Registration set for August 26th and 27th at the Four Seasons.
ICE COST:
Update on the utility agreement between the County and City for the Four Seasons Centre
Background, in 2007, the City of Owatonna subsidized 100% of the utility cost for 5 years based upon
the bonding period by Steele County for the west rink. Although the contract originally expired in 2012,
the City and County had agreed to a new amended contract and partially cover utility cost for the first 3
months of the calendar year through 2014. The County and the City are currently trying to come up with
an amendable agreement for 2015 and beyond but nothing has been resolved as of yet. So what does this
mean? Without an agreement, 100% of all utilities costs will fall on the shoulders of the County. All
users of the Four Seasons Centre have been asked for amend their budgets with the utility costs being
divided proportionally among the user groups. The user groups consist of the OYHA, Steele County
Blades, the Boys and Girls High School teams (BLC & OGHA) and the Owatonna Figure Skating Club.
Since OYHA is by far the largest user / consumer of the Four Seasons, OYHA will absorb the largest
portion of cost. OYHA has experienced increases in the cost of ice each of the last 4 years, this year is no
exception.
DRYLAND:
To get the Dryland training area in the basement took a couple of months of preparation and planning
followed by 6 months of discussion between the Four Seasons Board and Steele County Park & Rec
Board before being accepted by the Steele County Commissioners. Prior to the Dryland in the basement,
the High School players used the weight room at the High School to lift weights before the start of the
school day. OYHA had rented one of the swine barns on the fairgrounds. Once the temperature dropped
outside, there was little use and subsequently, by the time the hockey season was over, there was little use
at all. OYHA coaches also stated that using the swine barn was inconvenient and a potential safety issue
since kids would have to drop their gear at the arena before leaving the building to head to the swine barn.
The moneys spent on renting the swine barn and storing equipment during the fair was not an effective
use of dollars. The board for OYHA agreed to front the money based on the plan that all money invested
would be paid off in 3 years. As of the start of the 2014-2015 hockey season, 3/4 of the initial investment
has been returned. A fair portion of this money coming from a grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation
thanks in part to Youth 1st and the Sparetime fundraiser.
RUMOR CONTROL:
Several discussions have been held on the matters of the fall clinic, try-outs and Squirts / 10U. Rumors
have come back to board members that OYHA is cutting games in place of an In-House league. While
the discussion of an In-House league is true, there is no intention to cut games. The members of the
Education and Development Committee are still in the discussion phase with skill development as the
primary focus. The most likely current plan is to have the squirts (and possibly 10U) spend October and
November practicing and also being split into cross ice or ½ ice teams and have a “league”. The primary
change that would need to take place in order for this to be feasible would be for the squirts (and possibly
10U’s) start their district games and league play in December. Since the younger ages generally play very
few games in November, the change would be minimal. There would be no change to the overall number
of games allowed during the year or tournaments allowed. The date that all groups start skating will help
determine the length and cost of the fall camp. At this point it looks like all groups will start skating in
early October. PeeWee and Bantam tryouts would need to be held almost as soon as skating starts while
squirts may not have a formal tryout but instead be evaluated throughout October and early November.
Discussions on this are still taking place.
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Buffalo Wild Wings - OYHA will be
participating in a 10% kick back of all
food purchases from November 1st through
March. So remember to mention OYHA’s name
to the servers in order for OYHA to receive
any money.
_________________________________________________________________________________
SPONSOR HIGH-LIGHT:
MODERN METAL PRODUCTS
(Division of Technico Inc.)
P.O. Box 247
Owatonna, MN 55060
800–435–5544
Fax: 507–451–0882
info@modern–metal.com
SUPPORT OYHA CHARITABLE GAMBLING at
the following locations:
Wings Tavern and Grille
Plaza Morena
Sportsman Grille
Looking for OYHA apparel, check the home web page on the
upper left hand side.
SAVE THE DATES
Registration – August 26th and 27th at the Four Seasons Centre

This includes players signing up for Park & Rec
Pork Fundraiser – Thursday in Late October
Kick Off – Monday in Late October
Pancake Breakfast – First Sunday in December