Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs – Return to Play UPDATED
Registration
Thank you everyone, for your patience over the
past few months. I know a lot of families have been waiting patiently and
wondering what will hockey look like for the 2020 season. The starting point
for this process is opening up registration (September 1st, 2020) and
below are some details about what to expect for the re-start of hockey come
September 2020.
This year’s hockey season will be different no doubt. Our first priority is the safety of all members of our organization and to follow the COVID-19 rules set out by Hockey Canada, OHF, OMHA, the City of Hamilton and local health authorities to keep all of our families safe while enjoying this great sport.
With the latest correspondence from the OMHA via the OHF Return to Play documents released as of July 29th, 2020, and subsequent contact with OMHA, the Jr. Bulldogs will continue to offer a hockey program for the following ages:
U10 – 2011 Birth Year
U11 – 2010 Birth Year
U12 – 2009 Birth Year
U13 – 2008 Birth Year
U14 – 2007 Birth Year
U15 – 2006 Birth Year
U16 – 2005 Birth Year
U18 – 2004-2003 Birth Year
Who may Register?
The Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs were provided with very specific guidelines regarding who may register for this return to hockey starting September 1st, 2020. THERE ARE NO TRYOUTS FOR THIS STAGE OF RETURN TO PLAY. Registration will be open from September 1st, 2020 – September 6th, 2020. All players must be registered and paid in order to be rostered for September 8th, 2020 beginning of return to play.
Please Note: The Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs cannot accept any player who was rostered on a Hamilton Huskies AAA team for the season of 2019-20. Similarly, the Hamilton Huskies cannot accept any player who was rostered on a Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs AAA team for the season of 2019-20.
Things could change but as it stands at the moment this is who is eligible to be rostered with the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs:
1. Players who were registered in 2019-2020 season with the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs, this includes any player that was on an F1 waiver. However, an AP player is not eligible, even if they were on the approved roster.
2. Players who reside within the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs boundaries, however, played for a different AAA organization during the 2019-2020 season and now wish to return to Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs to play hockey within their own Public Health Unit.
3. Any new resident who has moved into the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs boundaries and has completed the residential move forms with the OMHA.
*Any player, coach or team official participating in an unsanctioned league or tournament after September 30th, 2020 will not be eligible to play with Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs for the remainder of the season. There is no refund for players who participate in such league and will be suspended from play. You can find more information on Non-Sanctioned participation
CLICK HERE: (https://www.ohf.on.ca/media/o2zj5kjr/ohf-unsanctioned-league-policy.pdf)
September and October Programming
Beginning the week of September 8th, 2020 our Hamilton Jr. Bulldog teams will be hitting the ice to start the OHF return to play stage 3(b). The exact allocation of ice for each user group is still being worked out by the City of Hamilton; however the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs are striving to have each team on the ice for a MINIMUM of 3 sessions per week. These sessions will be run by your coaches and will be assisted by the Jr. Bulldogs’ development team. At this stage of the return to play, the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs are not permitted to play neighbouring centres even if they are within our PHU. The coaches will be focusing on development of players and utilizing our Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs development team to assist and to ensure we offer a competitive program and environment for all players within the organization.
Further activities involving neighbouring centres within our PHU will be based on the OHF Return to Play 3(c) / 3(d) which do allow the possibility of competition of games with other local centres within our PHU. Decisions for these stages and when they occur will come from the OHF, OMHA, City of Hamilton and local health authorities.
Prior to your first ice session, each teams’ coach will be in contact with parents regarding arena and city protocols for entering an arena and the organization’s plan for contact tracing and team safety surrounding COVID-19. Each player, coach and family member will be required to follow these protocols. Further, they will ensure all forms that are required for the first ice session are available to each parent and be able to provide further details about what September ice / development will look like for their respective team.
To see the OHF framework of each stage in detail and restrictions, please refer to the OHF Return to Hockey document:
https://www.ohf.on.ca/media/tukpds4s/ohf-return-to-hockey_0731.pdf
Payment
Starting September 1st, 2020, the Hamilton Jr. Bulldogs will start to collect the registration fees (electronic form) from each family. Further details to follow.
The first installment of team fees will be required during registration and the cost of registration will be confirmed in the coming days as the Jr. Bulldogs await confirmation on ice availability from the City of Hamilton. The cost of hockey in September will be comparable to other surrounding centres. The Jr. Bulldogs’ plan is to run registration fees on a monthly basis to evaluate the stages of hockey that is happening. This year unlike previous, this registration amount is the only amount families are required to pay. There will be no individual team fees/budgets at this time. These fees will cover ice costs, development sessions, and operating costs of the organization including PPE purchased to meet the protocols that have been implemented by the OHF, OMHA and City of Hamilton to protect all participants.
We understand there may be more questions and that details can change on a daily basis depending on the direction from the provincial government, OHF, OMHA and our local health authorities. We will do our best to keep our members up to date on what is transpiring as soon as we know what is happening.
We look forward to seeing everyone again at the rink and having players and coaches return to the ice this fall. We believe we have put precautions in place for the safety of everyone, following the direction of the OHF, OMHA, provincial and local government and local health authorities.