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Ice Boltz AA Girls program shut down

The North Bay and District Girls Hockey Association is reporting that the renowned Midget AA Girls Ice Boltz program is being put on the shelf for the upcoming 2014-15 season.

The North Bay and District Girls Hockey Association is reporting that the renowned Midget AA Girls Ice Boltz program is being put on the shelf for the upcoming 2014-15 season. 

The team which went to the National Midget Girls finals only 2 years ago, was planning to continue to grow the program under former NHLer Bill Houlder, who took over as head coach of the program back in February.   

According to a press release, the decision really came from the league which the Ice Boltz play in.  The Lower Lakes Female Hockey League decided to basically eliminate the North Bay and Sudbury Programs, unless both teams wanted to play their home games in Parry Sound.   

"It is with much disappointment that the NBDGHA Executive has determined that we will be unable to offer a Midget AA program for the 2014-15 season," stated the local association in a press release.  


"On April 14, 2014 we were informed that the Executive of the  Lower Lakes Female Hockey League had made a change to its policy in regards to the registration of teams in its League."

The new policy is as follows:

"Effective immediately the Lower Lakes Female Hockey League will only accept the Midget AA teams from North Bay and Sudbury if they play their home games no further north than Parry Sound."

The unique rule change put the Ice Boltz Association in a tough spot.  

"With tryouts starting in one week we do not want to offer a program that we may not be able to provide if we were unable to secure the reasonable and adequate ice in alternate locations to meet LLFHL scheduling requirements," the Association added in the release.

"The option of icing a Midget AA Team and not playing in the LLFHL, which has been done in the past, and was not considered to be an ideal situation for competition and player development."

The short term solution will be to ice a Competitive Midget A Program which will be coached by Houlder.  

However, any players who want to play Midget AA hockey outside North Bay, won't be held back by the Ice Boltz Association.  

"We want to support our members in aspiring to compete at the Midget AA level and attending other OWHA Centres tryouts. Please request the required  'Permission to Skate' form by contacting Bill Houlder at: [email protected],”


BayToday.ca reached out to Houlder after the release and he didn't want to comment on the situation. 

"It's very disappointing," was his only words for the bizarre decision.  

The Association added its intension is to to resume a Midget AA Program in the future.


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Chris Dawson

About the Author: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson has been with BayToday.ca since 2004. He has provided up-to-the-minute sports coverage and has become a key member of the BayToday news team.
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