Team composition: During this COVID season KMHA is following rules established for everyone’s safety that did not exist before. The Keeping Ontario Safe and Open framework introduced rules and guidelines drastically changing the way we form teams based on on-ice participation limitations. For teams that could be playing competition outside of KMHA (Rep Tier 1-3) we went one direction and for internally competing teams (HL/LL Tier 4) we went another.
In a regular season teams were comprised of 15 skaters and 2 goalies across the board. They regularly shared ice for all practices and games. This year, for Rep Tier 1 – 3, KMHA created Teams of 16 skaters and 2 goalies split into an A and B squad. This split allowed us to stay in the on-ice participant limits of 25 when in Green to Orange as well as allowed for intra-squad games when limited by jurisdiction restraints. Lastly these team limits allowed us to play in a 50-player league outside of KMHA.
When moved to Red in the Ontario framework teams A and B could each take ½ the ice allotted to the full team. For HL/LL Tier 4, KMHA created teams of 9 plus a goalie allowing us to stay under the attendance limits in Green through Orange while sharing ice and keeping players within a 50-player bubble as above. (In some cases, the demand to play was so high we did allow for 10 players and a goalie.)
When families registered at the beginning of the season, they were told ice would be allotted to teams as it was in the past, but across 3, 8-week sessions; and that fees would be kept as close to other seasons as possible. In this effort, we were able to successfully book ice for each Tier as it had been in previous seasons.
Tier 1 would receive 2 hours of practice/week and 6 home game ice times/period;
Tier 2 would receive 1.5 practice hours/week and 5 home game ice times/period.
Tier 3 would receive 1 practice hour/week and 5 home game ice times/period.
To help ensure that each player received game ice; KMHA added an extra ice time for each Home game at Rep Tier 1-3 allowing team A and B to have X (number of home games) for each player under the expectations set for games.
HL/LL Tier 4 would receive 3 shared ice times every 2 weeks. Once in code orange practices were changed to games to allow players to play as much hockey as possible with the limited season. Once we moved to red we were no longer able to share ice and this meant the teams would get 2 ice times every 3 weeks.
Red Restrict Conditions: Under Red players were now on the ice ½ the amount that they were in Green through Orange periods of play due to limits set by the province to keep people safe. KMHA understands this limited individual ice time but teams were still utilising the same amount of ice, the costs were just split across fewer players or in the case of HL/LL Tier 4 you went from shared practices to single team practices still cutting the number of players sharing costs in half. We know this is not what people want to hear as they advocate for their player and strive to provide an experience that is rewarding. The cost to offer the program and limits on the amount of ice precluded KMHA from extending and growing the ice allotment to make up times. KMHA also notes that under Red restrictions games have not been allowed. That game ice was split with the home team being awarded the ice for practice as that is how the fees were calculated. The away team regardless of Tier were then without game ice for that week, as would have been in previous seasons if a team did not have an opponent. During Red, KMHA has saved the costs of Referees and are hoping to increase games using some practice times as we are able once we return to a place in the Provincial Safe and Open framework where we can host games. KMHA will look to offer a refund or rebate at the end of period three for the cost of referees not used in missed games.
Move to Grey – Lockdown – During this time KMHA did not offer programs. KMHA has extended our season to make up for shutdowns. Due to the lockdown, KMHA Tiered programs will run until the end of April to finish period 3. KMHA will set April 30th as a hard end point for our season. Should another lockdown occur we will not extend past April 30th (unless by a day or two) and KMHA will look to offer a refund or rebate back to families based on the information above for missing time at the end of Period 3. The decision was made to set this hard end point because we want to respect athletes, coaches and families that would typically participate in other activities come May, such as Spring/Summer Sports, family travel or summer jobs.
We hope these explanations and the information regarding our direction will help.
KMHA will share the current ice tracking chart for each team with your coaches to ensure accuracy and provide information for them to share.
We hope that you will chose to join us for Period 3 and registration informationwill be forthcoming from the office the week of March 1st. For fees for Period 3, please see the links below:
Boys HL and Rep
Girls LL and Rep
We encourage you, if you have anymore questions, to email your directors for answers. They can be emailed through the KMHA Website, here is the link – KMHA Directors – Click Here .
Lastly, KMHA does hope to offer Spring programming for those that would have normally played in our 4on4 as well as Summer skills sessions. For our Alliance U16 and U18 Tier 1 (AAA) teams, we will continue to work with the Alliance and the OHF to offer some program for these teams prior to the OHL Priority Draft in June.
We look forward to seeing you at the rink.
Sincerely
KMHA Board of Directors.