NEWS RELEASE
ONTARIO BALL HOCKEY ASSOCIATION
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The Ontario Ball Hockey Association (OBHA), now in its 49th year of operation, is pleased to announce the creation of new indoor spring/summer program, the Barrie Ball Hockey League.
“With the closing of the outdoor facility, many teams and players contacted the OBHA to start a league to bring ball hockey back to the community of Barrie," said OBHA President, Mauro Cugini.
He said the sport has been such a big part of the community for the past 30 years that we had to find a way to continue playing ball hockey.
We are offering tiered adult divisions to allow players to play at their level of competition with men’s and coed divisions on set days of play. The Simcoe Women’s Ball Hockey League offers a league on Wednesday evenings at East Bayfield.
For men’s divisions, we are offering Open (Tier 1& 2), C (Tier 3), D (High A -Tier 4), D (Low B-Tier 4), E (Tier 5) and Masters (O35). A co-ed ball hockey division is being offered for A and B divisions of play.
The youth divisions will be offering a weekend program on Saturday and Sundays excluding long weekends. The divisions are set by age and will be coed, U8-2015/16 (Tyke), U10-2013/14 (Novice), U12-2011/12 (Atom), U14-2009/10 (Peewee), U16-2007/08 (Bantam) and U18-2005/06 (Junior).
The leagues are open to all skill levels who are between the ages of 6-18 years of age.
All of the games will be played at City of Barrie arenas and will start in April with the spring league and will offer a 12-game season plus playoffs for the adult divisions and 11 games including playoffs for all the youth programs.
The emphasis will be on safe and fun play, and give local kids the chance to participate in our national past-time in a more structured environment.
In communities across the province, ball hockey programs have grown rapidly as children have thoroughly enjoyed its ease of play, especially since skating ability is a non-factor in a player’s ability to participate.
Participants of the youth program will require hockey helmets, with full facial protection, hockey gloves, and a hockey stick.
A youth rep team will be selected, during the season, at each level to compete at the Ontario Ball Hockey Association minor provincial championships, with some players having an opportunity to go as far as intra-provincial events, or maybe even be a part of Junior Team Canada at World Championships.
For the adult divisions, the regular season and playoff champion in each division will qualify for the Ontario Championships and opportunity to be scouted for Senior Team Canada for World Championship play.
The league is looking for officials and timekeepers interested in being a part of the league to reach out via email.
Registration is open and for more information on the Barrie league please visit, www.barrieballhockeyleague.com or call 226-240-8370 or send an email to [email protected]
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