JANUARY 2009 NEWSLETTER

Skate with Santa
Thank you to Sandra, all volunteers and a special thank you to Santa for taking time out of his busy schedule, the kids had fun. You can view photos of the "Skate with Santa" on PGRA’s website. IF you would like to share your photos please forward to pgringette@mag-net.com

President’s Report
On behalf of the Prince George Ringette Board, I would like to review some of the work that your Board has been doing during the 2008/2009 season.
• Back in the summer of 2008 we adopted the on-line registration program to allow registration on-line for those wanting this service.
• Our registration numbers are up 29 players over last year. We are at 155 players! Thank you to all parents and players helping to promote our sport!
• We were successful in obtaining Gaming Funds in August 2008 to assist with the operation of our annual programs.
• The Westerns Host Committee have now closed their books. A surplus of over $13,000 has been returned to the PGRA General Account! Thank you to the Westerns Host Committee and all volunteers for hosting this successful event.
• In September we held coaching and officiating clinics. Stay tuned as there will be more clinics planned for this spring and fall.
• The Board completed and adopted a Team Selection Policy in September 2008 (see PGRA website under the Administration tab). This is one of four local policies we have developed to help guide our association.
• For the first time in 28 years, PGRA forms an Open Team. Many past players have returned to Ringette now that we have this team in place.
• We have started work on setting up a University Ringette team. University Ringette is expanding rapidly in Canada allowing players to carry on playing Ringette while getting their post-secondary education. Although we were not successful in getting this team set up for 2008/09, we hope to have a team in place for the 2009/10 season.
• We held a Bring a Friend event during October on a school Pro-D day. This turned out to be very successful in getting players out with friends. We also saw many first-time players attend through seeing the event advertised locally. We were successful in getting 1 new registration. We will have one more session in March prior to the end of the season.
• The Joy Hoffman Ringette Tournament was a success. Thank you to all volunteers who helped run this tournament. Tim Horton’s donated participation medals to the Bunny Division while PGRA purchased participation medals for the Novice Division.
• Santa Skate was a success. Thank you to all volunteers especially Santa.
• We have 5 teams committed and payment has been made by PGRA for attendance at this years BC Provincial Championships. Petite A (pending retreat acceptance to ‘B’ level), Tween B, Junior A, Belle A, and Open A. We also have the Juniors, Belles, and Open committed to attend the Western Canadian Ringette Championships if they are successful in the Provincial Championships.

Northern League Tournaments (Terrace, Prince George, Quesnel, Houston). It is important that all teams support these tournaments. These games essentially form our “league games” and their results are used to determine which teams are eligible to attend the Provincial Championships. The results are also used to assess if a team should be granted a retreat to a lower level.

Annual General Meeting
Over the next few weeks we will be preparing for the upcoming Annual General Meeting. The AGM will be Monday March 30th at the Coliseum. Pizza, pop, and skating. Positions available on the Board will be posted soon.

Thank you and enjoy the remainder of the season.
Rick Girard, President PGRA

Registrar Report:
- Registration Deadline was January 15th.
- By January 4, 2009 everyone should have received their PGRA’s tax receipt. Please contact Karen at karennicklen@shaw.ca   if you have any questions.
-please let the Registrar know if you have a change of address, phone # or email.
-there are a total of 155 skaters for the 2008/09 season!


Treasurer Report:
James Beasley had to resign as treasurer as he has been working out of town. Thank you James for all your help! Rick, Kim and Karen are sharing the Treasurer’s duties. If you have some financial experience and would like to take over the Treasure’s duties please contact Rick.

Ice Schedule:
The January, February and March’s ice schedules are now available http://www.pgringette.ca/ringette/32/ice+schedule

Quesnel’s Gold Pan Ringette Tournament on Jan 2, 3, & 4th was a lot of fun! Thank you to all the parents and players who attended this tournament!

Good luck to the Bunny, Novice and Petite teams at the Houston Ringette Tournament on Feb 21st and 22nd.


FROM: BC Ringette Association
TO: Leagues/Associations:

BC Ringette’s policy has been revised to implement a new mandatory helmet policy. Complete details, including policy wording and explanation are posted on the website. We would appreciate your ensuring that this new rule is bought to your membership’s attention so they are fully aware. The new mandatory helmet policy takes effect on February 15th, 2009.

Thanks, Wayne Leslie, Executive Director, BC Ringette Association

Come Try Ringette – A FREE Event @ the Colesium
March 6th – Pro D Day - 10:15am – 12:15pm
Open to Girls and Boys of all ages.
FREE Pizza and Pop
To Register call 250-562-9691
• Bring your own helmets and Ringette stick
• We will have a few sticks for your friends to borrow
• If you have extra sticks, gloves or helmets please bring them
• For every friend you bring your name will be entered into a draw for a free Ringjet Stick


Year End Party -  On March 30, 2009
Coliseum - Free Skate from  5:30 - 7:30 pm
Free Pizza, Pop - All family members are invited – remember your helmet.

AND

Annual General Meeting - on March 30, 2009
Coliseum Meeting Room - 6:15 pm
Free Draw for One Registration for 09/10

As per the By-Laws of the Prince George Ringette Association Voting Members are hereby invited to attend the Annual General Meeting of the Association. Members interested to become a “Director" of the Association should review "Part - 7 Duties of Officers".
Please call Rick Girard for additional directions phone: 964-3111 or email: rgirard@dwbforestry.com  


Lisa Brown Ringette Retreat has confirmed a ringette camp this 2009 summer for Westbank, BC.
Camp dates are August 17th to the 20th at our Mount Boucherie Complex (Royal LePage Place and Jim Lind Arena).
Please visit Lisa Brown’s website for further information. It will be the "Kelowna" link. Registration will be online with Lisa Brown’s website. http://www.ringetteretreat.com/

DECEMBER 2008 NEWSLETTER

Joy Hoffman Memorial Tournament
Thank you Martine and everyone for a well run and fun Joy Hoffman Memorial Tournament. The teams had fun and the prize winners walked away very happy! Check out this link for more info and pictures: http://www.pgringette.ca/ringette/234/2008+tournament


Registration Update

Team Pictures
Go to http://www.pgringette.ca/ringette/237/20082009+Season  to see team pictures. 

December ice schedule
Available http://www.pgringette.ca/downloads/December%2008%20Ice%20Schedule.doc  


Skate with Santa
Saturday, December 20th from 3:15 to 5pm. There will be free pizza, pop and of course Santa. All skaters and their family are welcome.

Quesnel Gold Pan
Have FUN and Good luck to all at Quesnel’s Gold Pan Tournament on Jan 2, 3, & 4th.

Friend a Friend to Ringette
We’ll have a Bring a Friend event again – stay tuned.

BC Northern Winter Games
Due to lack of ice, Ringette will NOT be participating in the BC Northern Winter games in Mackenzie in 2009.

2010 BC Winter Games will be held in Terrace. This is for 14 and 15 year old players. Keith Sullivan is the Zone 8 Ringette Representative for the 2010 BC Winter Games. Thank you to Keith for volunteering for this position. If you have any questions regarding this event please contact Keith.

Prince George is making a bid for the 2012 BC Winter Games (14 & 15 year olds).

2008/2009 Bench Staff
The following is a list of “Bench Staff” for each team in the 2008/09 season

Director Update
Due to busy work schedules we’ve had to say Good Bye to Melissa, Rudy and Shane.
Welcome Janine Gervais (Secretary). Janine has a daughter in Petites.
Madeleine Crandell, who is the Coaching Director will take on Ice as well.
Welcome back Keith Sullivan(who has been involved with Ringette for 20+ years and only left for a few months) who will be the new Director of Officials.

Terrace Tournament: Congratulations Petite C, Petite A, Tweens and Juniors who played hard and had a great time at the Terrace Ringette Tournament in October.

A HUGE Thank You to Sandra (Director Publicity), Rick and Grant for organizing “Bring a Friend” on SD57’s Pro D Day. Thank you to the parents that helped on the ice and handing out pizza. We had a great turn out!
The winner of a brand new Ringjet is Novice player - Christie King (though I’m sure Mom’s taking the stick) – Congrats!


Northern League Bursary
This award is made available annually to a graduated student from Grade 12 in any one of the towns, villages or cities which are active in the Northern Ringette League, who will be entering an academic or vocational field in a post secondary education institution.  Contact Rick rgirard@dwbforestry.com for more information.


Team Sponsors: We are short sponsors this year, so if you have been thinking about sponsoring a team, this is the time. Get in there before the Joy Hoffman Memorial Tournament (great advertising). Contact Cara 250-964-6571 rclazar@telus.net ASAP.

Skating Enhancement
We hope everyone survived the skating enhancement/power skating.  It was a huge commitment for everyone.  Thank you to the Coaches, Jana and Eric for your work at this event.
If you’d like to see anything different for next year let your coaches or directors know.

COACHING CLINIC

• every team donates a basket.  Your team will ask for $ from each players and any donations for the basket.
• each team will be responsible for a time slot at the tournament to sell basket tickets and 50/50 tickets.
• This tournament is for A, B & C Levels & will include the following Divisions:  BUNNIES, NOVICE, PETITES, TWEENS, JUNIORS, BELLES, OPEN, LADIES.
• 50-50 Draw / Souvenirs / Draw Tables /Gift Baskets
• team pictures will be taken on Saturday Nov. 8th, a time schedule will come at a later date.  Hard plastic skate guards are a must, no soft guard or tape will be acceptable, as these cut up the photographers drop curtain.

We’d like to start a volunteer list of people who would like to help with parts of organizing this tournament.  For example having a few people to put together the goodie bags, set up, what ever needed – please contact:
Martine, Director - Tournament   Phone: 962-5771 or Email: mthompson@sd57.bc.ca

Congratulations to Madeleine Crandell