How the 2020/21 season will look facing the coronavirus pandemic was one of several topics at hand late last month at the Williams Lake Minor Hockey Association Annual General Meeting.
Held virtually via the GoToMeeting platform provided by BC Hockey, approximately 60 to 65 members attended the call where a new board and executive were voted upon, season reports were provided and discussion surrounding the association’s hopeful return to play took centre stage.
Todd Isnardy, who decided to step down as president of the WLMHA, provided his president’s message, which was well received.
New president Mike Rispin thanked Isnardy for his four years of service as president of the association.
Following Isnardy’s presentation, the association moved into its elections of a board of directors.
President (Rispin), vice president (Leslie Rowse), second vice president (Christina Lambe), treasurer (Jay Cheek) and secretary (Elisabeth Pocock) positions all had a single nomination and, as such, those individuals were acclaimed to their positions.
In the nine director positions, Rispin said there were 14 nominations.
READ MORE: WLMHA hosts AGM, elects 2019/20 executive
“An amazing number given the remote nature of this meeting,” he said. “From that 14 the membership used remote, by text, voting to select nine directors at large.”
Tanis Rosa, Andrea Moe, Dustie Coombs, Myles MacKinnon, Brianna MacDonald, Chris Ford, Leah McAllister, Tammy James and Rhonda Hykawy were all selected to serve WLMHA members for the coming season.
“We thank everyone for their willingness to step up and volunteer their time and energy,” Rispin said.
“Individual roles will be announced shortly and will be posted on our website.”
He noted with the COVID-19 pandemic the new board will have some additional challenges getting things moving forward this year with WLMHA being guided by BC Hockey, Hockey Canada and the BC Health Authorities as they work to come up with a return to play procedure.
Ripsin said he does expect the season to start on time, however, is unsure what it will look like.
“We don’t know what travel, tournaments, etcetera, will look like,” Rispin said. “My intent is to still have a rep program, even if it is more for development than team play as I want to ensure our local players have every opportunity to maintain and increase their skill sets.”
The new WLMHA board will meet for the first time this Thursday, June 11.
“We recommend folks still register on time as we need to know our ice commitments earlier than folks may think,” Rispin said.
Registration is open and is being done online this year.
If anyone is having difficulty registering online, or has any questions, they can contact Joanne, the WLMHA’s new office administrator, at wlmha@telus.net. Rispin. can be reached by e-mail at mdrispin@gmail.com or text to 250-267-3667.
greg.sabatino@wltribune.com
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