Team Formation, Balancing, and Requests, CVHA House League (City of Vaughan Hockey)

CVHA house league hockey provides EQUAL ICE TIME for all our players, regardless of their skill, ability, or experience.  The basic premise of house league hockey is that every player receives the same time to enjoy the game of hockey.  This is a strictly enforced policy.  For those looking for fair or earned ice time, we invite you to explore our Vaughan Rangers program.

The CVHA will hold skill sessions beginning in the month of September. and will run for multiple weekends.  These are run by our coaches and provide players the opportunity to work on their basic skill set of skating, stickhandling, passing and shooting.  These are done before team formation, with two main goals in mind:

1.  Most players have been off all summer as most have not been on the ice since last season, and this provides them the opportunity to get back into hockey;

2.  To determine each players skill set so that when teams are drafted and/or formed, the division can have parity.  It is important that all players attend these sessions for these reasons.  

THE CVHA HAS ELIMINATED REQUESTS IN THE U10-U18 DIVISIONS EFFECTIVE FOR THE 2025-2026 SEASON.  NO REQUESTS WILL BE CONSIDERED.  

The goal of house league hockey is to provide a safe and fun experience for our youth.  Part of that is learning to socialize and make new friends, and hockey has always been a fantastic way to meet new people.  Our teams are welcoming and our players always have a great time no matter what team they are on and who their coach and teammates are. 

Our teams in the U10 to U18 divisions are drafted each year based on the player assessments done during the skill sessions in the season's first two weeks.

Ensuring balanced teams is challenging to begin with. However, it becomes next to impossible once you add players who request to play with one another.  We have had overwhelming feedback from parents, coaches, and our convenors that player requests are a big part of why balancing teams has become difficult.  Our goal is to look out for the entire division, and so the CVHA have implemented a NO REQUEST POLICY for our U10-U18 divisions. 

REQUESTS IN THE U6/U7/U8/U9 DIVISIONS

The CVHA does not guarantee any requests from any coach, parent or sponsor.  The CVHA will only take into consideration parent requests if there are extenuating circumstances of a player’s team placement.  These are considerations and there is no assurance that your request will be guaranteed. 

Requests due to car pooling, friends who played together before, coaching preferences, etc… will not be guaranteed and that most requests for these reasons will not be approved.  Players and families should understand this before signing up. These requests have created significant issues in ensuring team parity, and our foremost goal is to have all of our players have a fun and fair season.

Requests for players to play together will only be considered (not guaranteed) if both families submit identical requests.  Furthermore, any requests that include more than one player and/or multiple requests from the same player will not be considered.

All requests must be submitted by August 31, 2025 (the link below will close), and no request after that will be considered. This is the only way we will collect them. In the past, we would take requests at the assessment skates or by email, but these will no longer be accepted. You will be guided to the website to submit your request. 

Player Request Form 

No matter what team a player is on, they will enjoy their time at hockey and meet and make new friends!  That is what hockey is all about!

Teams are formed in the U6-U9 divisions by the Division Convenors based on the skill sessions, to evenly distribute players of various ability.

A division draft will occur for divisions from U10 to U18.  Coaches assist in the balancing process by attending all the skill session skates and properly ranking each player.  At the draft, coaches select players with the ultimate goal of each team having a similar skill level so that teams can be competitive.  As these are drafts, please understand that players may be selected to any team, and that coaches may only select players that are available during their turn.  Therefore, requests to be with certain coaches are not possible.

The CVHA House League program will do their very best to balance all teams in all divisions.  Understandably, this is a very difficult task, as it involves various factors such as team chemistry and player development throughout the season, factors that are difficult to account for.  It is the discretion of the Team Formation Committee on how each Division’s teams will be formed.

Division Convenors, Head Convenors and the VP’s of House League will observe play during the Pre-Season Period for balancing purposes.  If additional time is required for the observations, balancing timelines will be adjusted accordingly.  We recognize that players are just returning to the ice from the off season and will take time to adjust back.  This is taken into account during balancing.

Divisions will continuously be reviewed to determine the necessary trades that will be required to ensure there is parity across the division.  Players who are traded have the added benefit of making additional friends and getting to know more players.  Being traded is not a negative experience, and in fact, we have always found it to be a positive for the player.  Again, should your player be traded, it has been done in the best interest of the entire division.  We want all teams to be competitive which provides for the best experience for everyone.

We are aware that it can be difficult for a player to move to another team and so we do our best to minimize the number of trades made.  Cooperation and support from players, parents, and coaches are both necessary and appreciated.  Positive reinforcement and discussing with your player that this carries many positives provides them with the confidence and positive outlook that they should have going into this.