What can I expect at placement sessions?
Placement FAQs
Do I have to attend the placement sessions?
Yes. All players need to attend placement sessions to ensure proper division placement and fair team creation. These sessions are also for conditioning and practicing skills that you are unable to focus on in game situations. This is your ice time, please use it. Players registering in the Green Division do not undergo an evaluation of skill as there are no minimal skill requirements. Instead these sessions will be used for conditioning.
Can I attend more than my assigned placement session?
You are required to attend a minimum of 1 session. The Placement Coordinator may request that you attend a placement session for the division higher or lower than the one to which you were previously assigned. The Placement Coordinators will contact you directly if this is the case.
What if I can’t make a placement session?
Please inform the Placement Coordinator and offer to make up the session by attending another one. You must make arrangements with the Placement Coordinator to ensure that you attend the required placement sessions. If you do not attend placement sessions and you have not made other arrangements with the Placement Coordinator, the division in which you will eventually be placed may fill up and you risk not having a roster spot available for you in that division. You are strongly encouraged to make every effort to attend placement sessions.
What color jersey should I wear to the placement sessions?
Returning Players: Please bring both your light and dark NCWHL jerseys. You will be told what jersey to wear when you sign in at the rink.
New Players: Please bring both light and dark numbered non-NCWHL jerseys. You will be told which jersey to wear when you sign in at the rink.
Do I have to submit my registration before placements?
Yes, only registered players are allowed on the ice due to insurance coverage reasons.
Other questions?
Please check out our FAQs for additional answers and our Placement Rules for more information.
Our Philosophy
The overarching philosophy of the NCWHL placement process is to ensure that players fit into the midpoint of the division they are placed in. That means that the evaluators are looking at the average skater in the division, and you may see skaters who are slower or less skilled at your placement sessions. In addition, because of the nature of the game, we place an equal emphasis on skills and on in-game play. Over the years, we’ve seen that the players who fit into their divisions the best are those who are at midpoint for both drills and game play.
Every hopeful skater will be looked at by a minimum of three different evaluators. We get evaluators who are familiar with hockey and they are asked to anonymously evaluate a skater (they are given a jersey color and number, not a name). Evaluators cannot evaluate for the division they are currently skating in. The Placement Coordinator will then tally their scores and place the skaters based on their results. You may ask the Placement Coordinator for your feedback after the completion of evaluations. She will provide any written comments, but will not provide any numeric scores.
We strive to ensure that every skater is placed where she belongs. That means that there is not a predetermined number of spots available in any division. This is also one of the reasons the schedule takes a few weeks to come out after the evaluation placements are finalized. We can make projections, but can’t finalize division sizes until the results are complete.
The evaluation process has evolved over time to make it as fair and objective as possible. We continue to look at what went well and what didn’t after every season’s evaluations, so we can make any necessary improvements.
As you know, our league is made possible thanks to the time and efforts of many volunteers. As we head into the next season, we encourage you to skate as a benchmark, make yourself available as an evaluator, and help make sure everyone understands the process.
If you have any additional questions, please reach out to your Division Coordinator.