The AMHL will have less ice-time available than expected due to two recent announcements: the City of Hamilton will not open Spring Valley Arena and the City is limiting the number of participants to 25 (players and coaches combined) on the ice surface despite
the next stage of OHF guidelines which when implemented will permit 40
participants (players only).
This means the City will only open Morgan Firestone Arena resulting in a significant reduction of ice time availability. In addition to this there has been added time required for the necessary implementation of the increased sanitization protocols in place at the arenas which will also result in less ice time.
As an association, we are disappointed in the City’s decision to not open Spring Valley arena. Our goal is to have as many kids participate in hockey this season. With only Morgan Firestone Arena open, AMHL house league players will only have access to 1 hour of ice time per week.
The executive will be engaging local government officials to lobby for Spring Valley Arena to be opened to increase the amount of ice time slots available. However, if Spring Valley Arena can be opened, ideally players may have up to 1.5 hours of ice time on average per week (1 hour of ice time in week A and 2 hours of ice time in week B, as an example).
While we work to resolve the Spring Valley Arena item above, we will be holding off on taking payments until we can confirm the cost based on ice availability.
We will continue to keep you updated as plans change. Thank you for your commitment to and support of the AMHL.