Dear Ringette Family:

The items below reflect some of the discussion at the meeting of the MDRA executive held Thursday evening. 

Year-end Banquet
As you know, MDRA families have recently been asked, through the coaches and managers, about preferences for a year-end banquet similar to past years, or instead, forgoing the banquet and leaving it up to individual teams to organize their own season-end event. The results are in and the decision, by a clear majority, is to not have a year-end banquet. Teams are welcome to organize their own season-end event. Coaches and managers will be following up on whether teams want to present their players with trophies, or not.

Coach of the Year Award
Is your coach worthy? Each year MDRA presents this award, but this year we thought we would try something different and ask you, the parents, to nominate deserved candidates. In 100 words or less, tell us why you think your coach should be Coach of the Year -- maybe it's the dedication, maybe it's that connection with the players, maybe its the fun that lights up the dressing room -- you tell us. All responses are in confidence.  MDRA will make the final decision. Send your nominations to Geoff Valentine at geoffv@magma.ca by February 28th. The award will be presented at the AGM in March.

MDRA Annual General Meeting (AGM)
Each year the MDRA holds its AGM at the end of the season. In addition to the reports that are received from each of the directors, new directors are elected or acclaimed for positions being vacated. This year there are four key positions to be filled. These are President, Ice Scheduler, Webmaster and Player Liaison. For more information on what these exciting opportunities involve, either see the descriptions in the MDRA Bylaws located here, or contact our current President, Mike Donoghue at donom5@rogers.com.

The AGM will likely be during the week of March 19th, more details will follow.

Discussion of Ice Time
This has been an interesting season for MDRA in terms of scheduling ice for our teams, and there have been a few concerns on whether our players are getting enough ice. When the ice time contracts were negotiated early last summer, MDRA was awarded the same ice time as previous years. The association was particularly successful this year in attracting new players, and this year there are 147 players registered. The challenge the executive faced in the fall was how many teams to ice. The executive opted for more teams with fewer players so that players would see more ice time during games. The downside was more teams to allot ice to for practices. The end result is that there have been fewer practice times this year, and fewer full ice practices. The other part of the equation is the shortage of ice generally, as anyone who tried to get ice for their team discovered. The executive identified a few strategies to address this for next year, and work is getting underway on those.

NEW - MDRA Equipment Sale
August 18th is the date that has been set for the inaugural MDRA Equipment Sale. So hang on to that gear that doesn't fit and stay tuned for more details.

Belles - Don't Forget the Scholarships
There are academic scholarships for post-secondary education available for ringette players. See the details on the Ontario Ringette Association (ORA) site here.

Recent Tournament Results
Congratulations to all the Hornets who have been working hard at all the recent tournaments. We've had some great results: 
- Ottawa Tournament: Petite C1 won the Silver
- Kingston Tournament: Petite A won the Gold
- Kingston Tournament: Novice C1 won the Silver
- Kingston Tournament: Junior B1 won the Silver

Alyssa Wichers of the Novice C1s shoots to score against
West Ottawa at the Kingston Tournament

Hornet's Petite A Shooter tests the Beaconsfield-Kirkland goalie at the
Kingston Tournament

Hornet's Belle goalie keeps an eye on a Kingston shooter on the
way to a win at the Kingston Tournament

~~~~~~ GO HORNETS ~~~~~~