Return to Play for CDS and Select Hockey

Dear Leaside Hockey Families,

On September 1, 2020, The Greater Toronto Hockey League (“GTHL”) released their “Game Plan – Return to Hockey Strategy Guidelines” which includes teams playing CDS and NYHL Select. The document outlines in great detail how we can safely return to on-ice hockey activities for our hockey community while adhering to COVID-19 Return to Sport Guidelines. A key component to these safety initiatives includes Association/League Safety Rep as well as a Team Safety Rep. These safety reps will receive training prior to any team activities.

The focus for the upcoming 2020/21 season will be to get kids back to playing sports in a safe environment. The known permitted hockey team activities thus far include off-ice activities with groups up to ten (10) starting September 7, 2020 followed by on-ice activities with groups up to twenty (20) starting October 7, 2020 (date subject to change). This means that hockey teams are thus far limited to skills development and team scrimmages. All other team activities including hockey games are thus far unknown but will follow guidelines as and when released by our health organizations and the GTHL.

CDS and Select team formations process will start now. There will be no tryouts (on or off ice), so our appointed CDS and Select coaches will base their team formation on a player’s prior experience. In order to be considered for one of our CDS and Select teams, a player will be required to be registered in our house league system and pay the associated house league fee when that becomes payable. Target for Red team announcements is the week of September 14 followed by Gold team announcements the week of September 21 (followed by White and Black as applicable). For the teams that do not yet have assigned head coaches, once the teams with assigned head coaches have been formed, we will reach out to the parents of players interested in the CDS and Select program to solicit interest in being the head coach of a team. Once a head coach is selected, we will work with the newly appointed head coach to form a team. Further to this, for the U7 age group as there are no appointed coaches or teams formed from last year, we will send out a separate email to U7 and U6 families that will outline the process we will undertake at that age group.

Due to the restrictions of the return to play framework, our CDS and Select players will not initially participate in our house league program. As such, any house league registration fee collected for a CDS or Select player, will be credited towards that player’s CDS or Select team fee. We are in the final stages of planning our Hockey School and House League and hope to communicate details soon.

We would encourage you to reach out your respective CDS or Select head coaches listed on our website for further details about the upcoming season and the team formation process.

We look forward to welcoming everyone back to playing Leaside hockey in a safe environment.

Kind regards,

Andrew Kennedy
GM, CDS and Select

Jan Sorhaug
VP Select