1. When is hockey going to return? > All the governing bodies are working towards returning hockey at the earliest available time, keeping in line with all provincial health guidelines. As situations are changing by the week, please keep a watch for OHF and OMHA notices. In the end, we have to abide by their rules and regulations, along with all levels of government. * Note : As of July 11th, the OMHA has put out a memo that they are targeting August 4th as a date where they will start to consider granting associations permission to skate and hold events - still based on provincial guidelines in place at that time.
2. Is the season going to be significantly different this year? > This is hard to answer at this point. Many different scenarios have been discussed, yet no final decision made. This will depend where the province and each region stands once we further open. At this point with distancing regulations in place as they are, there would be challenges with many things. Once these regulations are relaxed, then hockey will start becoming more ‘normal’.
3. Are the hockey registration fees going to be reduced this year? > We, like all associations within Ontario are waiting to hear from the OMHA about this. NMHA is also exploring different potential options for families to help after these past difficult 5 months. These will all be addressed as soon as possible. There are many moving parts that must be figured out before we can even consider budgets such as ice time, amount of games, officials, etc. Once final decisions are made and passed down to us, we will pass onto the members immediately. Worst case scenario, we can promise that fees will NOT be going up from what they were last season.
4. Are the governing bodies or the provincial government helping with costs this year? > Although we do not know anything for sure at this point, there are some rumours that the provincial government has been looking at some options for assistance with amateur sports. We will keep all members informed once we hear further information.
5. What if hockey is put on hold or cancelled part way through the season due to another outbreak of Covid-19? > There will be a pro-rated refund in place to all members, specifically for Covid-19. This will be covering both HL & Rep if there was another shut down due to this pandemic.
6. Are the coaches and staff being trained further to be ready for our “new norm”? > The coaches and staff will be advised as best as possible to deal with our season going forward. Any new rules and regulations put in place will be adhered to very strictly for the safety of all members and players.
7. What additional responsibilities do or will the parents and players have? > The most important answer will be the safety of others around you. Of utmost importance, NMHA is exploring different scenarios to screen players before any event, even with the potential use of an app designed for this. The families and players must understand the scope of this and should they not be feeling well for any reasons whatsoever, they must not attend a game or practice. Next to this, patience from everyone would be greatly appreciated. This is a very new situation for us all and we are doing the best we can to move forward successfully. The NMHA main objective is to have your child(ren) back on the ice playing hockey in a safe and healthy environment.
8. Who will be permitted to attend with the player into the arena? > We are awaiting rules and decisions regarding this from governing bodies. Once we have direction, we will pass along. One additional thing we are investigating is the use of a live video streaming service available by invitation and/or subscription. While we are at the early stages of this, the past 4 months have made us look at more options to allow spectators options to watch live games, especially if not permitted into the arena.
9. Will our child(ren) still be able to pick their own jersey number this coming season? > Currently and as we do not have official dates yet, for this season, it appears that we will not have the time to select teams and then allow personal selection of jersey numbers like previous years. After team selection and to have them ready within possibly a very short period of time, may prove to be a challenge. That said, the NMHA will continue to look at all available options for the players in respect to personalized jersey numbers, but will not commit either way at this time.
10. Are the towns taking additional matters with preparing the arenas and dressing rooms? > The Town of Newmarket, like all municipalities, are reviewing all the procedures going forward. Once we have their guidelines, we will pass along to our members. We do ask that all members and players respect the town staff along with the rules and regulations imposed by the municipality to keep us all safe.
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