Commissioner C-19 Statement

Team Managers/Coaches,

As all of you are aware, the current situation in the state is evolving and businesses are starting to open under certain conditions.  To prepare for our decision as a league for this season, we gathered information from all of you to determine what our membership is wanting to do in terms of options for the season.  The current status is still a holding pattern while the local and state governments continue to adapt business openings and social distancing rules.  These are two key components that will make the difference in playing a season or canceling and preparing for 2021.

In terms of our outlook and preparation, we have been reviewing plans and adapting based on feedback from the survey.  The results have been very positive and surprising as most of you said you had no issues if this was played over the summer as long as it ended before students go off to college or start the next school season.  Also, some of the private schools have stated they are open to playing under generic names to avoid issues with the school since they are self funded and considered club sports.  No matter what comes ahead in the coming days and weeks, you should expect some tweaks to roster rules and season/playoff formats for the 2020 season if it is played.  These are strange times but we see the league as a good vehicle to help in the individual as well as business recovery engine.  Some of your comments were enlightening as you mention the kids will need something as we start to move back to some sort of normalcy and organizing sports is a good first step.  If the season can be played, it will also help provide some revenue to the rinks as they try to recover from the shut downs they have experienced.  Bottom line, if it is safe and you are willing and wanting to play, we will work to provide rinks, officials, and structure for a MOIHA season in 2020!

Next steps for the league will be to target May 15th as a go/no go for this season as all of you are wanting to make decisions and prepare for the summer.  For teams that cannot participate in the coming weeks, a refund will be provided once our admin returns to work

 and divisions will be reexamined for any adjustments.  What we will need for you will be to look at your teams if we feel the conditions are right and determine if rosters will need to be adjusted, divisions dropped or raised, etc.  We will give you ample time to prepare if we do move forward with the season so please do not go too deep into preparing as we want to minimize the impact to your personal time.  We will look at setting up a conference call for the team managers around the 15th so we can discuss our decisions at that time.

We appreciate all the patience that the clubs have demonstrated during these times and hope to provide the kids a chance at playing in 2020.  Please stay safe and enjoy this quality family time as you play or last board game or put together your 100th puzzle while staying home!

Thank You, 

Michael Bell