As parents of young hockey players and proud members of our growing Carver County community, we are deeply concerned about the direction youth hockey is taking in our local association and school district. We are calling for meaningful change.

Our communities—Carver, Chaska, Victoria, and Chanhassen—are experiencing rapid population growth. With this growth comes a unique opportunity to build strong, sustainable hockey programs rooted in development, community, and long-term success. We’ve invested in this vision, including the new Chanhassen Bluffs Community Center—a regional $80 million facility with two full-size indoor rinks—demonstrating our commitment to youth sports and wellness.

As parents, we want our children to grow through community-based programs, developing skills and a love for the game alongside peers from our neighborhoods. But this vision is being compromised by Minnesota Hockey’s school waiver rule, which allows players to join an association based on the school they attend—even if they live outside the association’s boundaries.

Originally intended to support families with unique educational needs, the rule is now being used strategically to bypass residency requirements and stack teams. A key example is Breakaway Academy, a private K–8 school with campuses in Chaska and Eden Prairie. Despite its upper school being outside CCHA boundaries, students from both campuses can join CCHA through the waiver rule—based on a District 6 decision that treats the Chaska campus as the “home” location.

This loophole allows players from outside our community—such as a player from Orono or Eden Prairie—to join CCHA simply by attending Breakaway. Because over 90% of Breakaway students play hockey, this has led to a surge of non-resident players entering CCHA, drawn by the perception of stronger teams and better tournament outcomes.

In 2024, Minnesota Hockey updated the waiver rule to require players to obtain a school-based waiver before their first year of Squirts or 10U. If they stop attending the school, they revert to their residential association. However, the school wavier rule enables nonresident players to be ‘grandfathered in” and eligible to continue playing with their association of school enrollment as long as they remain continuously enrolled in that school.

While this update was meant to prevent late-stage team stacking, it has had the opposite effect:

• It has created a front-loaded influx at the Squirt level. Families strategically enroll children just before Squirts to lock in waiver status. In 2025–26, 5 of 15 skaters on the Squirt A team are waivered players.
• It locks in waiver players long-term. Once waived in, players retain full rights as long as they don't switch schools – undermining the community-based model.
• It creates a “sieve effect.” CCHA absorbs non-resident talent, weakening neighboring associations and compressing local players into lower-level teams.
• It exploits school location loopholes. Schools like Breakaway, with it’s upper school facility location being outside the community (Eden Prairie), still enable waivers into CCHA.

This rule is undermining the foundation of youth hockey: local kids growing together, supported by families, coaches, and neighbors. CCHA is increasingly composed of players chasing opportunity, not building community.

This misuse is not accidental - it’s strategic. As early as 2023, families attending Breakaway Academy openly discussed using the loophole to place non-resident players into CCHA to build a “super team.” Those plans have now materialized, and more are underway,  turning a rule meant for academic flexibility into a tool for manipulation.

Why does this matter? In a competitive sport like hockey, placement on lower-level teams can significantly hinder a player’s development as they are playing with, and against, lower level talent. In the case of CCHA, when community players are displaced by non-resident waiver players, they lose access to advanced coaching and competition at the higher levels. The ripple effect compresses local talent into B and C teams, weakening the development pipeline across multiple years.  In effect, CCHA is providing the higher level development to kids who are not residents or part of the community at the expense of local kids.  

The negative impact from a hockey-oriented school feeding continuously into CCHA is well known among our hockey community and has been unsuccessfully debated for years. The consequences are also visible: last season, Chaska High School couldn’t field a Junior Varsity team due to a lack of local talent. With one of the largest youth hockey programs in the state, and arguably the country, this is unacceptable.

Hockey in Minnesota is more than a sport—it’s a tradition, a community, and a family. We’re asking Minnesota Hockey, District 6, CCHA, Breakaway Academy leadership, coaches, and parents to come together for open, transparent dialogue. It’s time to publicly address the influx of waiver-based players and its impact on the integrity and sustainability of our youth programs. This trend strains resources—volunteer boards, coaching capacity, and ice time—and compromises fair development opportunities for our local kids.

What We’re Asking For - in support of the "play where you live" model in community hockey:

• Minnesota Hockey: Remove the school waiver rule. Require youth players to play for the association tied to their primary residence and continue the discretionary waiver process to evaluate exceptions individually.
• District 6: Amend the waiver rule to exclude hockey-focused schools like Breakaway Academy, which were never considered in the original intent of the policy.
• CCHA: Implement a rule limiting top team tryouts to resident players only, preserving the integrity of the community model to discourage team stacking.
• Breakaway Academy: Demonstrate leadership and character by contributing to a known problem in our community, and actively and openly discourage families from using the school waiver to gain competitive advantage at the expense of local youth.

Finally, we encourage hockey communities across Minnesota to stand with us. CCHA families continue to look to those in positions of influence and power to do something, and its clear we will not achieve this alone.  Join us, and let’s demand fair play, equal opportunity, and sustainable development. Let’s return to a model that values growth over trophies—and community over convenience.

Let’s build a hockey culture that lasts.