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Bradford, Innisfil minor hockey associations eye merger

If approved, new South Simcoe Minor Hockey Association would be formed for 2023-24 season
2019-02-16NoviceGameMK-08
The Bradford Bulldog and Innisfil Winterhawks are shown in this file photo. | Miriam King/BradfordToday

NEWS RELEASE
BRADFORD WEST GWILLIMBURY MINOR HOCKEY ASSOCIATION
INNISFIL MINOR HOCKEY ASSOCIATION
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On Tuesday, June 21, board representatives from Bradford West Gwillimbury Minor Hockey, Innisfil Minor Hockey and the Ontario Minor Hockey Association (OMHA) met to discuss the creation of a new representative hockey association — South Simcoe Minor Hockey Association — with an overall objective to create a dynamic new hockey organization that enriches and strengthens the development of the athletes from both associations while offering the opportunity for players to compete at the appropriate skill level.

The new association, if approved, would be operational for the 2023-24 hockey season. It would merge the representative programs for both organizations while allowing house and local league programs to remain unchanged within their current organizations and keep their current format. The newly formed South Simcoe Minor Hockey Association would be classified as an OMHA AA centre and would govern all representative teams from AA through MD.

We strongly believe structuring the new association this way allows for the best of both worlds. House league, local league and rostered select programs will be able to preserve their heritage of hometown hockey at the community level while keeping their respective brands of the Bradford Bulldogs and Innisfil Winterhawks, while athletes who want to play representative hockey will have the opportunity to compete at a higher level within the South Simcoe Minor Hockey Association.

We are pleased to let you know that initial conversations have progressed very well. Our associations have a shared goal of working together to ensure the creation of a strong, competitive organization to serve the needs of our members.

The board members of both the Innisfil and Bradford associations involved in the merger discussions are highly cognizant that we represent the best interests and wishes of our membership. It is our mandate throughout this process to be open and transparent as to the process and progress of these discussions. Over the next couple of months, we will be meeting regularly to discuss and align on all operational and financial considerations for the new organization and will be updating you on our discussions as they happen. In early September, each association will host a Q&A session with their membership to share the details and answer any questions our families may have about the proposed merger.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, please reach out directly to the representatives who are working on this initiative or send an email to the contacts below and they will be addressed:

Bradford Minor Hockey: Janice Tee, director of marketing ([email protected])

Innisfil Minor Hockey: Jason Black, director of representative hockey ([email protected])

The work that is going into this process is meant to present each of our memberships with an opportunity to create the South Simcoe Minor Hockey Association. Ultimately, the final decision will be up to you, our membership, whether this proposed merger will succeed. Prior to presenting the formal proposal to the OMHA for consideration, a vote within each respective organization will need to be passed to move this merger forward.

We believe this is an exciting time for the hockey families of both Innisfil Minor Hockey and Bradford Minor Hockey and are looking forward to continuing our discussions.

Sincerely,

Paul Dossey, president, Bradford West Gwillimbury Minor Hockey Association

Tom Brennan, president, Innisfil Minor Hockey Association

Board representatives included in the discussion are:

Bradford Minor Hockey: Paul Dossey, board president; Sarah Perry, director of tournaments; John Reilly, vice-president, hockey operations; Janice Tee, director of marketing; and Phil Vito, vice-president, hockey programming.

Innisfil Minor Hockey: Tom Brennan, president; Jason Black, director of representative hockey; Kevin Culhane, director of coaching; Karrie Copelli, vice-president; and Wayne Robertson, director of communications.

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