With the recent change in group sizes AMHA is able to start our regular season programming October 3, 2020 and in doing so we need parents cooperation with the 'new look' through the rebound plan and facility guidelines.

 

This season will change a few times through the season and we will do our best to keep everyone informed.

 

AMHA will also start our Lottery with the first draw taking place October 11, 2020 with a total of 25 draws planned for the season.

 

In Person Registration 

Sunday September 27, 2020 from 10am - 4pm at the Bulldog Arena at which time 1 parent/guardian will confirm their child/family registration, collect this years helmet sticker as well as lottery tickets.

 

If you can not make it this Sunday, please arrange to have someone else attend in your place.  With COVID restrictions it is much more difficult to arrange events like this to get tickets and helmet stickers to our members.

 

AMHA will use the same format as the final lottery draw ticket collection in the arena lobby with limited people inside and mask's are mandatory.

 

U7 (IP 4 & 5)

AMHA is still working with the facilities on numbers and parents which may push the start of the program later into October. Hockey Nova Scotia recommendation is for all U7 to start in January however AMHA believes we are able to get things together to start the programming earlier. Please understand we are doing everything in our ability to get all our programming up and running.

 

Facility Rules

AMHA has received feedback during the skill development about some of the facility restrictions in place. Please remember that the facility guidelines are internally approved, inline with Public Health guidelines and beyond AMHA's control.

 

Helmet Stickers

Each year AMHA uses a sticker system for coaches, trainers, managers and now safety person to confirm the player(s) on the ice are registered with the association. Please do not lose or misplace the sticker as your child may be asked to sit out or not able participate until registration is confirmed. The importance of this is insurance.

 

Coaches / Safety Person / Manager

If your interested in volunteering as a coach, manager or safety person this season you need to ensure your Criminal Record and Venerable Sector Checks are updated. AMHA will have a table set up to fill out the necessary documents on Sunday September 27, 2020.

 

Start of AMHA Programming

With the restrictions in place and not knowing the exact number for each division, AMHA will start off with ice sessions for age group and not division grouping. This will assist with managing numbers for group sizes before divisional placements & tryouts.

 

Safety Person

AMHA is required to have a safety person attached to each group similar to what has been done for the recent skill development. If your interested in being a safety person for the start up and with your child's team once everything falls in place please send Dawn Oliver and email (not a text message or meeting at the grocery store...LOL) for tracking purposes. safetyrep@antigonishminorhockey.ca Please include your child's name and group / division so Dawn can keep track as which groups have safety person's attached.

 

New Hockey Parents

AMHA will have Board Members available to answer questions you may have about such things as the AMHA Lottery, Fees, and other general hockey questions.

 

Thanks,

 

Robert Kavanaugh

AMHA, President

 

Parents and Guardians, I am resending this as some improvements were made to our email list yesterday and I want to make sure I reach everyone.  Also want to clarify a few things.

1.  When using the date control on the web site to enter or update a Date of Birth, you must select the Year first, followed by the month and day.

2. As stated on the family profile page, do not send money to pay for fees until AMHA sends you an invoice, announces that we are accepting payments, or the scheduled fee payment day.

Registration for AMHA is now open.  Our web site has been updated in an effort to make registration easier for both parents and AMHA board members.  Some changes have happened with the Family Profile, most notably you will see that Parents/Guardians are now listed as Members.  I did what I could to make this process as easy as possible, however some of you will need to update your Birth Dates in order to be able to register your children.  AMHA needs valid Birthdates for parents as a minimum of one parent must be entered in the Hockey Canada Registry with a Parent Respect In Sport certificate.

Also one other "Gotcha" is that their can only be one parent/guardian listed as the "Adult(Primary)".  This person will be considered the primary contact for any children in the family.  All other adults must be set to "Adult(Other)".  Any Adults with the "Receive Email" option enabled will be added to email lists associated to children in the family.

Please check out our "Information" section as lots of questions can be answered their by viewing the FAQs etc.  

If you have any suggestions on improvements or read something that isn't clear, send me an email and I will do my best to clean things up.

Martin McLaren
AMHA Web Admin

Parents and Guardians,  AMHA will start the season with two weeks of skills sessions starting Oct. 3rd.  I am working out some details of these ice times and hope to have this weekends schedule posted on Wednesday.  

Thanks for your patience..

Ice Coordinator

 

Good evening parents,

With the hockey season just around the corner and with all the unknowns due to the restrictions in place, I’ll send a message with as much information that’s available to me. 

HNS released the rebound plan that has various stages and requirements attached. HNS is guided by Public Health as well as Hockey Canada and each Minor Hockey / Female Hockey Association is guided by HNS. Here is the link to Rebound Plan.

The Rebound Plan has the first period as developmental with no contact, no games or travel and the limitation of 10 people (players and on ice helpers / coaches) per group or 2 groups of 10 if using 1/2 ice per group. For every on ice coach / helpers used reduces the number of players in the ice as the total maximum per group is 10. 

At the executive meeting last week it was agreed that with the current limits, it not financially feasible to host developmental programs. 

Another requirement through HNS that plays into our decision is the requirement to have a Safety Person as an executive member as well as a Safety Person attached to each team, group, house league or any group of players going on the ice. HNS also requires Associations to submit a sanction request to cover off all the Public Health restrictions including the Safety Person requirements. This sanction approval confirms insurance as well as puts the responsibility back on the associations based in the submitted sanction request.  

What this means moving forward is AMHA will need more volunteers throughout the season in order to have players on the ice. Without these volunteers players will not be permitted on the ice or to participate in off ice events such as dry land training. 

HC & HNS will have a short online training for the Safety Person as well as an explanation of the record keeping requirement. There may be a few bumps to start off but I’m certain things will work out. 

The purpose of the Safety Person is screening players prior to participating in any on or off ice event and keep record of it just in case there is a positive case of COVID. The screening is having the parent / guardian answer COVID related questions and what a ‘yes’ means to any of the questions. Then the tracking sheets will be used for the necessary contact tracing measures if someone associated to AMHA tests positive. 

AMHA is looking at starting our programming October 1 as this is when HNS starts period 2 when some restrictions are lifted and its anticipated group sizes will increase also. 

I asked HNS about the group size in comparison to the QMJHL announcement last week of having 34 players. HNS advises once they have more information they will update. I don’t anticipate any further updates until Sept 28.

Registration:

AMHA will open online registration tomorrow, Monday August 24, 2020 and look at an in person event mid September for registration helmet stickers and lottery tickets. 

The online registration will also aid AMHA with ice scheduling while complying with HNS rebound plan. 

AMHA understands this season will look different and some groups may not get the same amount of ice as previous years. 

AMHA is anticipating tryouts to start October 15 weekend but this may change. 

Fees:

AMHA is not changing the fees this year as we understand any increases may cause financial hardship which is not something AMHA wants to put on parents. 

Please keep in mind that our current fees structure is designed to be offset by our Lottery hence the lower fees in comparison to other associations. Many other associations have higher registration fees plus through the season parents pay for tournaments and officials. 

AMHA is extending the registration payment to December 1st this year. 

AGM:

AGM is scheduled for 7pm on August 30 at the StFX Schwartz Auditorium. Face masks and social distancing required. 

AMHA is still looking for volunteers to join the executive in the Vice President of Finance and Lottery Coordinator positions. If you interested please message me for more information or your expressions of interest. 

Web site:

Improvements have been made to the web site as well as family profile. The changes are designed to be more user friendly and easier to use. 

If you have any questions please let me know. 

Thanks, 

Robert Kavanaugh
President, AMHA