“Hockey is cancelled”. Those words were heard by us all on
March 12th when Hockey Canada made their announcement regarding COVID-19
precautionary measures. As the governing body for all minor hockey activities,
we are obliged to align ourselves with this mandate. The human factor cannot be
ignored therefore this unprecedented change in direction is something Riverside
Minor Hockey respects and will of course adhere to without question.
As our teams prepared for and participated in their playoff and playdown quests, the sudden halting of hockey in their lives is a shock to us all but mostly to some of our younger players that may not fully appreciate the rationale behind this action. That’s a personal loss to those players that only their families can help them understand. That’s a very difficult task when there are limited resources for guidance. We are all in uncharted waters here and are doing the best we can with the information we have at our disposal.
Further changes continue to come to us from Hockey Canada and the Ontario Minor Hockey Association which we will pass on to you via our website and other social media avenues. We have recently received notice that all spring tryouts for our Travel teams are cancelled and we are waiting for information as to when the 2020-21 planning process can begin. We have also cancelled our Year-End Banquet and have postponed our AGM until a future date.
We’re all looking for answers but they’re not available currently. The planning of a hockey season starts immediately upon the cessation of the previous season. When those plans are disrupted or faced with variations to our norm, this RMHA Board must alter our path in accordance with the OMHA and Hockey Canada. Questions about registration, tryouts, coach selection, etc. are issues we’re currently trying to work through.
The course of COVID-19 is altering our lives. That’s the only certainty of today. The RMHA family will get through this time together! Life will return to normal. We simply don’t know what normal will look like.
As always, if you have specific questions related to our association please don’t hesitate to reach out directly via email to [email protected] . Additional information is also available at www.omha.net.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.