Please take your time to read all the news and notes below. The registration form is located at the bottom of this page.  Questions? Please use the contact emails located at the bottom of this page as well.  Let's play hockey! 

Registration Opened—Tuesday July 9, 2024, at 8am for new and returning travel, mites and Junior Gold and 19U level teams.

Travel Level registration closes on Wednesday, July 31 at 5 PM. Registration after the closing date is subject to a $100 late fee. Space may be limited.

Mite Level registration closes on Monday, September 30 at 5 PM. Registration after the closing date is subject to a $50 late fee.

Junior Gold and 19U registration will close shortly after Minnetonka High School Hockey tryouts around December 1, 2024.

**Registration Fees. While our fees for ice time and referees are going up, we are happy to announce that registration fees for the 2024-25 hockey season will remain unchanged. The goalie fee subsidy has been improved and additional fees at certain travel levels have been removed. Roster fees have increased for a few playing levels.

Every player signing up for youth hockey in Minnetonka needs to be registered with USA Hockey. Please complete before starting the registration process.  USA Hockey registration can be completed at https://membership.usahockey.com/

For all travel and mite player participants please visit Hanus Sports to verify and ensure the correct size jersey and sock starting at noon, July 8. **PLEASE NOTE THERE ARE NO EXCHANGES OR RETURNS. If you guess wrong on the size, then you are stuck with it for the year. Please take the time to make sure the sizing is correct.

For more information visit: https://www.tonkahockey.org/jersey-and-socks-sizing

Before starting registration, if you are a first time beginner or new to the association, please make sure you have a digital copy of your birth certificate ready to upload. This does NOT apply to returning players.

All official communication will run through the traditional channels. However, we are doing a better job of communicating team tourney results and more via Instagram and Facebook. Please connect with us on social media.

1. Dryland Training Fees will be included in your registration fee. It is no longer a separate line item for all travel teams.
    
2. Clothing Player Packs will be included in your registration this year for all travel teams. **Please note. If you register after the registration deadline, your player pack is subject to delay per production times.** The player pack will feature a custom UNRL Tonka hoodie and stocking hat. Sizing selection required at registration. For teams that want this to serve as their team gear, they can certainly do so. We have merchandise vendors available to provide additional items for teams—their contact info will be provided at the fall team manager meetings to get you up to speed quickly if wanting to order additional items.
    
3. NEW. Neck guards required effective August 1, 2024 for ALL players. The USA Hockey will require the use of neck laceration protection for players in all age classifications, other than adults, in games and practices, as well as for on-ice officials under the age of 18, effective August 1, 2024. The good news is that Tonka youth hockey already instituted this policy and complies through our affiliation with District 6 hockey league. FAQ USA Hockey: https://www.usahockey.com/playersafety 
    
4. No longer charging teams for additional ice required during playoffs. If your team extends their season, MYHA will no longer charge teams for playoff practice ice time at Pagel Activity Center. This has been a long unresolved and sometimes contentious issue. We heard your feedback in surveys and are very happy offer this to our teams and families.

There are other good reasons for being a sponsor beyond doing good and giving back to the community, its also a great way to build relationships, drive traffic/sales and generate awareness of what you do. For a reasonable investment, we can create a plan that provides both community benefits and return on your investment. You'll be surprised what we can do! 

If you have been a sponsor previously and would like to again, please indicate on your registration form your interest. We don't want you slipping thru the cracks as we ramp up sponsorship activity.

Only 40% of our teams had sponsors last year. There is plenty of opportunities. Plus, we've added more value and more options to our packages and if you want to sponsor more teams or entire playing level, like squirts, we can do that too. 

There are so many options to create frequency and reach within our community  For example, we participated in 147 tournaments last year. We had several winners. One almost every weekend. Would you like to congratulate team(s) every week who win on social and offer a free (Ice Cream Cone or whatever) have them come to your business or a business to drive traffic?  You are reaching our community with frequency almost every week of the season. This is how we can work together and the opportunity is still available!

Any questions or would like to jump start your sponsorship, please reach out to steve@tonkahockey.org

If you are new to the association or haven't heard, we have a wonderful goalie program for those just starting out to the advanced. Our golf fundraiser this year is helping fund additional in-season goalie only instruction, equipment and improve our subsidy to offset equipment costs for goalie families in Minnetonka. 

What's more, we have a great onboarding program for those considering playing whether at the mite level or at the older levels.  

Contact Tonka Tendies goalie program coordinator KJ Struck at volunteer@tonkahockey.org. She will walk you thru our program and help design the best possible experience for your son or daughter no matter where they are at skill development/experience wise.

Volunteer requirements remain the same – Like most youth hockey associations, MYHA relies heavily on volunteers to make your experience playing hockey the best it can be. Each family is required to work a minimum of 8 hours per player, with a 24-hour family maximum. The fee to buyout of the volunteer program is $450 per player. Last year we eclipsed over 10,000 volunteer hours. It takes that much time to make our association run. Thank you in advance for your time and efforts. See the volunteer page for additional rules and information. https://www.tonkahockey.org/volunteer

**Attention Bantam Parents. All Bantam parents be aware, unless you have an away tournament the same weekend, you are required to work a minimum of three shifts (6 hours) at the Junior Gold Tournament December 11-15. We have over 200 shifts available and 44 games to staff for the weekend. We truly need your help.  

Buyouts and waived dibs families (coaches, managers, etc) exempt. Please account for these hours as you fill your dibs this fall. Sign-ups for these shifts will be released early October. 

Parents again required to be locker room attendants – Minnesota Hockey guidelines require that locker rooms be supervised by an adult whenever players are present. This is NOT considered volunteer hours.

Minnesota Hockey and District 6 are assessing fines to associations and teams that do not follow these guidelines. Once teams are formed, parents/guardians are required to sign up to cover locker room shifts for the season.

Parents will need their own USA Hockey number (either as a volunteer or coach) and will need to complete the online SafeSport certification process.  Team managers will help complete the sign up and tracking process.

Would you like to coach or assist in coaching? We need coaches at ALL levels! Please visit https://www.tonkahockey.org/be-a-coach on how to get started. For quick questions contact the following:

Age Level

MYHA player eligibility is governed by the Minnesota Hockey eligibility rules. The starting  birthdate for each age classification is June 1st to provide players born in June the ability to play with their classmates. 

See the Age Classifications web page for the current eligibility chart.

Level Move-Up Policy

MYHA has a strict policy to place a player at their appropriate age level as determined by Minnesota Hockey eligibility rules.  The MYHA board will consider exceptions to allow players to move up under the grade level exception. 

Grade Level Exception

MYHA will allow a player to play up a level if, by age, they are not eligible to play at the same level as their grade level peers per the Minnesota Hockey birthdate parameters.

This consideration is offered only to allow players to play with friends in their school grade and not due to a player’s hockey ability. This affects players relative to their grade as follows:

NOTE: All players exercising this option are subject to the review and approval of the MYHA board.

Minnnesota Hockey rules base player eligibility on the primary residence of parent/legal guardian. Therefore, any player living outside the boundaries of Minnetonka Schools (ISD 276) requires a waiver to be eligible to play with MYHA.

A waiver is required for a player who is open enrolled in Minnetonka Schools or another school located within the district's boundaries. For more information regarding waivers please see the Participation Rules/Waiver Requirements web page.

Minnesota Hockey updated their waiver rules in January 2024. School waivers for open enrollment will only be available a player's first year of travel hockey, Squirt/10U, and for Jr. Gold and 19U players. Waivers for all other levels will be discretionary and must be requested every season.

Players who received a school waiver prior to the 2024-2025 season will be 'grandfathered' in and will be allowed to continue playing with MYHA.

If the player is not a United States citizen they must submit  a Youth Transfer Player form  through USA Hockey before they will be allowed to play. The form can be found on the USA Hockey website.  

Please contact the MYHA Registrar, Mandy Whiteside, at registrar@tonkahockey.org if you have questions about your eligibility or the waiver process. 

Please contact Chris at treasurer@tonkahockey.org if you have questions about regarding billing.

If you would like to inquire about a scholarship. Please visit https://www.tonkahockey.org/scholarship-application 

If you have a registration question, please direct to Mandy at registrar@tonkahockey.org