Hockey families are often concerned with finding access to hockey after the winter season is over or leading up to the start of winter hockey. Below, we'll try to provide an overview of some of the local opportunities to continue playing hockey by age group. The age groups below aren't an exact science - you'll need to figure out if opportunities are available by birth year, a player's age on the first day of the program, etc. For more information on spring and summer hockey, please visit our Skills & Off-Season Training page in the "Player Resources" section of this website. For more information on the winter hockey programs that Middleton Youth Hockey offers, please visit Our Youth Hockey Levels page.

It's probably important that we ensure that off-season hockey is tons of fun for our hockey players. Yes, it's more ice time and the potential for player development; no - it shouldn't feel like a job to your youth hockey player. It's also tough to beat roller hockey for fun!

Middleton Youth Hockey successfully piloted a "Blue Puck Summer" program this year that we'll extend to the youngest skaters next summer. Verona and West Madison run skating courses for young kids. There aren't a ton of other off-season hockey options for kids this young. You might be able to find an introduction to skating program or even just a few open skates to get them used to stepping onto the ice with skates on. You might also introduce them to rollerblading with a pair of adjustably-sized skates (and helmet & pads).

Once school begins again in the autumn, these kids will attend Middleton's Learn-to-Play Program or a local learn-to-skate option. If they've already done LTP and seem to be ready to play on a team and with a puck, we evaluate potentially moving them to a Cross-Ice (see below) team on a case-by-case basis.

Middleton Youth Hockey will offer our "Blue Puck Summer" program again next summer. There aren't a lot of local summer hockey options for these kiddos. Amy Claggett runs great skating programs out of Waunakee's rink for U6 and up. Hockey Factory offers a U6/U8 skills program from McFarland Community Ice Arena. There are a few other local learn-to-skate options, like Madison Ice Skating School, that could provide more ice skating exposure. We encourage these kids to try another sport or play roller hockey.

In late autumn, our 5 & 6-year-olds either head to Learn to Play or Cross-Ice hockey.

This is where summer programs are more widely available. Middleton Youth Hockey will run "Summer Blue Puck" sessions again in the summer. LEAD hockey runs a good small-area-games focused program in Verona. Amy Claggett runs hockey skating & skills camps in Waunakee. Legacy20 often offers their own hockey programs in the summer. Hockey Factory hosts a 7-week summer development program in McFarland. Hockey Factory occasionally runs a program from Sun Prairie, too. Madison Ice Skating School could be a good option for a player this age that still needs some introductory skating instruction.

Like a level younger, we encourage these kids to try another sport or play roller hockey. In late autumn, these skaters will head to Red, White & Blue hockey.

In the early winter, these players will head to a Squirt (U10) team. Player evaluation and sorting by approximate skill grouping will occur early in the season.