach out to your association’s Administrator.

Fees - $875.  A late fee of $100 will be applied to registrations after September 1st.

Volunteer Bond  - $150.  ALL U9 and U11 families must bring one post-dated cheque for $150 for each player This cheque must be dated February 15, 2025.  Players will not be permitted onto the ice until the player’s volunteer bond has been received.

Detailed role descriptions as well as bond commitments are available by clicking HERE.

Withdrawal/Refunds - Player withdrawal requests should be directed to the Age Group Coordinator for forwarding to the applicable association Administrator for processing.  Note, late fees are non-refundable.

• Prior to pre-skate: Full refund of regular registration fees less $50 administrative fee
• Prior to evaluation skates: Full refund of regular registration fees less $100 administrative fee
• Prior to team placement: Full refund of regular registration fees less $200 administrative fee
• After team placement: No refund

Player Allowance - Subject to registration numbers but will be capped as noted below:

• U9 - 10 teams
• U11 - 10 teams

Waitlist Option - Should registration in an age group become full before September 1, there will be an option to select and register, as part of the WCHL registration form, on a waitlist.  If there is a sufficient number of players registered on the waitlist in an age group, an additional team(s) may be added to the WCHL provided the league can secure additional fixed ice.  Important to note:  Should this occur, it may affect the ability of the league to maintain the age group fixed day schedule resulting in a rotating schedule for practices and/or games on a different day than noted below for that age group.

Season Dates - October - February

Pre-Skate and Evaluations - Late September / early October.  All age divisions are scheduled one pre-skate and two evaluation skates.  See below schedule for specific dates.

WCHL Festival - Family Day long weekend - no games Monday.  All age divisions will start on their usual weekday but may have other weekday Festival games.  The majority of games will be scheduled at Optimist/George Blundun however there will be games at other arenas in South West Calgary including Joe Kryzka, Shouldice, Rose Kohn, Frank McCool and 7 Chiefs.

We understand that hosting the WCHL Festival on the Family Day long weekend may not be an ideal time for some families.  The WCHL is the only House League in Hockey Calgary that provides a year-end Festival and we need to accommodate the ice needs of both House League and Community in our three associations.  It is very challenging to secure the amount of ice required to host a Festival of this size for all WCHL teams on any other weekend in the season without causing an even greater negative impact on the ice available for community teams.  We have not scheduled games for Family Day Monday in the hopes this will help.