Good evening Blizzard families,

Thanks to all our volunteers and congratulations to all our Blizzard athletes on a great competition this weekend. We had many skaters achieve new personal bests (PBs) and three new skaters skate in their first ever races! I hope all the athletes and parents enjoyed the event, the competition is as much about the races as it is about socializing with the other athletes and parents.

Our competition would not be so successful without our dedicated volunteers. Big thanks to Meet Coordinator Keri McLeod for all the work leading up to the event, as well as on the big day, and to Meet Recorder Kari Rae, who tabulates and compiles race schedules and results all day. We also have "informal" volunteers like Elaina Hudyma who stepped in to be "Team Mom", watching over our kids and helping out the new parents - thanks Elaina!

We are now looking forward to our long track season. Exciting news - the Outdoor Ice Oval has started accumulating ice. Cross your fingers for subzero temperatures so the ice crew can get ice layed down quickly. The OIO ice crew can perform amazing feats as long as Mother Nature cooperates. Watch the Outdoor Ice Oval Facebook page and website for updates.

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1. NO SKATING THIS TUESDAY

A reminder that skating for all groups is cancelled this Tuesday evening, November 20th, because of the PG Minor Hockey Skate-a-thon.

2. FUNDRAISING

Fundraising Coordiantor, Catherine Hansen, would like to remind families that fundraising through the bottle depot or through SaveOn gift cards continues throughout the year. 

SaveOn gift cards can be purchase through the Customer Service counters at our local SaveOn foods. The staff member will record your purchase on the Blizzards page in their programs book, you will then need to send a picture or scan of your receipt to Catherine at pgblizzard.fundraising@gmai.com. SaveOn foods contributes 4% of your GC purchase towards our fundraising.

The process at the bottle depot is similar. Notify your cashier regarding your intention for the funds to go towards the PG Blizzard fundraising account. Ask for a second copy of the receipt and send a picture or scan your receipt and send it to pgblizzard.fundraising@gmail.com.

3. CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS
Please watch the PG Blizzard Facebook page and website calendar for information regarding skating over the holidays. Short track practices will break between Sunday, December 23rd and Thursday January 3rd, 2019. 

If ice is in good condition at the Outdoor Ice Oval long track practices may continue over the holidays.

4. SANTA SKATE

The PG Blizzard Santa Skate is scheduled for Tuesday, December 11th. Stay tuned for more information.

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Thank you, have a great week.

Kessie Konwicki, Registrar
PG Blizzard Speed Skating Club
~ on behalf of the PG Blizzard Board of Directors

Good evening Blizzard families,
I am slowly moving through getting our club members registered in Speed Skating Canada's new Member Administration System (MAS). Apologies for the confusion if/when you are receiving emails from the MAS. Please rest assured that all your fees have been paid at the Blizzard registration night, you do not need to log in to the system to make any additional payments.

Its a big week for the PG Blizzard - our interclub competition is this coming Saturday. Keri McLeod is still looking for volunteers, if you are interested and available please contact Keri ASAP.

Mats are being moved to Kin1 on Friday night at 7:30pm. Many hands make light work - if you are available please come down to help get the mats ready for installation early Saturday morning.

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1. BCSSA - CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP

The BCSSA announced earlier this week that the President has issued his resignation. BCSSA Vice President (and PG Blizzard President) Kari Rae will be transitioning into the leadership role over the next several weeks. Thank you and congratulations Kari Rae!

More information is available on the BCSSA website here: 
https://www.bcspeedskating.ca/mailster/6195/11f55d3b9ec40a9b640f1e01f9c07d56/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmNzcGVlZHNrYXRpbmcuY2Evd3AtY29udGVudC91cGxvYWRzLzIwMTgvMTEvRGF2ZXMtQkNTU0EtUmVzaWduYXRpb24ucGRm

2. FUNDRAISING

Purdys - due to a lack of interest the PG Blizzard will not be selling Purdys this year.

Operation Red Nose - ORN is in dire need of volunteers and they will donate funds to the club to anyone volunteering on behalf of the club. Please consider signing up.

Colibri - The Colibri bags are expected to be shipped later this week. We should receive them promptly, pending the shipment is not disrupted by Canada Post rotating strikes.

3. ICE SCHEDULE

A reminder that despite Monday, November 12th being a school holiday, the city facilities are open and therefore the Advanced Group ice will go ahead as regularly scheduled on Monday evening.

Tuesday November 20th skating for ALL GROUPS is cancelled. The ice is preempted due to the PG Minor Hockey Assn Skate-a-thon.

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Have a great week!
Kessie,

Kessie Konwicki, Registrar
PG Blizzard Speed Skating Club
~ on behalf of the PG Blizzard Board of Directors

Good evening Blizzard families,
I hope that all of you, and your families are surviving the shift to daylight savings time, so far. The true test will be getting out of bed and out the door for school and work tomorrow morning.

As we get closer to our Interclub meet - Central Interior Challenge (Nov.17) the PG Blizzard would like to acknowledge all the work being done by Meet Coordinator Keri McLeod behind the scenes to make this a great event for our club skaters and our guests from across the province.

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1. MEET ENTRY

A reminder that Registration forms for the PG Blizzard CICO on November the 17th are due by November 8th. Kari Rae is our club's meet entry coordinator. 

Registration forms are available here:
https://www.bcspeedskating.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/CIC-Announcement.pdf

Please hand completed forms in to Kari Rae this week.

If you need to access the BCSSA site to look up your skater's Personal Best (PB) times you can access the site here: http://lookup.speed-skating.bc.ca/request/pbtimes/  

If you have any questions please contact Kari Rae, Keri McLeod, or any of the more "experienced" parents.

All skaters registered in the Learn to Skate program are eligible to compete in one local meet - this is the perfect opportunity! All skaters will skate with skaters of a similar ability, and we like to say "we compete against our shadow", the goal is to set a new personal best. The Active Start skaters will also be able to participate in the Jamboree which is all fun and games. 

2. MEET SAFETY

Our club's Safety Coordinator, Meredith Earl, is wondering if any of our parents have  Level 3 Occupational First Aid or equivalent. Please contact Meredith  if you have the certification and are available to assist at any of our three meets this season.

3. PG BLIZZARD BOARD MEETING

A quick reminder to Board members that we are scheduled to meet this Wednesday evening at 6:30pm.

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Thank you, have a great week!

Kessie Konwicki, Registrar
- on behalf of the PG Blizzard Board of Directors

Good evening PG Blizzard families,

Here is a quick update for this week.
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1. KIN Centre Update

This past week parents and skaters noticed that it was a bit chillier than normal in Kin1. The following information was provided by the City of Prince George:

As part of the natural gas conservation effort, the City of Prince George has lowered the temperature in Kin 1 from 16 to 12 degrees. 

The attached sign will be posted around Community Arenas, however I wanted to share so that you can message to your Supervisors, Coaches to the parents as they may notice the cooler temperature around the building.

2. FUNDRAISING

Colibri Bags - Colibri continues through to the 29th. 

Purdys - In order to qualify for fundraising with Purdys the Club needs to be able to order $1000 this holiday season. If you are interested in selling Purdys please  email Fundraising Coordinator, Catherine Hansen 
CICO - Along with our interclub short track meet - Central Interior Challenge - the midget hockey team is also hosting a tournament at the arena on that weekend. Catherine is looking in to some interesting and innovative options to do fundraising.

Operation Red Nose - Volunteering with Operation Red Nose has been a great option for families to fundraise in past years. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Catherine Hansen.
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That's all for this week, have a great week.

Kessie.

Kessie Konwicki, Registrar
PG Blizzard Speed Skating Club
~ on behalf of the PG Blizzard Board of Directors

Good evening Blizzard families,


All our skaters are settling in to the 2018/19 skating season. Our Elite skaters, Craig Miller, Kieran Hansen and Keanan St. Rose were in Red Deer this past weekend for trials for the BC provincial short track team for the 2019 Canada Winter Games, coming this winter to Red Deer, Alberta. Stay tuned for results.

Here is this week's update:

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1. FUNDRAISING

The Colibri fundraiser starts this week on October 15th. Fundraising coordinator, Catherine, will be handing out forms this week at practice, or you can go directly to their website at https://colibrifundraising.com/ . When ordering online, don't forget to select PG Blizzard as the school. 

You can also share the link from our Facebook page to family and friends.

Colibri offers reusable bags for lunch, snacks or larger wet bags for swimwear, in a variety of kid-friendly patterns.

2. CENTRAL INTERIOR CHALLENGE - MEET COORDINATION

Hello, It is that time of year again. The Central Interior Challenge (our short track meet) is fast approaching and I am looking for volunteers to help out. I will be needing officials, and a couple of people to help out with the lunch for the officials.

The officials positions are:
Place Judges
Timers
Lap Counters 
Runners
Heat Box Steward
Track Steward 

All of these positions can be learned the day of the meet and there isn’t any experience required. Our volunteers can be parents, grandparents, siblings (16 yrs and up) or anyone that you know who is willing to help.
Please remember, without our volunteers our meets cannot run.
Thank you,

Keri McLeod, Meet Coordinator   

3. LEARN TO SKATE - SKATE SHARPENING
Following their 3rd session on the ice, the Learn to Skate skates will likely need to be sharpened. If all Learn to Skate skaters can leave their skates with Dave following the practice this Tuesday a team of "experienced" parents will help to get them sharpened, and return them at the beginning of practice next Tuesday. 

Dave will have a bin in the change room to collect skates at the end of practice.

4. PG BLIZZARD BOARD MEETING

A quick reminder to Board members that we are scheduled to meet this Wednesday evening at 6:30pm.

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Thank you, have a great week!

Kessie Konwicki, Registrar
~ on behalf of the PG Blizzard Speed Skating Club

Good evening PG Blizzard families.
Happy Thanksgiving!

​We hope all our new Learn to Skate skaters had a great first session. Our new Tuesday night skaters all looked like they were having fun. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out.

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1. ADVANCED GROUP - NO ICE MONDAY, OCTOBER 8th

A reminder to our Advanced Group skaters and families that due to the holiday, there is no session on Monday, October 8th.

2. FUNDRAISING - COLIBRI BAGS

Our first new fundraising opportunity of the 2018/19 season starts next week. Colibri bags offers a number of sizes of reuseable lunch bags and wet bags in fun patterns.  The fundraiser will go from October 15-29th and can be done online or through forms that Catherine will distribute at practice.   These bags are made by a Canadian company and make really great Christmas presents and stocking stuffers.  Feel free to pre-shop on their website and we will also share the link on our Facebook page that you can share as well. 

https://colibrifundraising.com/ 

3. MEET ENTRY

Please be advised that the annual Fort St. James short track event has been cancelled. 

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Thanks! Have a great week.

Kessie Konwicki, Registrar
~ on behalf of the PG Blizzard Board of Directors