SEASON END LETTER FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, News, U10 A, A, U10-U11 (Ajax Pickering Minor Hockey)

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Organization | Apr 06, 2023 | APRadmin | 4705 views
SEASON END LETTER FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
After a fantastic amalgamation season, please click "read more" to view a season end letter from our Executive Director and General Manager. 

“That’s a Wrap”!

As we close the books on the first year of amalgamation, I just wanted to take some time and reflect back on the year that was.

All our members deserve so much credit for embracing amalgamation and making it a successful year. All we heard from other associations was “just wait for the post amalgamation nightmares that will happen”.  Well, we had none. The year was quite successful with no major issues because of the amalgamation. Thank you to our members for your great support in making this all possible.

Our House League was once again vibrant and exciting. We had very good numbers in all age groups which led to an exciting year. The weeklong house league playdowns were overwhelmingly exciting. The arena was packed full every night and seeing parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles in the arena cheering quite loudly was incredible. The final weekend gave me chills just being part of it. Thank you to all our volunteer coaches for their hard work and effort. It’s important to remember coaches give up watching their own children play because they are coaching all the players on the team. Not to mention being on the ice for practice on those early morning cold arena days, brrrr. Thank you Coaches!

We hope to continue all our programs such as the HL development night and perhaps even add more enhancements. House League is a huge part of what we do, and currently has more registrants than our Rep program.

Speaking of Rep Hockey – Holy moly did our teams have a great season! The APMHA sent many teams to the OMHA Championship weekend this season. Many of our rep teams were on the cusp of attending as well. Some heart-breaking overtime losses and tie break formulas led to 4 or 5 more teams just coming up short of attending; next year we will build on that. Congratulations to all the teams on a great season!

Beyond winning there are also some great storylines about our coaches and sportsmanship. Our U15MD team made OMHA headlines when the team collected funds to help the opposing teams’ goalie who was injured during the game and his equipment was cut off by EMS. The complete story can be found here: https://www.omha.net/news_article/show/1257591#.Y9gOh03fRvM.twitter

Or how about Jacob, an OMHA essay contest finalist – What great inspiration from a young player!

Story can be found here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2RpBzxg1WY

I want to thank Evan Jones, Taylor Lewis and Brian Menard who have coached in the association for a long time and their teams are aging out this season. They all put a lot of time and effort into the association over the past few years. Their years of dedication to the players does not go un-noticed.

And finally, I want to thank our administrative staff. Not sure how they pulled off this season, but in a year with amalgamation, spring tryouts and fall tryouts (at the same time as House League start), while getting ready for 3 tournaments and then Spring tryouts again, made the season extraordinarily difficult. They put in countless hours, many 15-hour days, and even while at home answering emails at 10pm. Thank you for all you do!   

The future of the APRMHA is so bright and I am so excited to be a part of it.

 

Leo Nat

Executive Director and General Manager

 
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