Kicking off 2025/26 Season

Hello 8U girls families and friends! I’m Milan, and I’ll be the coordinator for the 8U Girls teams this season and I will try to share here everything that might be relevant to you or your athletes.

I want to give you all a warm welcome to Sno-King Hockey! This is my second year coaching and some of you may know me from the 8U program in Snoqualmie or from last Spring Selects. This year both of my daughters will be playing in 8U, Stella is back for her second season, and Melissa is starting her first.

Our friends at Sno-King are working hard to finalize all the details to get us started. In the meantime, I’d like to share some basics based on last season’s experience and recent meetings with Sno-King staff. Please keep in mind that some details (schedules, personnel, etc.) may still change at the last minute.

Teams

I’m very excited that we will have four 8U girls teams this season!

• 1 Major Girls team (Snoqualmie)

• 3 Minor Girls teams (Snoqualmie, Renton, and Kirkland)

Our head coaching volunteers are:

1. Major Snoqualmie - Milan

2. Minor Snoqualmie - Chris

3. Minor Kirkland - Mike

4. Minor Renton - Kyle

Each head coach will manage their roster and will be reaching out in the next few days. Expect to be asked for details like jersey numbers and sizes, volunteer sign-ups for team manager roles, locker room music, or even the goalie spot for the first week!

For new families: each team will be assigned its own color and can come up with a team name. For example, last year my daughter’s team was the Golden Bumblebees. It sounded cute, but they knew how to sting (and stink)!

Communication

This week Sno-King admins will set up communication channels and teams in the Sprocket App. Each player will be added to their team, and we’ll also have an 8U All Girls channel. Most updates will come through Sprocket once it’s ready.

I ask all parents and volunteers to use Sprocket regularly to mark your (and your athlete’s) availability for practices and games. This is very important for coaches to create effective weekly practice plans.

Practices

This is probably the most common question, I asked it a few times myself! The final schedule is not yet confirmed (nor published), but here’s what I’ve heard (please don’t hold me to it):

1. Snoqualmie - Monday and Friday

2. Kirkland - Monday and Thursday

3. Renton - Monday and Tuesday

Regular practices are scheduled to begin September 2nd and they usually start at 5-5:30pm.

Jerseys

If we follow last year’s model, athletes will receive practice jerseys and socks at the first practice. Practice jerseys will have random numbers and may all be the same size. Game jerseys and socks should be ready after a few weeks. These will be personalized with players’ names and numbers, and in the sizes chosen during sign-ups (coaches will share a spreadsheet soon to confirm this information).

Skills dedicated sessions

Sno-King plans to provide optional skills sessions again this season. They were very beneficial last year, and I’m grateful they’ll be offered again. While not officially confirmed, it might look like this:

• 8U/10U All-Girls skills session – Wednesdays at 5pm in Snoqualmie

• Goalie clinics – Sundays in Renton (time TBC)

• Possible skills session in Kirkland (day/time TBC)

More details will be shared as soon as they’re finalized.

Games

The Major team will play in the Girls Division of the Metropolitan Hockey League (MHL). This is the third year for a girls division, and it’s been very competitive. We’ll face teams from Tacoma, Kraken, and Seattle Jr. (Red Hawks), with possible coed games as well. Playoffs will take place at the end of the season. Games are expected to start in late September or early October.

Minor teams will alternate between House League and MHL games. Some say the split will be 50/50, others 75/25.

From last year’s House League experience games were usually Saturdays in Kirkland at 2pm, with occasional games in Snoqualmie at 8am. Each “game” is actually three 20-minute mini-games. Six teams (a mix of girls and goad teams) play at once, with the ice divided into three cross-ice sections. Teams change shifts every 90 seconds, controlled by a central clock/horn (managed weekly by a volunteer from a rotating team).

Tournaments

Tournaments are one of my favorite parts of hockey, they’re such fun weekends for the girls both on and off the ice! This season, we’ll be looking at:

• Remembrance Day. Burnaby, BC. November 7-9 (all girls)

• Great Outdoor Classic. Winthrop, WA. January 9 - 11 (coed)

• Voyagers Cup, Seattle, WA. January 18-20 (all girls)

• 8U SnoKing Jamboree, Snoqualmie. March 7-8 (coed)

• Tricities Female Ice Classic, Coquitlam, BC. Mar 14-16 (all girls)

• Richmond Ice Classic, Richmond, BC. March 27^th - 29^th (all girls)

Tournaments may be added or adjusted depending on opportunities and family interest.

For many of the tournaments up in Canada we will be mixing the teams. Combining teams allows for more players to attend and gives us enough players on the bench. All tournaments are optional! We'll share more information as the registration for these tournaments opens. Please watch out for tournament sign up sheets from coaches soon.

Accommodation during tournaments

As we will be registering for tournaments, Sno-King staff and our team managers will share details about recommended hotels to ensure we get the best rates and stay as close to the venues as possible. Many more details will be shared as we get further into the season.

Thanks for hanging in there with me and as soon as we have more information this week we will set up a meeting via Teams to go over details for the season. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to reach out.

Coach Milan