Dear Members,
As you are all aware, the province-wide lockdown was extended into early February. Should the lockdown be lifted, and we return to Red status, we will be in Stage Red for a minimum of 28 days. We do not anticipate moving down to Stage Orange until mid-March at the earliest.
If we do not return to hockey for the 2020-21 season, a refund will be issued. We are working on the details of this process and will share more information with parents as soon as possible.
We also wanted to provide an update on the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons. Earlier this month a virtual meeting was held by the Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF). During that meeting it was announced that the current hockey season would be extended until May 31st, 2021. This would allow for hockey to continue this season, but only if our public health unit returns to Orange status, and if sufficient ice is available. We are regularly in contact with the University and city on this matter.
The OHF also announced that all tryouts for rep teams for the 2021-22 season will not take place until the fall, and that a Prep Phase will take place beforehand to allow all players access to ice before tryouts. Following tryouts, a Development Phase will take place before the regular season begins. Exhibition games will be allowed during this time. After this period, the regular season will begin. Our House League program will be able to begin when the Prep Phase for REP hockey begins. It is expected that the OHF will publish the final format of the upcoming season on February 27th. At that point we will be in a better place to communicate specifics and begin the process of determining what next year's programming would look like (COVID-pending or course).
The board would like to thank our members for your patience and understanding during this time. We will continue to update you all, as we receive more information. We understand you may have a lot of questions. Please try to refrain from sending these in as we are already overloaded with our efforts in trying to put together an execution plan for our current circumstances.
Thank you and Stay safe!