Bad Weather Policy
If the weather is bad, it is up to each team to decide whether to travel to the game. If the Head Coach decides the weather is too bad to travel to the game, the following needs to happen:
- Games are not to be cancelled until 1 hour prior to the time a team would need to leave home to travel to the game. (For example, if the game is at 8pm and it takes an hour to travel there and you want to be there 45 minutes before the game, you would typically leave at 6:15pm. Therefore, if weather conditions are too bad for travel at 5:15pm, you can cancel the game at that point.) Weather and road conditions can change during the day, so it is better to wait to see if things improve.... the goal being to play the game if possible.
- Women’s Senior rep teams must cancel at least 3 hours prior to the game time.
- It is the team's responsibility to contact all parents/adult players to inform them of the cancellation. You must have a predetermined method of communication for this.
- The team must also contact the other team to inform them of their decision. Typically, you can find contact information for the other team on their Association's website.
- For local league teams, if you cannot find the contact information, contact your Local League Liaison for assistance.
- For U9 to U18 rep teams:
- notification must be made by a phone call (email or phone message is not acceptable), and
- both the home and away teams must contact the OWHL ([email protected]) to let them know the game has been cancelled.
- for home games, change the date of the game on the RAMP Game Portal to be the last day of the regular season. This will hold the game until you negotiate a date and time for the reschedule.
- Women’s Senior rep teams must also contact the league President and Statistician.
- You must inform the WGMHA Ice Scheduler immediately so we can cancel referees (for home games) and mark the game as cancelled on our website. This is a back-up form of communication for you as it will generate automated texts or emails to anyone who has subscribed to the team's website.
- If it is a home game, use the ice time as a practice where at all possible. We cannot return the ice to the Township, so we will be charged for the ice regardless of whether you play or not.
- If the Township closes the St. Jacobs arena, we will let you know by email of the closure. The WMC (Snyder/McLeod) never closes due to weather as they are an Emergency Centre for Woolwich.
- Rescheduling the game:
- For Local League teams, the WGMHA Ice Scheduler will work with the other centre to reschedule the game and will let you know the new game information.
- For U9 to U18 rep teams, the manager must negotiate a new game time/day with the other team. You have 7 days in which to do this, and you must notify the WGMHA Ice Scheduler.
- For home games, update the game information on the RAMP Game Portal.
- For Women’s Senior rep teams, 5 days’ notice and two possible game times must be provided for rescheduled games.
- Rep teams - please also review the OWHL Rules and Regulations for game cancellations.
- Women’s Senior Rep teams – please also review the SOWHL By-Laws for game cancellations.