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Update on Restarting Nov 7th
2020-10-31Important - please read
Hi OCMHA parents,
I wanted to update you on a few items as we plan for a safe return to the ice on Nov 7th.The first item is volunteers, we still need volunteers at most levels, On ice help, Trainers, and Safety Coordinators/Managers. There is no experience necessary for any role. A sufficient number of volunteers is criticial to meeting new guidelines recommended by public health. For every pod of 8 players, we need a Head Coach, an Assistant Coach, a Trainer and a Safety Coordinator. 50% of parents need to volunteer, if you can help, please reach out to your convener. If a division does not have enough volunteers, we may not be able to offer a program for that division.
The second item is ice and scheduling. The city notified us this week that more arenas are being repurposed to support activities related to COVID-19. Tom Brown, Brewer and McNabb will not be used as Arena’s for the foreseeable future. More closures may be coming, Bernard Grandmaitre is closed at the moment and the city has not confirmed it will open on the 7th.
McNabb and BGM represent a significant portion of our ice allotment. This week the city is re-allocating ice across the city to give all associations affected by the closures ice in return. There is a chance we will end up with ice at arenas farther from the core, Fred Barret and Dulude for instance.
There is an immediate issue with the loss of ice for the Nov 7/8 weekend. At the moment, we have ~30% of the ice needed to have all of our participants on the ice that weekend. We are looking at options for replacement ice and will update you next week. There is a strong possibility that not everyone will get on the ice that weekend. Priority will be given to those groups who have not been on the ice this year.
Longer term, starting the week of Nov 9th, we will be rescheduling ice times when the city is finished re-allocating. Hopefully late next week. With further closures of rinks coming, I expect this may happen again. Predicting ice times beyond 4 weeks is probably overly optimistic. Although there is uncertainty, we will still follow the general rule of younger kids in the morning, older in the afternoon and evening. If you have any concerns about continuing, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
David Loehr
President, OCMHA