Mite Hockey

NOTE: Head coaches will be reaching out to Termite players in late-September, and Supermite players in October.

Remember the Termite Kickoff Event at OMC on Friday, October 3rd and other key dates listed below.

Dear Mite Families,

As we get ready to drop the puck on the 2025-2026 Mite season, I would like to welcome our new hockey players to RYHA and would encourage all families to be ambassadors for Rochester Hockey to help grow the game. Some ideas include recommending Try Hockey Free days (dates below), answering questions about our program, offering to share some outgrown equipment, or sharing the fun of Outdoor Hockey Day on social media.

For the overall aim of Mite Hockey: each year we look to find ways to balance fun and skill development to get your child’s hockey career started. Very few sports offer a better base of athleticism for agility, balance, and coordination than Hockey. Our season will start in October and go through early March.

The Mite program will be hosting an Outdoor Hockey Day in January on the unofficial holiday “Hockey Day Minnesota”. RYHA Outdoor Hockey Day is a great event for the kids to play outdoors and have some fun in the middle of winter. 

Also, this year at the Supermite level we are adding a “Rover” program for our advanced Supermites. This is something that was done in years past with RYHA and we are able to offer it again now. More info on the Rochester Rovers program is detailed below.

Please check the volunteer box during registration if you are interested in volunteering. There are plenty of opportunities to help make the hockey season run smoothly and we can always use volunteers for the following events:

• Try Hockey
• Outdoor Hockey Day
• Team parents, clock operators, and equipment helpers
• Other off ice activities

If you are interested, please email us through the Mite Hockey website and we will provide additional information. 

I look forward to another great season and all the fun that goes along with Mite Hockey.

Thanks,

Kris Langlie

Rochester Mite Hockey Director

Termites:

Our termite season will kick off at OMC Sports Medicine and Athletic Performance with a tour of the facility and handing out of jerseys on Friday, Oct. 3rd. Once a month our termites will visit OMC for basic dryland drills or Hockey Room training on synthetic ice. OMC offer excellent supervision in working with our young players. On-ice sessions will start on Oct. 25th and are typically every Saturday for 1 hour starting sometime between 8am and 1pm. These on-ice sessions will be where players work on basic hockey skills and play fun tag games. Additionally, about every third week, there will be 1 hour of Cross Ice Games (mini hockey games) on Sunday at various times throughout the day.   

Refer to our Mite hockey skills guidelines.

Supermites:

Our Supermite group is set-up to help our kids fall in love with hockey after learning the basics in Termites. Still a big emphasis on fun and developing all players into athletes; plus the games start to look a little more like hockey. The season will also start in October with some initial sessions at OMC and the first on-ice session the week of October 20th, 2025.

We do our best to group teams by schools.

Tentative Season Summary: 23 practices, 9 miniboard games, 7 cross ice games, 3 full ice games, 3 OMC Synthetic Ice, 6 OMC Dryland, 1 Outdoor Hockey Day

On the ice, coaches roughly sort players by ability in practice stations (4 to 6 groups), miniboard games (2 groups), and cross ice games (3 groups) to help maximize even competition and development.

Rovers:

The Rover program is for our Supermite players that were early to develop above average hockey skills and drive and they want more ice time and competition. Players can go to an Advanced Supermite Evaluation to be selected for one of the three Rover teams (this used to be the Supemite to Squirt Evaluation). During the early season, there is the potential that a handful of additional Supermite players will be given the option to join a Rover team as well. The three Rover teams will be sorted for balance... as best we can for this age group (kids have big jumps in development thru the year).

With this change Supermite aged players will now stay in Mites and the Advanced Supermite Evaluation will be used to select the Rover teams. There is potential for a couple players being allowed to tryout for Squirt B concluding the Advanced Supermite Evaluation (then they must make Squirt B to play Squirt). Players previously evaluated to Squirts do not attend the Evaluation. 

So, the majority of all Supermite aged players will be in Supermite/Rover, and potentially a couple players will be in Squirt B.

We are working through the details on how best to set-up the Rover ice schedule. 

Rover Full Ice Games: 6 games with refs (2 against Rovers, 4 against SqC)

There is an additional level fee to cover the extra ice and refs.

Cross Ice Games:

We will continue to promote small area games through an hour of scrimmages throughout the month for all our Mite skaters. These sessions will be strictly cross ice small area games which maximize puck touches and player interactions at these young levels. Cross ice games will be held mostly during midweek sessions for Supermite and once a month on Sunday mornings for Termites. 

Girls City League (GCL):

Girls City League program combines our girls Supermite (8U) players and some 10U girls that may be new to hockey or not quite ready for traveling hockey yet. The format of the schedule and development is very similar to our Supermite program. They skate on Saturdays and Sundays, and every once in a while have another ice session sprinkled in during the week. Tuesday evenings they attend training sessions at OMC Sports Medical & Athletic Performance (SMAP) facility.

Key Dates:

Mite Online Registration opens: August

Try Hockey for Free Day: 

• Dates:  
• Saturday, August 30, 9:30-10:30am
• Saturday, September 13, 9:30-10:30am
• Saturday, September 27, 9:30-10:30am
• Saturday, October 18, 9:30-10:30am (Girls only)
• Location: Rec Center
• TRY HOCKEY FREE LINK

Termite Kickoff -

• Date: Friday, October 3rd
• Time: 6pm - 8:00pm (Teams will be assigned a specific 30 minute time slot)
• Location: OMC Sports Medicine and Athletic Performance Center

Termite season starts

• First OMC Training Session: One Saturday or Sunday in October Assigned by Team
• First Ice Date: Saturday, October 25th
• Typical weekly schedule:  (subject to change due to ice availability)
• Weekday - OMC (once a month)
• Saturday - Practice - Generally between 8am and 1pm
• Sunday - Cross Ice games (once or twice a month) - Generally between 8am and 11am

Supermite season starts 

• First OMC Training Session: One Saturday or Sunday in October Assigned by Team
• First Ice Date: Saturday, October 25th
• Typical weekly schedule: (subject to change due to ice availability)
• OMC Sports Facility (twice a month on a weekday from 5:30-6:15pm)
• Ice Times (approx.): 24 practices, 9 miniboard games, 7 cross ice games, 3 full ice games

(most Saturdays and Sundays with some weekday sessions)

Outdoor Hockey Day (“Hockey Day Minnesota”): 

• Date: Saturday, Jan 24th, 2026
• Time: 9am - 5pm
• Location: Soldiers Field