2026-2027 Travel Season Parent Meeting
Jr. Trevians Families,
Thank you to everyone who joined us for Sunday’s parent meeting. We appreciate you taking the time to hear about our plans for the 2026 - 2027 season and to ask questions of the board and hockey staff.
For those who were unable to attend, or as a quick refresher for those who were, we wanted to highlight a few of the key points from the meeting. You can view the slides presented at the meeting here.
Our Goal for Jr. Trevians Hockey
Our goal is to provide a top youth hockey program where players can develop their skills, compete at the highest level that is right for them, and enjoy playing hockey.
We are proud to be rooted in Wilmette, while striving to field the most competitive Tier 2 program in Illinois. Just as importantly, we want every Jr. Trevians player, regardless of team placement, to have an opportunity to improve and have a positive hockey experience.
What’s New This Season
We are continuing to invest in player development across the program, including:
- Wednesday morning, age-specific Jr. Trevians Breakfast Club skills skates (look for more info soon, skates start after Labor Day)
- More full-ice practice opportunities for all Bantam and PeeWee teams, as well as some Squirt teams
- Continued weekly skills and powerskating with Cory Hextall and Jeff Rozanski for our Squirt - Bantam travel players
- Consistent development approach at age levels, including having Cory Hextall (Director of Player Development and Squirt Major/Minor coach) working directly with all Squirt teams as part of an increased focus on age-level development
- Enhanced goalie development through our new partnership with Goalie Nation Academy
- Improved and consistent team slush-fund transparency through shared tracking available to parents on the team
Tryouts and Team Placement
With tryouts approaching, we spent considerable time discussing how the evaluation and placement process works.
Our objective is to place every player on the team that best matches their current level of development, while building competitive teams and creating the best possible environment for players to continue improving.
A few important things for families to understand:
- No single coach makes roster decisions. Team placements are based on the collective judgment of multiple experienced hockey evaluators. Multiple coaches are involved or consulted for every tryout so that multiple viewpoints are considered and previous knowledge of a player can be factored into decisions.
- While tryouts are the primary component of the evaluation process, other factors are considered including a player’s performance during previous seasons.
- Hockey players cannot be evaluated based on one drill, one shift or one score. Evaluators consider skating and puck skills, hockey sense and decision-making, compete level and work ethic, positioning and awareness, coachability, attitude and behavior, team play, athleticism, positional fit and team needs.
- Tryouts are closed to parents so players can focus on playing without additional distractions and so evaluators can conduct the process independently.
We also ask parents to help us make the process work as intended. Please do not contact hockey staff before or during tryouts regarding your player’s potential team placement.
Once teams are announced, we ask families to wait 24 hours before contacting hockey staff regarding a placement decision, unless you are contacting us to decline a roster spot. Jeff will be happy to talk with you about your player’s tryout and placement to help you better understand their current level of development and potential opportunities for growth if you would like, but we ask that you wait until after tryouts are over and all teams are rostered since it is an extremely busy time of the year for him and our staff.
Most importantly, when teams are announced, please be excited for your player and the opportunity in front of them. Our staff works hard to place players where we believe they can develop, contribute and have a successful season.
Parent and Player Expectations
We also want to reinforce the role parents play in creating a positive environment for our players and our program. We ask parents to be supportive spectators, respect the role of coaches and officials, and model the type of sportsmanship we expect from our players. Please encourage good effort and respect for teammates, opponents, coaches and referees.
Our Zero Tolerance policies apply to players, parents and coaches. Derogatory language directed at or about another person based on race, sexual orientation, gender or similar characteristics is unacceptable under any circumstances and will result in a suspension.
Please take a few minutes before the season begins to review these expectations with your player. The behavior of our players and families reflects on the entire Jr. Trevians program, and we want our club to be known for competing hard while treating others with respect.
A Few Other Reminders
- The final travel jersey and uniform fitting with Jerry’s Hockey will be Wednesday, September 2 from 5:00–6:30 p.m. at Centennial.
- Jr. Trevians warm-ups are required for all travel players (available through Jerry’s at the jersey fitting)
- Jr. Trevians Day at NSIA is October 17th, including games throughout the day, food and drinks, raffle prizes and a banner raising celebrating last season’s accomplishments.
- Volunteer opportunities, including helping with tryout and conditioning-clinic check-ins, are available here.
We are excited about the direction of the program and are looking forward to another great season of Jr. Trevians hockey.
Thank you again for being part of the Jr. Trevians community, and good luck to all of our players at tryouts.
Go Jr. Trevians!
Jeremy Hollis
President
Jeff Rozanski
Hockey Director