The Hockey Academy

Unfortunately I had an extremely poor experience with The Hockey Academy and found their claim of «A Perfect Place To Play For Those Newer To The Game «to be completely false. I am a goalie in B and C leagues normally and wanted to start skating out for better exercise and signed up for Hockey Academy’s new «Novice» league in Bedford. At some point H-​A started advertising for C level players for the league while still calling it Novice (D level), and then started calling the league «Novice C», which doesn’t make any sense as the definition of novice is a person who is new to the circumstances. Not only were there high level C players in this league but B level as well (one guy played at BC, according to a league representative, who worked for the league and Dan knew his background), a far cry from the advertised level of novice. When approached about this situation the head of the league, Dan Fontas, had NO issues with the varying level of play and claimed all players were nowhere near the level we said they were. His idea was to move a «couple guys» and completely ignore the fact that he had a group of players who couldn’t possibly keep up with the level of play on the ice. Hockey is not a game that people starting out can compete with experienced players, and as a league claiming to be great for beginners they should know that. If they want to have a league of B/​C players that is totally fine, but why is the word NOVICE used to describe it? I asked Dan numerous times how he expected novice players to learn to play VS people 1 – 2 levels above us (we lost the three games I played by a combined score of 36 – 1) and he did not provide me with an answer, just kept repeating that he was going to move some guys and all will be well. As someone who has been playing in net his whole life I am well versed in how important parity is to a hockey game and Dan showed that his first priority was not that or the fun, safety, and happiness of his novice level players but with making sure he found extra bodies to fill spots on the ice. Fortunately I was able to get my money back for unplayed games and leave the league.

The Hockey Academy runs local men’s league ice hockey programs. They have programs at various rinks on various nights around the metro area. They also offer beginner/​instructional leagues, novice (intermediate) leagues and «Prime Time» (experienced) leagues.
The Hockey Academy is generally a bit more expensive than other leagues around Boston. However their ice time is a bit more predictable. For example, I play in a league that is in Newton on either Wed or Thursday night at either 8, 9 or 10. That’s pretty consistent compared to another league I play in where games are anywhere from Sunday to Thursday, between 8 and 11 pm and rotate between Newton, Arlington and Wilmington.