Important Information from the OMHA, News (Grand Valley Minor Hockey)

To the Members of Grand Valley & District Minor Hockey:

At the request of the Grand Valley & District Minor Hockey Association (GVDMHA), the OMHA has approved a re‐categorization of Grand Valley from D to Local League. This will take effect in the 2016‐17 hockey season.

This means that Grand Valley will no longer offer any OMHA representative hockey, but will continue to offer development programming for Local League teams, and can also offer Rostered Select programming.

Players, whose home centre is Grand Valley per OMHA regulations, need to be aware of options available to them within the OMHA regulations. This document is meant to explain those options and you are encouraged to read it in full and consider the options available to you carefully. Parents are fully responsible for investigating programming in other centres as well as their registration &/or refund policies.

Representative Hockey Right of Choice (ROC):

Families who are resident to Grand Valley may have a ROC under OMHA regulation 3.4. There are currently no boundary agreements between Grand Valley and any adjacent centres. To determine if you have a ROC you can use Google maps to determine the mileage, using the shortest possible route, between your residence and the centre’s approved OMHA centre point (included below). If the mileage between your closest centre and another centre(s) is 8km or less, you can make a ROC to either centre. If the difference between the two mileage measurements exceeds 8km, you do not have a ROC, and your new home centre for programming that is subject to residential restrictions will be your closest centre. All mileage measurements will be confirmed by the OMHA. Any player, who is not eligible for a centre, will not be approved to an OMHA representative roster. Once a player makes a ROC to another centre, they will remain a member of that centre unless they are properly released under OMHA regulations.

Centres Adjacent to Grand Valley:

Orangeville – base category AA, centre point 216 Broadway Ave, Orangeville
Arthur – base category DD, centre point 150 George St, Arthur
Erin‐Hillsburgh – base category BB, centre point Erin Township 17th Sdrd & Wellington County Road #24

Shelburne – base category C, centre point 131 First Avenue E, Shelburne

Programming:

OMHA programming which is subject to residential qualifications and will require a player to sign a ROC Declaration prior to being approved on an OMHA roster, include:

Base category representative teams
Additional Entry (AE) teams
Minor Development (MD) teams (aka Intercity) Rostered Select (RS) teams

AAA Hockey

Each OMHA centre belongs to a AAA zone. Your home centre will determine which AAA zone you are a part of. Grand Valley will continue to be a part of the Grey Bruce Zone. Shelburne and Dundalk also belong to Grey Bruce zone. Orangeville and Erin Hillsburgh are part of the Halton zone, Arthur is part of Guelph zone and Centre Wellington players have a choice between Guelph or Waterloo zones.

Spring Tryouts

If you wish to continue playing in Grand Valley, you simply need to register with them.

If you wish to tryout for AAA hockey in Grey Bruce and Grand Valley is your home centre, you will need to request a Permission to Skate form from Grand Valley. If you are not selected to a team in Grey Bruce you can continue exercising your options.

If you wish to tryout for AAA hockey in another zone and you are eligible to make a ROC to a home centre within that zone, you will need to register with that centre, sign a ROC Declaration for that centre and request a Permission to Skate form for the Zone.

If you wish to tryout in Orangeville and you are eligible to make a ROC to Orangeville, you can register for tryouts for AA, AE, MD or RS. You will be required to complete a ROC Declaration if you are selected to play on any team where OMHA residential regulations apply.

OMHA Non‐Resident Player Program

For players eligible in divisions Minor Peewee and above only:

If you wish to tryout for A programming under the OMHA NRP programming, you may request a NRP passport from Grand Valley for the A centre nearest to your residence. If you are not selected to play on the A team, you may continue to exercise your options, but you may not tryout for any other residence restricted programming in that centre.

IMPORTANT NOTE: A player may only receive one NRP passport and needs to decide if they want to tryout for A or AA prior to making the request for a passport.

If you wish to tryout in any other centre for which you are eligible to make a ROC too, you can register with that centre to tryout. You will be required to sign a ROC Declaration if selected to play on any team where OMHA residential regulations apply.

If you are not successful in securing a spot on a representative team and wish to return to Grand Valley for Local League, you may, but families are responsible for any registration commitments they make and are encouraged to ask questions about refund policies if they decide they do not want to play in the centre for which they tried out in.

I hope this has helped explain the options available to players. If you still have questions, you can contact a member of the GVDMHA Executive Board, or email me.

Regards,

Michelle Sguigna
OMHA Regional Director Area H, Region 5
[email protected]