Hello fellow hockey parents

I hope your hockey season is progressing wonderfully.  Lots of stuff to report on this month as the season hits full stride so let me get right down to it....

Jersey Sale
Come get a piece of SMHA history.  On Sunday Dec 6th and 13th, from 8:00am to noon, at "Ace Self Storage"  Unit #91 (west side of building), 249 Westbrook Rd., Stittsville, the SMHA is selling off approximately 1000 Redmen jerseys and assorted goalie equipment..  Rain/Snow Storm day for the 6th will be the 13th, but, weather permitting, we'll hold the sale both days.

The jerseys are all in good to excellent condition (sizes youth to adult/ L to XL in both).  Some goalie equip is outdated, but great for street/backyard rink use, however, some of it, although in good shape, is being replaced because of new sizing restrictions.

First ever SMHA Fundraising Barn Dance!
Calling all team parents to the first SMHA fundraiser Barn Dance.  Combining the best of food (pot-luck), live music (Cheshire Grin) and tons of fun,  it'll also have a silent auction that will raise money for your team.  It'll be at the Stittsville Community Center Hall, upstairs of the Stittsville arena on Saturday, Dec 19 from 7pm - 12:30am.

Each team wishing to participate is asked to:

• Sell tickets to the event.  Tickets sell for $15.00 each.  There are a limited number of tickets available so buy early.  Must be 19 or over to attend.
• Bring 5 items for the pot-luck.  4 dinner dishes, 1 snack/dessert dish.  Be sure to label all dishes that include nuts, fish or egg.  Use disposable dishes and serving spoons or put your name and team info on the dish if being returned.
• Bring 3 or more items for the auction.  These items can be collected by soliciting local businesses or individual's place of work. More items for auction means more money for each team.  Some ideas are: one night stay for two at an Ottawa area hotel, dinner for two at a local restaurant, small household items or appliances, hockey or concert tickets, gift certificates

Volunteers are desparately needed to work in areas such as: Door security, Ticket collection, Cash Bar, Servers, etc.

How does each team earn money? It is based on the number of tickets sold, the dollars collected on the items brought in for auction and volunteers.  All money earned will go directly back to the teams participating.

To sign your team up, contact Tammy Schofield, at tammy.schofield@yahoo.ca, or at 613-831-9170.

Level 2 Trainers
Some of you may be surprised to learn that hockey trainers are not required to have first aid training. You might also be happy to learn that the SMHA was pleased to pay for for first aid courses for 25 SMHA trainers, who now have their Trainer Level II certification. If any of your kids get hurt, they'll now be tended to by graduates of Emergency First Aid.  Great news and many thanks to the association for making hockey a little bit safer for all.

Cost increases = fee increases
The proposed new harmonized HST tax will have a major impact on SMHA. Our biggest single cost, ice rentals, will increase by 5% if that tax increase goes through. That will result in an additional cost per player. As we operate as a non-profit organization, it will be difficult to avoid passing this on as an increase in fees for next year.  If you'd like to join this petition to speak out against it, feel free, you never know, it might make a difference.  (Please note that this is not a political statement)

SMHA Council and Executive changes
A big welcome to Chris Burns who is taking over as VP Operations from Peter Valters, to Kerry Hisko who has volunteered to fill the vacant BP Finance Position, and to Tania Bernier who will be our new Treasurer.  We live by our volunteers so I know you'll all join me in thanking them for helping out.

Reffing update
You might notice a difference this year in the officiating. The refs are now enforcing a zero tolerance to abuse including verbal or hand gestures - of officials, of other players, of anyone.  The penalty is getting bigger each time - see  for details.  We all know that there is no need for this type of behaviour and now there are repercussions, serious ones.  It's time to pay attention. 

New this year, Midget teams (checking and non-checking), Bantam (checking only), and PeeWee games (checking only) cannot be played unless there are 3 officials present on the ice.

Team Jerseys
Hope you are all enjoying your new RAMS jerseys. A reminder that team jerseys should not be worn at practices. They are expensive items and we'd like to keep them in good shape for as long as possible.

Speak Out
We've had a few questions about Speak Out courses for Managers.  While it is true that the ODMHA does not require Managers to take a Speak Out course to be on a team roster, the SMHA has added this as a condition.  In Stittsville, ALL bench staff must have taken a Speak Out course, a good thing by all accounts and agreed to unanimously by our Executive.

Volunteer Shout Outs
There are so many incredible people volunteering for the SMHA that it's almost unfair to point out one or two in particular. But this month I want to give a shoutout to two people who do two of the most thankless jobs.  Peter Burke doesn't even have a kid in hockey yet he stepped up this year to help us out with ice scheduling when nobody else was willing. An engineer by training he has been hugely helpful in setting up programs to automate some of the scheduling to make it easier for the next person - anyone ready to step up for next year?  We NEED YOU!  Beth Girardi also stepped up to help with Registration, working tirelessly behind the scenes when the regular scheduler realized there was simply too much work for someone who works full-time.  Our great thanks go out to both of them.

Mark Your Calendars - Upcoming Events
RINK FOR PINK  The two Stittsville Atom A teams are helping fight cancer in the National Capital Region by hosting Rink for Pink – a charity event for the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation. The event will start with a charity hockey game between the two teams, followed by special on-ice presentations, as well as a raffle and an auction event upstairs.  The intent for this event is not only to raise awareness and gather funds towards the fight against cancer, but also to teach our children that it is important to freely give of our time for important social issues.

The event will take place on Saturday, February 13th between 12:00 and 2:00 pm at the Stittsville Community Center. A suggested cost for admission is $5 with all proceeds going to cancer research. If you have any questions or would like to help in any way, please contact Pearl Dresser at 613-836-6870.

Phew, that's a lot of news!!!

Enjoy and feel free to ping me anytime if you have a question. I'll get your question to the right person for you.

Lynda
Your SMHA roving reporter