High Plains Hockey is a league for players in grades 9-12 attending High School in Colorado.  Our teams are organized around public school attendance areas in order to promote school and community spirit.

 

Many schools (public and private) have their own team.  Others, with fewer players in attendance, have combined with nearby schools to form teams.  Recognition from the schools varies from district to district and school to school ranging from official club sport status, including varsity letters, to no formal affiliation or recognition.

 

Players that homeschool, attend open-enrollment, charter, or private schools without a team affiliation are assigned to teams based on the public school attendance area they live in.  A few of our teams are not able to take players from outside of their school per their district/school policy.  Private, charter, open-enrollment, homeschooled players living in these areas will be assigned to a near by team by the HPHL Player Placement Committee.

 

Players living in the area of or attending a public school without a team affiliation will also be assigned to a near by team by the HPHL Player Placement Committee.

 

The fall or winter (club, CPHL or CHSAA) team that a player is on has no bearing on which HPHL team that player will play for.

 

Our teams are arranged into geographical divisions for administrative purposes.  Each geographical division has a Board member assigned as its’ Division Director. 

 

For competitive purposes, teams are arranged in tiers.  Tiers are based on the predicted ability levels of the teams and are redone each season.  Tier 1 Varsity includes our most competitive teams.  We also have a tier 2 and a tier 3 Varsity, often tier 4 as well.  Arrangement of Junior Varsity teams is dependent on the number of JV teams, so can vary from season to season. 

 

Not every school will have enough players to field a JV team.  The HPHL Player Placement Committee will make every effort to place all players released from the Varsity team at schools that do not also have a JV team on another near by JV team or lower level varsity team.

 

We also offer a Girls’ Division.  Girls can choose to play on a girls’ team, coed team, or both. 

 

Tryouts are typically held mid February through the first week of March.  Depending on player numbers some teams may elect to forgo a tryout.  Games start in mid March, with practices beginning a week or so prior to the first game.  While we try to schedule around the different spring breaks, all players should be prepared for games on the Friday and possibly also Saturday leading into spring break. The regular season ends in early May and is followed by a playoff tournament for each tier/division.  Our playoffs typically end the Saturday of Mother’s Day weekend.

 

The regular season consists of:

Varsity - 12 games and 6 hours of ice which can be used for tryouts, practices, non-league games.  

JV - 10 games and 6 hours of ice which can be used for tryouts, practices, non-league games.

Girls - 10 games, and 6 hours of ice which can be used for tryouts, practices, non-league games.

 

Varsity games have 17-minute stop clock periods, with an ice make in between the 2nd and 3rd period.

JV and Girls’ games have 15-minute stop clock periods and no ice make during the games.

 

Players pay a nominal membership fee to the league to sign up and a more substantial fee to their team.  The teams in turn pay a team fee to HPHL, which covers ice, officials, scorekeeping, administration, etc.  Each team/club sets it’s own player fees and payment policies based on number of players, use of sponsors, fundraising, jersey costs, etc.  For specific information regarding player fees contact the Club Coordinator of the team in question.

 

HPHL offers need-based scholarships.  See Scholarships for more information.

 

We hope this has answered some of your basic questions about our league!

 

Contact us at highplainshockey@gmail.com if you have any additional questions.