Hello SPMHA families, 

I just wanted to take this time to connect with you to offer a little hockey update on behalf of your executive committee. 

First and foremost, we hope that everyone is navigating this new normal as best as can be expected.  It is an unprecedented time which has brought about many changes, challenges, and disruptions to day-to-day life. It is my hope that amid all of these changes, you have stayed healthy and have been able to find some creative ways to stay connected with family and friends. 

We want to extend some very heartfelt congratulations to SPMHA alumni Coster Dunn, Ethan Kronewitt, Daymiene Peel and Xander Schulte as they were all drafted today in the 2020 WHL Bantam Draft. Congratulations, gentlemen! Way to make us proud!

Through the power of technology, your SPMHA executive has remained active and engaged in planning and preparing for the 2020/21 hockey season. While we have no access to the crystal ball that will tell us when life may resume as normal, we want to be prepared, so we are moving ahead as we would have done pre-COVID-19. Registration information will be coming soon. 

It is important to note that in November of 2019, Hockey Canada made the announcement that the following division names would be implemented nationally as of the 2020/21 season. We will be sure to include this information on the registration page for your reference. 

On the topic of registration, we are very excited to share that SPMHA is expanding! Approximately 10 years ago, in response to a decline in athlete numbers and inability to find competitive play within a reasonable travel distance, SPMHA made the decision to move our Midget aged (U18) athletes to Spruce Grove. 

Over the past few years, we have seen an increase in - and retained strong Bantam numbers. Additionally, we have joined Edmonton Minor Hockey League and have had great success in all divisions and in all tiers.  

We felt it important that we, as an executive, evaluate previous decision to ensure that we are being responsive to our current members' wants/needs, ensuring the growth of our association, and fostering the life-long participation of our sport. As a result, we asked SPMHA members from Peewee through to Midget (both house league level and PAC level) to vote on whether we should bring the house level Midget program back to Stony Plain or leave it in Spruce Grove. While we received fantastic feedback supporting both options, there was overwhelming support in favour of bringing the program back to Stony Plain. We had 87% participation in the voting process and 92% of respondents voted in favour of bringing the U18 program back.

As indicated in the voting package, SPMHA is requiring minimum two teams at the U18 level to proceed with bringing the program back. As per Edmonton Minor Hockey League rules, top-to-bottom teams will be created. NO parity teams. The majority vote in favour of bringing the program back means that we will offer U18 registration and those U18 house league players residing within SPMHA boundaries will be required to register with SPMHA.  If we are unable to fill a two team minimum, player movement forms will be utilized to facilitate participants going to an alternative LHA, per previous years.  PAC players will be unaffected regardless.  We are very excited and extremely optimistic that we will have the numbers to proceed!

~Miranda 

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Miranda Niebergall | President

Stony Plain Minor Hockey

Box 2156 | Stony Plain | AB | T7Z 1X7

T: 780.221.4564

Website: https://www.spmha.net/

Hockey Canada update on Covid-19 and Return to Hockey as of May 14, 2020. Please follow the link to read the full statement and areas of focus. 

https://hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/exclusive/return-to-hockey

Please follow the link below for Hockey Canada's statement on Covid-19 and their decision to cancel all Hockey Canada-sanctioned activities, until further notice, effective Friday, March 13, 2020.

https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/news/2020-news-hockey-canada-ends-season

http://hockeyedmonton.ca/ (Edmonton Federation Hockey League): Click here for League Information

http://rinkdb.com  Find your rink here