Full-ice hockey in Ottawa–Gatineau.
Home to young stars from across the nation’s capital competing in the prestigious Klevr Super League.
2027–28 season
ID skates
ID skates decide the 2027–28 teams, and every birth year holds one — 2019, 2020 and 2021 in the Klevr Super League, 2022 as Young Spartans. No invitation needed: we watch every skater, and everyone hears back within a week.
The 2026–27 teams are picked and those rosters are final. Everything in this section is for next season.
Choose a birth year
Pick a birth year above. Dates, times and arenas are still being confirmed, including the make-up skate. Reserving puts you first in line to register once they are set — the sessions fill fast every year.
Reserved
You’re on the list
Your skater
We will email you with the date, time and arena as soon as they are confirmed — before registration opens to anyone else.
The program
Why the Spartans
Full ice, real games, and coaches who have played and coached the game. At seven the alternative is usually a crowded half-ice session, nothing that counts as a real game, and a parent volunteer who means well but is often learning alongside your kid.
Expert coaching
Our coaches have played at the highest levels — NHL, OHL and beyond — and they're on the ice, not in the stands.
Schedule up front
The full season of tournaments and league games is published in advance, so kids can still play other sports.
Single birth-year teams
Everyone on the roster is born the same year. At this age twelve months is a large gap in size and skill, so single years keep kids matched with their own peers — safer on the ice, and better in the room.
Real competition
Players line up every weekend against the best in the province and in nearby U.S. markets. Last season our 2019s won the Salute to Service Tournament in Toronto and finished second in the province at championship weekend.
Small rosters
Fewer players per team means more individual attention, more development, and more actual game time.
Open books
Every team runs on an app we built. Your manager can see where each dollar went, how much ice is used and how much is left, and what is still in the skills budget — now, not at year end. Managers never front money either: each team gets a corporate card loaded with its own funds, synced to the budget in real time.
“I have to wash his swag before bed every night — he refuses to wear anything else to school. He is so proud.”Current parent
“I have been in hockey a very long time, and Kyle is by far the best coach we have seen.”Current parent
“Coach tells them to act like pros on and off the ice, and that includes school. His teachers noticed. We get far fewer calls from them now.”Current parent
“He feels like he is playing for the Ottawa Senators. These are memories he will have for a lifetime.”Current parent
“When we aged out and went back to the top team in sanctioned hockey, he was light years ahead of the pack. The practices almost seem too easy for him now.”Former parent
Teamwear
The kit
Nothing beats pulling the crest over your head. Everything else here just comes with it.
The sweaters
Black at home, crimson on the road
Every Spartan is issued both, each with their own name and number on the back. They are not rented, and they do not go back to the club in March.
In the season fee
Pant shell
Home socks
Away socks
Practice jersey
Dryland shorts
Performance hoodie
Dryland t-shirt
Rope hat
Player bag
Gloves
2026–27 season
Where we play
Teams pick six events from a longer list — these are the ones our teams chose this year. Each row shows the birth years listed for that weekend. Dates are confirmed by the league in late summer, and weekends that have been played turn grey rather than disappearing.
Sep 18–20
Pro Hockey Life Season Opener
Toronto, ON
Oct 16–18
Aycane Summit Smash
Toronto, ON
Nov 20–22
CWENCH KSL Mite World Invite
Rochester, NY
Dec 4–6
HockeyStickMan Cup
Belleville, ON
Jan 29–31
Jersey Mike’s Sub Zero Showdown
Toronto, ON
Feb 26–28
Tilt In Toronto
Toronto, ON
Mar 19–21
KLEVR Championship Weekend
Toronto, ON
Schedule last updated August 2026.
2027–28 season
What it costs
- IceAn average of three hours a week on non-tournament weeks, full sheet. Some weeks four, some two — the average holds from the first week of the KSL season to the last.
- CoachingNon-parent coaches as often as we can, and parent coaches who know how to put the team first when we cannot
- Skills sessionsA skills budget built into every team, so we can bring in specialists for edge work, PEP-style training and dryland
- Kit and swagBoth game jerseys with name and number, practice jersey, two sets of socks and pant shells — plus a performance hoodie, rope hat, dryland t-shirt and shorts
- TournamentsEntry to all six KSL events
- InsuranceEvery rostered player, coach and team official is covered for the season — on the ice and off it, at every sanctioned practice, game, tournament and training camp
2027–28 season
One fee
Set by birth year — schedules and ice time differ. Email info@ottawaspartans.ca with your child’s birth year and we will send the breakdown once the city sets its ice costs for the season.
Everything on this list is in the fee, and nothing gets invoiced to you mid-season. Not included: travel, hotels, meals on the road and personal equipment. Every player finds a jersey sponsor — local businesses on our sweaters are how we hold registration where it is.
We set up payment plans, and we look for local sponsors to bring a registration down. If the fee is the only thing standing between your player and the ice, email us — the conversation goes no further than the two of us.
Staff
Who's behind the bench
Non-parent coaches as often as we can, and parent coaches who know how to put the team first when we cannot — each supported by volunteer assistants and a trainer.
SteveBennett
Head coach · 2018s · U9
KyleLarsen
Head coach · 2019s · U8
MarkCraig
Head coach · 2020s · U7
AlexVidoni
Head coach · 2021s · U6
Teams
The roster
The top players from across Ottawa–Gatineau, on single birth-year squads — everyone on a team was born the same year. U9, U8 and U7 play full seasons in the Klevr Super League. The 2021 Young Spartans are a full development team, building the group that comes after them.
Everyone gets on the ice
Small rosters, three hours a week, and a coach who knows every player’s name.
Fan shop
Wear the crest
Apparel for the family and the stands. Team kit is issued separately and included in the season fee.
Built Not Born tee
$28
We The 613 tee
$28
Built Not Born hoodie
$48
We The 613 hoodie
$48
Rope snapback
$46
Spartans toque
$38
Questions
Parents ask
What is the Klevr Super League?
The KSL is a full-ice winter league for U7 to U9, built around development and competitive showcase weekends rather than a local house schedule. Our U7 (2020), U8 (2019) and U9 (2018) teams play in it; U6 (2021) Young Spartans is our own development program. It was founded in 2023 by two-time Stanley Cup champion Kris Versteeg.
How is this different from minor hockey?
At this age minor hockey is usually half ice, with nothing that counts as a real game and a parent volunteer who means well but is often learning alongside your kid. The Spartans play full ice, real games, with coaches who have played and coached the game. Single birth-year teams, smaller rosters, and a schedule published in advance so you can plan your year.
How much travel is involved?
Every practice, skills session and dryland is here in Ottawa–Gatineau. Travel is for tournament weekends only — six across the season, mostly to the Toronto area, Belleville and Burlington, with the occasional trip across the border. Representing the city means playing the other 120-plus KSL teams from towns all over the province, from Ottawa to Windsor to North Bay.
Where and when do you practise?
Practices, skills sessions and dryland are all in Ottawa–Gatineau. A handful of exhibition games take us elsewhere in Eastern Ontario across a season, and tournaments are the real travel. City ice is allocated season by season, so we cannot promise fixed nights before a season starts, and the rinks move from year to year. What does not move is the amount: an average of three hours a week on non-tournament weeks, full sheet, from the first week of the KSL season to the last. Once the ice is confirmed your team's schedule is published in advance, so you can plan around it.
What insurance is included?
Every Spartans team carries full coverage for the season: commercial general liability, abuse liability, coaching errors and omissions, and participant accident coverage. It covers registered players, coaches and team officials on the ice and off it, at every sanctioned game, practice, tournament and training camp.
How do tryouts work?
Selection starts with an open ID skate at the end of the winter season, followed immediately by an invitation-only tryout. Every player who attends an ID skate hears back within a week either way.
Who runs the Ottawa Spartans?
The Spartans are the KSL affiliate club for Ottawa–Gatineau, operating as a not-for-profit under Ottawa Super League. We were the first fully not-for-profit club model in the league, and others have since followed — which we are proud of. The board is entirely volunteers and no profit is taken from fees.
How do you measure a good season?
Not by a record. By whether a kid is sad it is over and already counting down to the next one.
We cannot speak for anyone else’s program. Ours is built on the thing that has to come first — a kid falling in love with the game while getting better at it. Holding those two together is the whole job, and it is the part we think we do better than anyone.
It looks like skating with Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre. It looks like one of their heroes turning up at practice. It looks like a message from a mum saying she has to wash the swag every night because he will not wear anything else to school.
There are things we do not do. We do not believe in twelve-month hockey — kids should play other sports and have enough room between sessions to enjoy being kids. And we do not make room for the ego and the elitism that follow this game around, in the public system and the private one alike. Our culture is the thing we guard hardest.
We want to be the program people point to as private hockey done right. We carry that every day.
What happens after U9?
Ottawa Super League is the official Eastern Ontario partner for Pro Hockey Development’s Brick Program. Our top players go to the Brick tryouts in Toronto for a shot at the Pro Hockey Development roster that travels to the Brick Invitational in Edmonton — the nine- and ten-year-old tournament that Steven Stamkos, Auston Matthews, P.K. Subban and Cole Caufield all played in as kids, and which has sent more than 200 alumni on to play professionally.
Not ready to register?
We’ll email you when ID skates and tryouts open. Roughly one a month, nothing else.
You’re in
Watch for the next update.