COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The four-day USA Hockey Winter Meeting, which included more than 350 hockey leaders from around the country, concluded last Sunday (Jan. 18) in Nashville and featured wide-ranging conversations on all areas of the game focused on bettering the sport.

“It’s energizing coming out of our meetings,” said Pat Kelleher, executive director of USA Hockey. “I’m always impressed by the passion and sharing of diverse opinions to help move our sport forward. And while the general feeling was that our game is in a good place, we also know we must be actively engaged in adapting as our environment continues to change.”

Development League Approved
Marking a significant step forward in the evolution of player development, the USA Hockey Congress approved the establishment of the USA Hockey Development League (DL).

The Development League will not be a league in the traditional sense, but rather a collection of Tier I youth programs across the country collaborating to optimize player development. The DL is focused on advancement for high performance development in both the 15U and 17U youth age categories. It is anticipated to include 32 programs nationally that will include DL teams committed to following American Development Model (ADM) guidelines for each age group. 

The programs will be selected utilizing factors including, but not limited to, past performance, commitment to player development and history of player advancement. Following the identification of those programs, each will form DL teams in the age categories. 

A FAQ can be found HERE, and additional details will continue to be shared as the first DL program guidebook is formalized by the beginning of May. 

“The DL is the next step forward in advancing our high performance efforts in serving the hockey community,” said Mike Trimboli, president of USA Hockey. “I commend the thorough process that took place to gather information and feedback from our affiliates, current Tier I operators, our partners in junior hockey and the many other interested groups. While we’re excited about what the future will bring, there is still much work to be done to be ready to launch the DL in time for the 2027-28 season.

Participation Remains Strong
Participation numbers were shared during the meeting and showed year-over-year growth in the number of players, coaches and officials. It is expected that the number of female players will surpass 100,000 for the first time ever this season. Donna Kaufman, vice president of USA Hockey and chair of the Membership Council, and Ted Devine, assistant executive director of membership for USA Hockey, led a Town Hall presentation on Saturday (Jan. 17) focused on analytics and shared with attendees new ways, including utilization of AI, in which USA Hockey will assist affiliates and programs in understanding their overall footprint, including trends and opportunities to attract new families to the game.

Olympics/Paralympics
The general managers of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic hockey teams, including Bill Guerin(men), Katie Million (women) and Dan Brennan (sled) were on hand and addressed attendees during Friday’s (Jan. 16) Town Hall. The U.S. heads into the Olympics and Paralympics as the top-ranked team in the world in men’s hockey, women’s hockey and sled hockey.

Membership Fees Set
The USA Hockey Congress approved membership fees for the 2026-27 season. USA Hockey utilizes the consumer price index as a guideline for fee adjustments. An overview can be found HERE.

President’s Awards
USA Hockey President Mike Trimboli presented President’s Awards to volunteers Chris Washburn (Old Town, Maine) and Jeremy Reed (New Ulm, Minnesota) and staff member Ben Tronnes (Mitchell, S.D.).