Please see last nights Presidents report given to PECMHA membership at the 2020/21 Virtual Annual General Meeting.
To the PECMHA Membership:
This was my third season as the President of the association and all I can say is that the 2020, 2021 hockey season was nothing I could ever have imagined having to deal with as a volunteer. I will start off by stating the obvious, the 2020/21 hockey season didn’t look at all like what we think of when we talk about Minor Hockey in Prince Edward County. This season due to the COVID-19 Global Pandemic PECMHA had to scale its hockey programming way back to meet the ongoing health requirements. We took a later start than usual which saw 4 on 4 house league hockey for all age groups beginning in October. The objective for this season was clearly defined. To provide a safe, organized and fun physical activity for the children of Prince Edward County. All the while abiding by the many evolving health protocols put in place to protect our families by the Municipality of Prince Edward County, the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Public Health, The Ontario Minor Hockey Association and the Ontario Hockey Federation. This was no easy venture and I would like to thank the many volunteers on the executive, the coaches, the parents and the players for their understanding and patience as we worked our way through these protocols. The start, stop, start, stop action of this season due to the pandemic took its toll on everyone but we made it through and can only look forward to getting back to closer to normal times ahead.
The 2020 2021 season saw a total registration of approximately 239 players with Prince Edward County Minor Hockey. This was only down about 50 players from previous seasons which considering the format that was required and the uncertainties of the season in my mind was an amazing turn out and success.
PECMHA was able to offer on average 2 x 50 minute ice times per week for the majority of the player groups. We had to work within the constraints of their only being 1 ice surface available this season as the Picton pad was converted into the County COVID testing facility. We also had to deal with a 30 minute cleaning period between ice slots which further reduced our ice availability to only 2 or 3 usable slots on week nights where we usually would have 4 or 5 in Wellington, and 6 on weekends where we usually would have 10 or 11 in Wellington. So scheduling this year was incredibly difficult but I feel we did a very good job utilizing every minute of ice we purchased.
This year we saw the continuation of the 5% raise of costs associated to rent the ice facilities from the County of Prince Edward. The cost of ice is and will continue to be our largest budgetary expense line item from year to year. We go to great lengths to ensure that the ice we do rent is utilized fully. This season we strived to book ice times for practices and schedule games during appropriate evenings and times taking into account many different factors. Everyone needs to be aware that yes PECMHA is the largest user of the ice facilities in Prince Edward County but we are constantly competing with other ice users for primetime slots during evenings and weekends.
This year was our second year with the association wide fundraiser cash calendars, which allowed families to recoup up to $100 of their registration costs by selling calendars to friends and families. We then did weekly draws during January and February for cash and gift card rewards.
Unfortunately this season we could not host our other typical Fundraising efforts
Our 11th annual Milk Rep Tournament and 2st annual Novice Rep Jamboree was shelved until 2021 2022. We hope that we will return with our premier tournament offering next season as so many of our own teams and teams across the province look forward to the Milk tournament every season. This is also our largest single event fundraiser in the association and typically brings in over $14,000 in revenue to go toward our Representative program.
We also were unable to host our third annual March Classic Tyke Jamboree and we look forward to continuing with that next season. In previous seasons it was very successful and had a waiting list of teams.
Luckily however, we had a number of our business sponsors continue to support our association. We greatly appreciate all of our sponsors over the years. We knew that a lot of businesses were seeing hardships due to the pandemic so we didn't reach out to businesses we typically go out to with hands extended. We were very cognizant of what their situation may be. However a few businesses continued to support minor hockey financially without being asked which is very very much appreciated as this allowed us to keep registration rates down.
On another note, I would also like to point out that Darren and Debbie Yuill once again ran an amazing program for our youngest players. A special thanks goes out to Darren and Debbie for your continued support and giving our preschool players such an amazing, inclusive and positive beginning experience to hockey.
The 2020 2021 hockey season had its full share of challenges again I can't thank enough our entire membership for following the health guidelines, wearing a mask, waiting to enter the arena 15 minutes ahead of your ice slot, sometimes in the rain, doing health screening questionnaires, contact tracing sheets, temperature checks, keeping attendance to one parent or guardian per player and understanding what we as an organization faced to simply get our children out on the ice. We look forward to the future and getting back to the hockey we know and love. Seeing our players enjoy the sport again and everyone cheering them on in the stands.
At this time, I would also like to announce that as of tonight, I will also be stepping down as President of the Prince Edward County Minor Hockey Association. I believe it is time for me to hand the reins over to a new person who can lead the Association post pandemic and back to our regular and expected programming.
Thank you all for attending tonight and see you all at the rink this fall.
Respectfully submitted by
Steven Payne, President, PECMHA