This roving reporter is new to the SMHA but that hasn’t stopped me from picking up some fascinating news from the last SMHA Council meeting. I’m sharing it here and if you’d like to have more news like this delivered to your email inbox about once a month, Sign Up Here .
There’s a new Arena in Town
Ok, not quite in town but close enough that starting January 2007 (if construction stays on schedule), you’ll see some ice time at the new arena in Beckwith appearing on your team ice schedule. I’m not sure anyone has actually seen this arena but rumour says its on Hwy 15 between Franktown and Carleton Place. We are getting 5 weekday and 10 weekend time slots, none of these time slots are before 8AM.
Jersey Rumours
You may have heard rumours that Sittsville might be changing their jerseys. Now you (and everyone else who bothered to click through to this newsletter) are the first to know the real deal on jerseys. While the association still plans to update our “look”, it will probably take place for the beginning of the 2007/08 season. Stay tuned for more news as it develops.
Support for our troops in Afghanistan
Alex Lavoie started out his season on the Stittville Minor Bantam team. Unlike the other kids on his team who look up to see their parents cheering them on from the stands, Alex knows his father isn’t there. Alex’s dad has missed the entire hockey season because for the last 3 months he’s been working in Kandahar, Afghanistan as a Battle Group Commander. He still has several months left in his tour in Afghanistan but Alex is hoping he’ll be back in time for the playoffs.
Alex’s hockey team decided to show their support for Alex and all the other Canadian families with moms and dads who are serving our country by purchasing and wearing “Support Our Troops” yellow ribbon crests on their hockey jerseys. They then decided to approach the SMHA Executive with an offer - why not have the association buy and ribbons for every player? Without hesitation, the motion was approved. 800 ribbons will be purchased and distributed to all teams, and luckily for people like me who can’t sew a stitch, the association will even pay to have the ribbons sewed on to every jersey of every minor hockey player. Stay tuned for more details – coming soon.
The proceeds from this purchase will go to support the Military Family Resource Centre – a non profit organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of military family lives. While the proceeds are from this program are easily measured in dollars, the real value comes from the increased awareness and understanding among our kids.
We salute Alex’s team for their initiative and we’ll be cheering harder than ever when his Dad gets back in the stands to watch him play.
Tournament Update
Our Bantam B non-checking home tournament scheduled for Jan 4th 2007 is a go!
Sadly, our PeeWee B checking tournament scheduled for Jan 3rd, 2007 couldn’t attract enough teams so it will be cancelled.
Success with $$$
We’re pleased to report that our application to the Ontario Trillium Foundation was successful and we have now added $12,000 to our bank account to pay for our new (and already hugely successful Integrated Hockey Development Hockey Program which includes the development of a customized hockey program for young hockey players. Coaches at the Initiation and Novice levels benefit from drill manuals, an-ice and classroom clinic for coaches at start of season as well as periodic on-ice help during first half of the season.
Signing Off
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Lynda Partner, your roving reporter and SMHA Communications Director