It is clear that keeping hockey skills sharp is enhanced with some off-season playing time. In that regard, we will continue the Cougar Summer League and Cougar in-house to include off-season hockey participation . . . for free. Here are basics of the program:

For the Mites, Squirts and Pee Wees, year-around participation in our in-house Cougar program is now included in your Cougar Norcal travel fees. We offer full seasons in the Fall, Winter and Spring, and these leagues cover nearly all of the calendar year, with some time off for the holidays and between seasons. The Cougar in-house program includes one practice and one league game per week, with playoffs for all teams at the end of each season. Your annual savings for the three in-house Cougar seasons are well over $1,400.

For the Bantams, Midget 16's, Midgets and AA players, inclusion in the Cougar Summer League is included in your Cougar Norcal travel fees. The Summer League is an all-game, no-practice format, perfect for the Bantam and Midget aged player who wants to have some fun playing in the summer and still keep the skills sharp.



Every season, we evaluate what it costs us to operate the Cougar organization and see where we can generate some savings. We do this so that we can minimize the price we have to charge to the individual Cougar players for the season. This season, we have no choice but to raise our fees a bit over last year to reflect the increased costs we are incurring, especially energy costs. However, our prices are very, very competitive with any other club in Norcal; just looking at tryout cost for the AA teams, for example, it is clear that we charge less and/or offer more ice time, than our competitors. We expect that comparison to hold true for season dues, too.

That isn't the whole story, though. In addition to offering very competitive fees, we also offer some substantial extra's that further lower the overall cost for the entire year. We want to keep on offering some extra value for your club fees, so we have continued the free participation in our off-season Cougar Summer League for the Bantam, Midget 16, Midget and AA Team players, while the Mite, Squirt and Pee Wee players receive free participation in the in-house Cougar programs for the entire year, from September through August. We are developing a Goalie Instruction Program for this season, where we will have a Goalie coach working with each goalie during their team practices and also conducting all-hands sessions where all Cougar goalies may attend for goalie-specific drills and instruction.

We offer the Mite, Squirt and Pee Wee players free participation in our Cougar in-house League for two reasons. First, we want to have these young players get as much ice time as possible, so an extra practice session and game per week is perfect. The second reason is that we want these Cougar Mite, Squirt and Pee Wee players to be examples and recruiters for our Cougar inhouse players. Like all clubs, we especially need participation at the younger age levels, and we have a strong Cougar in-house program from which we want to develop and encourage players to play on the Cougar Norcal travel teams. We have an agreement with the Belmont in-house group so they will now be a part of the Cougar program. The Belmont in-house program has nearly 100 mite aged participants currently and we are excited to work together with Belmont.



As we did last season, we will offer a payment plan to be paid over five payments. Payment dates will now be on Commitment Day (the day a player signs the Commitment Form to play for the Cougars), October, November, January and February. As with last season, we can only offer the Payment Plan in conjunction with either a Visa or MasterCard credit card payment for each month. Details for specific payment plans are on the Payment Forms.



The fees for the 2008-09 Cougar Norcal travel and tier season are:

Squirt, Pee Wee, Bantam, Midget/Midget 16: $1,900
Mite: $1,200
AA: $2,500

For those wishing to breakup the fee into payments, our Payment Plan mentioned above will be offered at five payments, with specifics covered on the Payment Forms.



Without a doubt, the Cougars have the coolest jerseys in NORCAL, if not all of youth hockey.  These are a special cut the club orders from the manufacturer and they have about a 4-6 week lead-time.  In order for the jerseys to arrive in a timely fashion, they will need to be ordered on the day of team selection if a player needs them. Home and away jerseys are needed, and the estimated cost is $135.00 each.  Payment for these is cash or check only.

Every effort will be made to give each player the number they would like.  The priority on number assignments will go to returning players, and each new player is asked to submit three options for their jersey number so there are no duplicates.


If you have any questions, please e-mail the Friends of the Cougars.