USA Hockey Coaches Certification Process

Here is a list of the steps necessary to complete the USA Hockey certification process. All coaches and assistants must complete each of the following tasks in order to be added to the roster. We realize that this can be a bit confusing so please do not hesitate to reach out to us with any questions.   

USA Hockey Number- If you have not already done so, register with USA hockey for the 2022/2023 season ASAP (https://membership.usahockey.com/) Please email your USA Hockey Number to Frank Perrone at frank.perrone@gmail.com. This should take all of five minutes

Coaching Profile- Log into/Create your coach’s profile (https://courses.usahockey.com/public/) Once in Select “My Profile” at the top and “Coaching Information at the left. This will bring you to the coaching dashboard which will help you with the following tasks

Background Screen- Complete the background Screening form. It takes 5-10 minutes to complete the form but up to two weeks to process so we recommend doing this early. Once on the Coaching Information page, look for the screening section (see below).  If you completed this last year, you are all set (these are good for two years). Please confirm your status on your coach’s dashboard if you’re not sure. If you do need to renew it, click the screening renewal link.

Safe Sport- Complete Safe Sport the first time (an hour) or Safe Sport refresher (30 Minutes). Again, the dashboard will guide you to the task and these need to be renewed annually. Note you need to use your USA hockey number to access the courses

Age Modules- Age modules need to be completed for each age group.  If coaching Mites/U8 you need to complete the U8 Module, Squirts/U10 the U10 etc. Note these do not expire so if you completed these in years past and are coaching the same level you are all set. These can take an hour or two in total (you can skip ahead to the quizzes) and you can start and stop. Please be aware they can reset if you leave them dormant for a long time, so we recommend completing them within a week or two.

• Age Modules Completed will show up on the right side of your information page
• To register for a module, select the module information link here

Certification Clinics- All coaches need to attend a certification clinic annually. These clinics are sequential meaning you have to attend a Level 1 clinic before level 2 and 2 before 3 etc.  In 2020 and 2021, USA Hockey offered virtual clinics in addition to in person. 

These generally are about 6-8 hours in total and we recommend signing up and completing them early. A list of clinics is available at https://www.usahockey.com/coachingclinics

There are also some clinics that focus coaching on female athletes but if you are a girls coach you do not need to sign up for these focused sessions. Also for the in person clinics there are some that do have a skating element so check whether or not you need to bring your equipment prior to attending.