Dear Players, Parents and Volunteers:

In light of the announcement by the Province concerning the lifting of the Emergency Order for our area and being placed in the Orange section, the executive of SSMHA met on Saturday night to discuss whether or not to proceed with a winter session.

We had a very healthy discussion concerning this including:

• the movement in the number of cases within Eastern Ontario and especially South Stormont and Cornwall;
• third phase and variants of the virus;
• the upcoming reassessment in two weeks by the health unit;
• the health and safety of our players and volunteers;
• additional safety measures to be considered; and, the responsibilities of parents.

We have decided to have a winter session commencing on Feb 28, 2021. This allows us to coordinate our volunteers, pods, schedules, equipment, jerseys as well as providing an additional 2 weeks to assess the health unit updates.

We will be meeting this week and next to finalize the details of the winter session, including the number of ice times, number of weeks, refund calculations, scheduling, coaches, trainers, firmer self assessment screening protocols,etc.

We are very hopeful to provide a meaningful winter session, however, we also recognize that our plans may have to change depending on the future.

We thank you again for your patience and please note that we working very hard to provide hockey activities while also ensuring to the best of our ability to minimize the risk.

Yours in Hockey,

Robert Walker
President
SSMHA