Last week the Ontario
Hockey Federation (OHF), the governing body of minor hockey in Ontario released
their Return to Hockey plan and it has generated many questions from our
membership.
Based on the OHF
guidelines and public statements from Leaders of the OHF, teams will be
prohibited to play other teams that are in different Public Health Units
(PHU’s) and there will be NO TRYOUTS allowed at this time and therefore, no
Representative hockey. Phil McKee was quoted in a newspaper article stating "no rep hockey until a vaccine for COVID-19 is readily available in Ontario". However, the document does outline how hockey can proceed under the
current level of Health and Safety protocols.
The NMHA is now in discussions with the Town of Newmarket to establish how much ice will be available to the Association and what the local safety protocols will be.
We are hoping to establish a tiered approach to our House League programming. If you played on a Rep team last year (and that includes AAA) you will be in one tier and if you played in HL last season you will be in a separate tier. Depending on registration numbers, the major and minor age groups may also be combined.If registration numbers are low, we may have to combine our rep and house league players on to the same teams. Nospecial requests for players or coaches will be honoured this season.
Days of the week will vary and will include weekends and weekday ice times. It will be entirely driven by registration numbers. If registration numbers for any particular age group doesn’t allow for enough teams within a tier, it may necessitate there being one tier for that age group. We are also moving forward under the assumption that we will be running 4v4 modified games. Teams will have 11 skaters and a goalie as outlined by the OHF. Each team staff will be made up of 1 Head Coach and 1 Trainer.
There are still many details for the NMHA Executive to work through and we want you to be aware that we are working hard to make this all happen. Once we understand how much ice is available, we will be able to figure out how many teams we can accommodate and how that can work with the registration numbers. Please understand that we are currently placing any new registrations on a waitlist. That is simply because we don’t yet know how many teams we will have enough ice for. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU REGISTER TO GET ON OUR WAITLIST AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. We will accommodate as many as we can but unfortunately, can NOT make any guarantees of being able to participate until we understand the ice situation and the further you are down the waitlist, the more risk you run with not being able to play and whether you played Rep, the level of Rep, or HL last season, will be irrelevant.
Key Dates:
September 1, 2020 – we are targeting to have the costing exercise complete and will be letting all our membership know the fee structure.
September 21, 2020 – Target for the start of the 2020-2021 season.
Please understand that it is the intention of the NMHA Executive to create a program for ALL of our membership. Obviously, this season will look far different from seasons past, but the game is still the game, even if it’s a modified version. It’s skating, handling of the puck, shooting the puck, passing the puck, stopping the puck and having fun with friends. We want it to be as enjoyable and safe for all of our members and volunteers and we are committed to do our level best to make that a reality.
Keep checking back to the NMHA Website for updates on our programming for the coming season.
NMHA Executive