Now that most summer sports have wrapped up, everyone is gearing
up for the upcoming season. This is a busy time for executive, so
response time for questions and concerns may not be immediate.
Please keep in mind that every year we are faced with many tough situations and have to make decisions that may not be popular. While many of these decisions may appear to have black and white answers, they certainly do not. We have to consider things like regulations from our governing bodies, affect on all teams/players now AND in the future, setting bad precedent to benefit one group, etc, etc.
Tryouts
As usual tryouts will take place during the month of September. Please note the following schedule as there are changes for this season
- Atom/PeeWee - September 14, 15, 21, 22 - Desboro Arena
- Bantam/Midget - September 17, 18, 25 - Owen Sound Rec Center
Exact times will be posted the website shortly on each team's calendar.
Registration fees must be PAID IN FULL prior to attending tryouts (with the exception of players attending tryouts on a permission to skate). If you have submitted 3 posted dated checks as your payment method you are considered paid in full.
If your player plans to attend tryouts, please pre-register for tryouts. Tryout rules are listed on the registration form. Please be sure to review them prior to tryouts.
As mentioned before, we understand that tryouts are a stressful time for players and parents. However, speculation and rumors lead to most issues we deal with at tryouts.
- Roster sizes are not decided until the second day of tryouts when we know final numbers. Please try to avoid speculating whether there will be 1 team or 2 in a division and the roster sizes. Numbers are constantly changing, so even we do not know these answers yet.
- Bench Staff is selected by the Coach Selection Committee AFTER teams are formed. Names of REP Head coaches will be released on September 1st.
- The Ice Schedule is not currently set. The ice schedule is created throughout August and September. It is a very complex task when considering the requirements of ALL teams (usually around 22 teams), ice times available to us (we are simply a user of the facilities), and many other factors including ice size and referee availability. Anyone claiming to know where teams are playing this season is spreading false information.
Rowans Law
The Ontario Hockey Federation was informed by the Ministry of Tourism Culture and Sport on June 18, 2019 that the Rowan’s Law Act and Regulations must be implemented by July 1, 2019. Therefore, after July 1, 2019 every Player, Team Official and On-Ice Official (parent as well if individual under 18) in order to register/participate must review the OHF Concussion Code of Conduct and the appropriate Concussion Awareness Resources.
Please find all resources for Rowan's law, including the Rowan's Law Acknowledgement form under the "Concussion Resources" menu on our website, or click here to access the information.
Once teams have been formed managers will be provided with a copies of the acknowledgement form. No player will be permitted to participate in any game or practice with their team until the Acknowledgement form has been signed and submitted. Rowan's Law is a provincial law, so there will be no exceptions.
Referees
Recently we posted statistics on our website outlining the drastic decline in the number of referees in Ontario. This decline threatens the ability for minor hockey to operate. Many associations in Ontario had games cancelled last season due to lack of available referees. If you have not read the statistics, please check out the Referee Shortage stats on our website. Please keep this in mind this season at the rink.