Lightning UPDATE

Greetings Lightning Families,

So many amazing Lightning accomplishments and events during the month of November, it’s hard to keep up! Congratulations to all of our teams for their community spirit, hockey accomplishments and continued representation of our organization. Thank you for being amazing!

Santa Claus Parade

Thank you to Jen Percy and the entire parade committee for organizing the float this year. We had the largest number of Lightning players and staff to date. WTG! Big thanks to Owen Johnston of Signworks for the use of his trailer and driving our precious Lightning cargo. 

Say Cheese

Team and Individual Photos take place Friday and Saturday this week for most groups. Please check in with your manager to confirm your team’s photo time and location. U7, First Shift and Winter Fundamentals are scheduled for Jan 12th. The makeup day for Individual Photos will take place Jan 12th. Details will be sent out shortly.

Lightning Good Deeds

Shout out to all Lightning Teams that have been giving back to the community. Whether it’s collecting for the Food Bank, Soup Kitchen or spending time with Seniors we appreciate your efforts and the time you are giving to others. Keep it up!

Weather Cancellations

As winter arrives, there will be times it is unsafe to travel. Please check in with your coach or manager before heading out. Practices are almost never cancelled unless the facility closes or volunteer staff cannot make it. Families must decide for themselves safe travel. Games are usually called within 4 hours of game time, (pending travel distance). 

Game Curfews

Many of us have had our games curfewed this season, and it’s no secret we aren’t happy about it. Nobody wants to travel over an hour for a game that’s 10-10-12 or 10-12-12 to be curfewed with less than a minute left in a game. A few things are going on here. When we allocated ice time for games and sent our times to SMGHL and B managers for booking, we based the ice time blocks off previous seasons. The OWHA changed game lengths after our ice contract was booked, leaving us little to no wiggle room for more ice in between other user groups. The SMGHL decided to maintain game lengths as many centres were in the same situation, not enough ice to cover all home games. As ice is at a premium this year, we are sandwiched in between other rentals, with little flexibility to complete all games. We continue to advocate for better game lengths, increased allotted game times and a more equitable experience for our Lightning players, but this will take time. We appreciate your patience and encourage you to support our efforts.

Ice Time & Development Sessions

We continue to seek out alternative ice for our teams. Coaches and Managers, please follow up with emails sent regarding further practice ice in Clearview. Thank you to all players and families participating in the Morning Skills Program and Goalie Clinics. Attendance has been great and we encourage you to communicate your thoughts and ideas on improving our skills program(s). It’s important we are able to relay feedback to the instructors so they can continue to improve their programs, keep the girls engaged and maintain morning motivation!

C’wood Thundersnow Classic

Volunteers are still required for our first hometown tourney and our committee is actively looking for sponsors. If you have the ability to help out, please reach out! Thundersnow swag will be available for pre-order and lots of tourney details will be released soon. Stay Tuned!

Social Media

Please follow our Facebook and Instagram feeds for the latest photos and team news. If you haven’t seen your team, then become the person that updates us! You can either send your photos and caption to us at collingwoodgirlshockey@outlook.com or post it on Facebook, it will be approved and copied to Instagram. Don’t forget to check in with our website for full team schedules and further Lightning updates.

Have a great December Lightning!

All the best, COLGHA