South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association

In order to prevent confusion, the name “Select Hockey” has been retired. As part of that process involved AAA hockey, which is not part of USA Hockey, it was necessary to separate that component of spring hockey from the USAHockey components. Now, Spring Hockey for SDAHA will involve components for 1) Development Camp; 2) District Festival Qualification; and 3) Tier II National Team Qualification.

DEVELOPMENT CAMP

A primary focus of all Spring Hockey will be development of each and every player. Scrimmage components will be reduced, while skill improvement components will be increased. A similar refocusing will occur at the Northern Plains District Festival. Under consideration will be earlier development events that will not be part of the Festival or National Team Qualification processes.

DISTRICT FESTIVAL QUALIFICATION

As part of Spring Hockey, players involved will be evaluated for advancement to the Northern Plains District Festival. While in the past, players were selected to an age group team that played in the Alliance Cup, and then would be selected to participate in the District Festival, the intermediate step is eliminated this year. The players advancing to the District Festival are selected at our State Development Camp. Birth years participating in the District Festival Qualification Process are ’93, ’94, ’95, and ’96.

NATIONAL TEAM QUALIFICATION

SDAHA will be sponsoring U16 (’94 and ’95 birth years) and a U14 (’96 and ’97 birth years) teams for the 2011 Tier II National Tournament. Qualification for each team will begin in the Spring of 2010.

TENTATIVE PLANS
JOINT SPRING CAMP

The Development Camp, the District Festival Qualification and the National Team Qualification components obviously involve many of the same individual players. Separate processes will be set up for each component but will run together at the Youth Joint Spring Camp. In order not to conflict with the National Team schedules, it is necessary to attempt to schedule this after they return.

TEAM SOUTH DAKOTA

The Chicago Showcase has ended and the location for the national showcase is now Pittsburgh. Due to the distance and costs involved, South Dakota elected not to enter a team. Other avenues are being explored, but at this point it does not appear as if a Team South Dakota event will occur.

SPRING HOCKEY TENTATIVE CALENDAR
Dates Event Location
March 12 – 14 Varsity State Tourney Brookings
March 19 – 21 President’s Cup Rapid City
March 26 – 28 Open (Regional Dev. Camps) Various
April 2 - 4 Easter
April 9 - 11 Girls U19 National Tourney Michigan
Youth U14 National Tourney New Jersey
April 16 - 18 Girls Spring Camp, Watertown See Registration Form
April 23 - 25 Boys Spring Camp, Watertown See Registration Form
May 1 - 3 Open
May 5 – 9 District Development Camp Minot, ND

Staff

Efforts are made to recruit qualified individuals from across the state to serve in the various roles in the process, and to have a cross-section available to coach, qualify, and evaluate

AAA Hockey

As mentioned above, AAA hockey in Spring and Summer is not USAHockey sanctioned. Groups or organization sponsoring AAA hockey may contact you to participate, or you may solicit your participation with them.

* Youth in USAHockey is not gender specific and qualified girls may attempt to qualify through the Youth process. However, a separate girls’ process will be organized as well. A player may not attempt to qualify through both programs.

If you have questions, contact:

South Dakota Youth Development Chair, Dave Smith, Sioux Falls
South Dakota District Development Committee Member, Vince Foley, Watertown
South Dakota National Team sub-Committee Chair, P. Doug Clark, Brandon
Past Chair, Bump Anshutz, Huron

More information will be posted as it becomes available.

GIRLS NOTE: This information does not apply to the girls’ side. More information from other individuals will be forthcoming.