My oldest began hockey in 1st grade right after he was diagnosed with Type I diabetes.  Insulin is not a cure for diabetes, but a lifelong management of a non-functioning pancreas, only when combined with aggressive food nutrition and structured exercise.  Of all the sports we were surrounded with, hockey had the longest season (almost 6 months – most bang for the buck) and my son had a shift on the ice every 4 minutes or so.  That doesn’t happen in basketball or baseball when you can be delegated to the bench in preference to an star player.  We deem his hockey time as medically important to his excellent health as any insulin he injects. He learned to skate that first year with a starting hockey program which had 5 year olds, 10 year olds and even a few teenagers.

Skating on the ice with hockey blades is important and can be done at any free skate; again hockey blades, not figure skating boots with a toe pick.  Hockey blades are straight from tip to tip, no toe pick, so you propel yourself differently than with figure skating.  This type of intro can be done through rental and open free skate at any rink, no equipment necessary, and the whole family can enjoy it.  My kids all love to skate, and we do it frequently enough.

On the team he plays now, Bantam is for 13-14 year olds, there is a boy who began skating last year and he is an active part of the team, on a shift rotation every 3.  His later start has affected how well he understood the strategy of the game, i.e. its easy to cause an offsides foul if you are on the wrong side of the ice when your team has the puck, but it hasn’t prevented his investment as a team player.  A later start in hockey could mean that your boy could begin in a checking team.  Checking is when an opponant hits another, sometimes little sometimes hard.  Squirts for most leagues is a non-checking play, age 9-10, Pee Wee is the first year of checking, age 11-12.  It is preferrable to learn the game as an athlete before it begins to get rough (non-checking), so that you have the strategy and speed to get out of the way, avoid a check, or just pass to a teammate.  I consider that learning in Squirts is an exceptional time to play the game, and late winter early spring frequently has hockey teams running a clinic for Learning to Play as a recruitment for the next season (typically beginning about August).  There are frequently spring teams and even summer for larger ice arenas – good luck for your investigation.  I’ll seek out some web sites in the Buffalo area for learn to play and get back to you.