Hello Everyone,

It is exciting to see the NHL start to lay out plans to return this summer, and it has been great to see the smiling faces on the rinks at the Club these past two weeks. Thank you to everyone for your efforts to help us return to the ice!

Although it’s only June, we are getting close to the start of another hockey season this fall, and as one might assume, this year a return to hockey brings with it a lot of questions and unknowns. With that, we wanted to provide you with an update on minor hockey and what management, the hockey department and the Minor Hockey Committee are working on.

Return to play

First and foremost, the hope of all of us is that hockey returns in the fall just as it normally does; with tryouts, and tiering games, contact and non-contact options for every boy and girl, and everything else that we are used to in September and October. We are meeting regularly with Hockey Canada, BC Hockey and the PCAHA to do everything that we can to enable that to happen. That said, the decisions of the health authorities and sports authorities are out of our control, and as such, we need to be prepared for many different possibilities for our members.

Options & More Options

As a private club we are lucky in so many ways as we control our own 4 sheets of ice, have access to off ice training facilities and staff, have an elite roster of coaches and development instructors and we have a great group of kids that are excited to play and develop. With all of this in mind, IF regular hockey does not return this fall, we are currently working on multiple scenarios to address the different landscapes we could be operating in, while also building in flexibility as the landscape could change over time. Like you, we all want our kids to be able to develop and improve, play in competitive situations, and have fun. We are very excited about the options that we could offer if required to, and in the event that the traditional PCAHA season is cancelled, we are prepared to deliver numerous options, which may include operating our own league out of the NSWC to ensure all our members have access to a safe, competitive league as well as a recreational league which will follow all of the Health authority guidelines. We will be providing regular updates to the membership every few weeks, and we will ensure that the NSWC is at the forefront of decision making and planning when it comes to making the most of any and all hockey opportunities for this fall.

Hockey Faculty update

As you all know, Aaron Wilbur, our Hockey Director is leaving his role to pursue other opportunities. We are currently in the process of looking for the right person to come join the hockey department and compliment the great team that we have in place already with Bob and Emily. We will keep you posted as this process plays out. We do want to once again extend our thanks to Aaron and wish him the best of luck in the future. If you would like to review this new job posting, it can be found HERE.

Minor Hockey Committee

We are lucky to have our Minor Hockey Committee return from last year with only two small changes.  David Beaupre has stepped back from being the Chair but will continue as part of the Committee in the role of past President.  Dave Neale has taken on the role of Chair and will work with the group that consists of parents of kids across our age groups including rep players, Hawks players, goalies and female players. The committee will continue to support the Hockey Faculty and work with the Board to ensure that the Club continues to be an excellent hockey program for our kids to develop as players, and more importantly as people.

The Minor Hockey Committee for the 2020/2021 season is as follow:

Dave Neale

Sarah Markert

Roberto Brogin

Geoff Bowman

Cam McFadyen

Mike Shirreff

David Beaupre

Summer Opportunities

In addition to the previous announcements that have been made, we are excited to be offering an assortment of new hockey programming thorughout the summer. Currently, our July and August programming is up on Gametime with limited spots per class available for registration. Click HERE to register.

June Ice Options

As of this week, we are allowing our group sizes for programming and privates to increase to 6 players. We are very happy with how the last week has gone with our development coaches on the ice and managing the practices.
We will also be releasing our list of upcoming programming in Wednesday’s Newsletter. Registration will open on Thursday at 12pm again. This will happen weekly for the month of June to allow members with the opportunity to book their kid(s) into a variety of programs.
Lastly, we have added in more family ice rental slots during the week. These will be on the small and HTC ice, which will mean the ice slots range from 8am – 7:30pm.

Thank you,

NSWC Hockey Department
NSWC Minor Hockey Committee