USA Hockey is a leader across all youth sports in developing coaches through education, training and communication of the best practices.  Minnesota Hockey, USA Hockey and the Coaching Education Program take great pride in ensuring youth hockey coaches are prepared to create a safe and positive learning environment for all participants. 

To meet these standards, a few basic steps are required for coaches to become certified.  Even if you believe all certifications have been completed, check all steps below annually to confirm records are accurate.

Steps 1-6 MUST be completed before you can participate in any on ice activities:

1. Register with USA Hockey

2. Complete Background Screening (required every two years)

3. Complete SafeSport Training

4. Complete Concussion Training

5. Complete age appropriate ADM online coaching module

6. Register as a Coach with River Lakes Hockey

• Upload signed D5 Coaching Ethics Agreement
• Upload completed MN Hockey Coach Concussion Certification
• Upload Proof of Concussion Training Completion if you did not complete an ADM Module this year
• Upload Signed RLH Coaches Code of Conduct
• Complete RLH Coaching Application through registration

7. Take or update CEP Coaches Clinic

a. Must be completed by December 31st

A RLH coaching application must be completed by all coaches (done through the RLH Coaching Registration). Completing an application does not guarantee placement on a team.

• All head coach placements will be selected by the PDC.
• All assistant coach placements will be selected by the head coach and are subject to review by the PDC.

New to this season's registration is one spot to upload all of your required coaching documents. This change was done to help the registrars with finding where your coaching documents are, have them all centrally located in one place, and ensure everything is completed at the time of registration. Many of these documents are required for the team managers to have on hand in the team binder. Uploading all of these documents in one place will ease the creation of team binders. This will also help facilitate registering coaches on rosters within USA Hockey.

You can log into your USA Hockey Coaching Profile to check on the following:

• CEP Certification
• Background Screening Compliance
• SafeSport Compliance
• Module Completion

Once you are logged in select:

• My Profile
• Coaching Information

You will need your USA Hockey number to complete:

• SafeSport Training
• River Lakes Hockey Coaching Registration
• CEP Coaching Clinic Registration

Every two years, all coaches must update their background screening. 

SafeSport Training must be completed each season. 

You cannot complete your SafeSport training for the season until you are within 30 days of the date it was completed last season. 

SafeSport will send reminder emails when your training is due within 30 days and 15 days.

Concussion training must be completed each year. If you are required to complete a ADM Level Module, that counts as your concussion training.

However, if you do NOT need to complete an age module training, you must complete an alternative concussion training course. This can be completed at:

• The Center for Disease Control: Click Here 
• National Federation of State High School Associations: Click Here 

Please print or take a screen shot to verify course completion. This will need to be uploaded with your other coaching materials on the River Lakes Hockey Coaches Registration website.

This only needs to be completed once per age level.

ALL coaches must register on the River Lakes Hockey website as a coach.

You will need to upload the following materials while completing this registration:

• D5 Coaching Ethics Agreement
• MN Hockey Coach Concussion Certification
• Proof of Concussion Training Completion (if necessary)
• Signed RLH Coaches Code of Conduct & Responsibilities

Please have all of these documents signed and completed prior to starting your RLH Coaches Registration so you can upload them.

Paper copies or emailed versions of the above documents will not be accepted. They must be uploaded through the Coaches Registration.

New this year, coaching applications will be completed through the Coaches Registration process.

• Coaching clinics will be posted after September 1, 2023. The dates of when future clinics will be posted can be found below in the listed release date chart.
• Coaches have until December 31 each season to complete their coaching clinic requirement. 
• Most clinics will be virtual (online) clinics.
• You can attend any clinic, hosted by an District/Affiliate across the country. 
• Clinics are first come, first serve, and are not guaranteed to have seats available if the class roster is at full capacity. 
• There will be a variety of available clinic dates and times which will fit to every coach's schedule. 
• Don't forget that you need your USA Hockey confirmation number for the current season to register for a coaching clinic. If you do not have your confirmation number, click here to be redirected to register or request a duplicate copy of your confirmation number.
• Click here to look up your certification if you're unsure about which Level coach clinic you need to complete.
• You will not be allowed to register for a clinic that you are not qualified to attend.

For more detailed information on CEP requirements please click here.