Recreation Oak Bay’s nationally-recognized Novice Hockey League is a hockey program for boys and girls that centers on sportsmanship, skill development, and having fun.

The focus is on skill development while minimizing the competitive aspect of the game. Skating, stickhandling, passing, shooting, off-ice/defensive position, and team play are skills which will be covered during the league.

For 30 years, Recreation Oak Bay's Novice Hockey League (NHL) has been Oak Bay's flagship program, and the first of its kind for hockey development. Bob Nicholson, an original Oak Bay staff member, had a dream, and he created the NHL program for kids. Bob went on to become the President and Chief Executive Officer of Hockey Canada, where the NHL adopted the program at a national level. Bob emphasized a hockey environment that focuses on teamwork, skill, and above all, fun. Recreation Oak Bay's NHL program still runs strong to this day.

Does your son or daughter want to learn how to play hockey? The NHL program runs annually from September to March. Registration for the 2024/25 season opens August 14 at 6:30am.  

Future NHL stars ages 3-5 years can sign up for the NHL Pond Puppies Preschool Hockey. Pond Puppies will learn the basic elements of hockey in a fun and encouraging environment. Full gear is required, including a CSA-approved helmet and face mask. Players should be able to skate the length of the ice. The current Active Living guide will have more information. To register please go to PerfectMind.

Recreation Oak Bay is pleased to announce that hockey equipment is now available to use free of charge. Participants must be currently registered in the Novice Hockey League program or any Oak Bay Hockey program to be eligible for the loan of the free equipment. Please call the Sports Department at 250-370-7113 or 250-370-7114 for more information. This program is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Dennise brings many years of experience and expertise to these programs. Denise has worked with Victoria’s best hockey players, helping them reach the BCJHL, WHL, NCAA, ECHL, AHL, and NHL. Come out and take your game to the next level. Balance, acceleration, agility, speed, explosive starts, edge control, and game stride are all part of this challenging and rewarding program. Power Unlimited offers high-quality instruction with a dedication to the improvement of each student. Skaters must be comfortable on the ice, with skating experience either with a hockey team or having completed Level Four of the Learn to Skate program. This program is not for beginners, and is geared towards hockey, with a requirement of full hockey gear on the ice.

Custom Private Lessons

Ice times are limited, please contact Dennise for more information about times and costs.

For more information about Dennise and her programs visit PowerUnlimited.ca 

Over 18 yrs Summer Duffer Hockey

Saturdays from 5:00-6:30pm (July-August)

Over 40's Summer Duffer Hockey

Sundays from 8:30-10:15am (July-August)

Over 60's Summer Duffer Hockey

Sundays from 10:00-11:15am (July-August)

Registration Guidelines:

Over 18 yrs Summer Duffer Hockey

• Players can register online starting at 6:00pm the day before they want to play.
• Players must arrive in person 10 minutes prior to the start of the session to keep their spot.
• Goalies play for free and may register up to two weeks in advance online, over the phone (250-595-7946), or in person.

Over 40 Duffer Hockey

• Players can register online starting at 6:30pm the day before they want to play.
• Players must arrive in person 10 minutes prior to the start of the session to keep their spot.
• Goalies over 40 play for free and may register up to two weeks in advance online, over the phone (250-595-7946), or in person.
• Goalies over 18  play for free and may register up to one week in advance online, over the phone (250-595-7946), or in person.

Over 60 Duffer Hockey

• Players can register online starting at 6:00pm the day before they want to play.
• Players must arrive in person 10 minutes prior to the start of the session to keep their spot.
• Goalies over 60 play for free and may register up to two weeks in advance online, over the phone (250-595-7946), or in person
• Goalies over 18 play for free and may register up to one week in advance online, over the phone (250-595-7946), or in person.

Registered Duffer Hockey is a full hockey scrimmage with players, one staff member and two goalies for those 50 years and older. Full gear is mandatory, including a visor or cage. A neck guard and shoulder pads are highly recommended.

Over 50’s Duffer Hockey runs from 8:30-9:45am on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Registration Guidelines:

Over 50 Duffer Hockey Duffer Hockey

• Players can register online starting at 6:30pm the day before they want to play.
• Goalies 50 yrs+ play for free and may register up to two weeks in advance online, over the phone (250-595-7946), or in person.
• Goalies 18 yrs+ play for free and may register up to one week in advance online, over the phone (250-595-7946), or in person.

Recreation Oak Bay is pleased to provide the most affordable recreational adult hockey programming in the Lower Island. This league offers a great non-contact recreational hockey program year-round. From adults to old-timers, players of all abilities are welcome to join the league. (Old-timers is held during the summer only.)

• Full hockey gear and CSA-approved helmets are mandatory.
• Player stats and rankings are not recorded, in order to support the non-competitive position of this league.
• The league is an individually-based signup league. Each player must follow the information prompts during registration. You may request up to three friends to play with. If you have a full team of players, please contact the league organizer at borr@oakbay.ca. Teams may be asked to split up to even out league numbers before the beginning of the season.

Player Information:

• Team lists will be online on this page three days before the first league game.
• Players MUST wear Recreation Oak Bay Hockey League jerseys. Jerseys will be provided at the first game of the season. If a player misses the first game, jerseys may be picked up and signed for at the Reception Desk.
• A $35 jersey deposit is due at registration.

Goalie Information

• Goalies in this league are very important. It is essential that goalies are present for all the games. It is the goalie’s responsibility to find a sub.
• All goalies will be emailed a contact list of the other goalies in the current season.
• It is requested that goalies first ask other goalies in their current season if they would like the spot to sub as paying participants. If none accept, please email the league organizer Ben Orr to send out a mass email to Recreation Oak Bay’s Goalie Spare list. (During the summer and the Old-timers’ season, underage goalies currently in the Summer League are permitted to spare for goalies in the Old-timers’ League.)

Registration is required. You can register through PerfectMind, or call Reception at 250-595-7946. Payment will be required in full to officially register yourself in the league. Players must also complete registration prompts.

Fall 2024 Rosters

Winter Hockey League Schedule 2025

This is an individual based registration league. Players can request to play with two friends when registering, and the league organizers will do their best to accommodate every request. League organizers reserve the right to place any player on any team in the best interests of skill parity and balancing teams.

No. All participants in the league must be registered players. The league allows for enough players per team so that there are enough skaters even when some players don’t arrive. Even if a team is short, all players must pay to play in the league.  There are no sub options.

Exceptions are made for goaltenders, who may ask for permission from league organizer to find a sub from outside the league.

Yes. A recent survey of the top recreation adult hockey leagues in the lower island shows Oak Bay Recreation Adult hockey league, at $16/game is least expensive option to play hockey in Victoria.

Yes and No. 

This league is not the right fit for you if you expect: 

• A competitive level of play where all players on your team have a high level of skill.
• You will ONLY play with your friends and are not happy to be placed on a team where you can meet new players and build new friendships. 
• Need to win every game.
• Teams to have complete skill parity in the league, every season without fail. While accommodating every player friend and team request.  

This league is the right fit for you if you:

• Enjoy the game of hockey for fun and are happy to play on a mixed skilled team, and support and celebrate all player’s successes game to game.
• Win or Lose, you enjoy playing hockey. 
• Understand you or a player you like may be moved to different teams, in attempts to even out the league, in the best interest of all 128 players enjoyment of the league. 
• Enjoy the flexibility of 4 separate seasons annually to sign up for, to best fit your personal schedule though out the calendar year.

There is considerable work that goes into keeping friends and skill parity in mind along with even numbers to create the best possible 8 teams every season. Each time a player signs up or needs to be moved or leaves, it disrupts every team. If players are permitted to leave at any time without penalty that would greatly impact all the players that are still playing in the league. Not permitting refunds encourages players to commit to the league every time they sign up, thus supporting the quality of the league.

*Players can withdraw and receive a refund if they are injured and provide an original doctors note. 
 

The game jerseys are handed out on the ice by the officials at the first game. If you missed your first game, you may go to the front desk at Oak Bay Recreation Centre to request your assigned jersey. All jerseys must be given back to the officials at your last game. If you miss your last game you must hand in your jersey to the front desk anytime before the jersey return deadline stated at the bottom of the league game schedule. If jerseys are not returned by the deadline, that player forfeits their jersey deposit. 

No. Each season, teams are restructured. Furthermore, Oak Bay is responsible for keeping inventory of league jerseys in order to plan for future purchasing. We will clean used jerseys and assign them ready for the next season, and no preferential treatment is given.