Powassan Blazers respond to GMHL snub

POWASSAN BLAZERS PRESS RELEASE

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In our attempt to bring Jr. Hockey back to Powassan we felt that with their focus and commitment on development, the GMHL would be a great league to be a part of and while we were speaking with the municipality of Powassan we did have a conditional acceptance into the GMHL based on financial obligations being met. However, when the possibility of sanctions being enforced by Hockey Canada against the communities who support GMHL teams and the communities minor hockey associations became known, we did not feel comfortable moving ahead making an official application without knowing with 100% certainty that the Powassan Minor Hockey Association would not be affected. We did also speak with representatives from Hockey Canada as well as the NOJHL to get a better understanding on the possible sanctions.

Our goal has been and always will be to provide a place for players to develop in order to pursue all of their options. However, with these sanctions possibly being enforced against the community’s minor hockey program, we wanted to seriously weigh our options before committing.

In the end, we would still like to move forward in our attempt to bring Jr. Hockey back to the Municipality of Powassan for the 2009-2010 season, but we want to be able to work with the PMHA and our community without worrying about sanctions being enforced.

Submitted to BayToday.ca