DMYHA High School Hockey

The High School League is the in-house league open to co-ed players in 9th - 12th grades in the greater Des Moines area. Starting with the 2021-2022 hockey season the high school league developed more inclusive team names and branding to better reflect that hockey players from 20+ different area high schools participate in the league. In the past three seasons we have grown from four to six teams with more than 100 athletes participating this year. 

Player’s entering the league are drafted onto a team and stay with that team to mirror a high school playing experience for their time in the league. We seek skill balance across all teams to provide all players a high quality competitive high school hockey experience.

Des Moines high school league teams compete in the Iowa High School Hockey Alliance in a 18 regular game schedule with some day trip travel to Eastern Iowa.  We also compete in the State Alliance Tournament and hold a Des Moines only league tournament each year.

Player Eligibility: Standards for eligibility to participate in athletics and other extra-curricular activities from each of the respective high schools also apply to this league. If a player losses eligibility to participate in extracurricular activities (because of academic performance or misconduct) at their high school, that player is obligated to tell the league of their loss of eligibility and that loss of eligibility will apply to this league. There will not be a refund of fees in that situation.

Ninth Graders also Eligible as 2nd Year Bantams: Ninth graders who are also bantam eligible may request to play in both. Players and families in this situation should talk with coaches to compare opportunities and skill levels in both leagues. Please reach out to DMYHA staff for registration instructions.

DMYHA 18u Jr Bucs Program: Registered players in this league are eligible to try out / participate on the select travel 18u Jr Bucs. This team has a separate team manager from the league, tryouts and financial commitments will be announced each summer by DMYHA. Players selected to the 18u Jr Bucs are required be registered and actively participate in the high school league.

Midwest High School League: This league is not open to players who are on the Capitals or Oak Leafs.

Iowa High School Alliance

The Des Moines Youth Hockey Association (DMYHA) High School Hockey League participates in the Iowa High School Hockey Alliance. The IHSHA is a sanctioned league for Iowa High School teams not part of the Midwest League.

The Alliance was formed to support the growth of high school playing opportunities for athletes from Waterloo, Quad Cities, Iowa City / Cedar Rapids to compete against the exisiting DMYHA High School teams and Okoboji.

What this means for your DMYHA High School Hockey Player:

1. Each of the teams would play an 18-game regular season facing each team twice. In addition, a championship playoff is planned the end of February at the MidAmerican RecPlex in WDM. 

2. DMYHA teams play 4-6 out of town games in one of the other participating cities.  These would be day trips and would not require an overnight hotel stay. Given our hosting abilities and number of Des Moines teams’ participating most regular season games will be held in Des Moines. 

3. An enhanced high school hockey playing experience against other teams from within the State of Iowa who are also at a similar structure.

4. Welcoming other hockey players and new teams who historically did not have playing opportunities beyond U14 if they did not make their communities travel team.