As Saskatchewan continues to re-open and students return to the classroom in September, the 鈥渘ew normal鈥� is going to look different. It may not include full competition in the vast majority of sports, both inside and outside of school.
With hockey 小蓝视频 the most prominent sport in Canada, as fall approaches, communities throughout the country are preparing to open their ice rinks. The question remains, how plausible is it that competitive hockey can return with the COVID-19 pandemic still active?
In mid-August the Saskatchewan Hockey Association (SHA) released their preliminary Return to Hockey Plan for the fall that was worked on with both the provincial government and the Saskatchewan Health Authority. Currently the Government of Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan Health Authority are not prepared to provide a set date for when the SHA can play games of any kind.聽
The SHA stresses that no games can be played at this time, for any level, but registration and tryouts can take place, teams can be formed, and practice is allowed. Tournaments, out-of-province travel, and games of any kind are not sanctioned by the SHA at this time. This applies to minor, junior, and senior hockey.
Minor Hockey will be in an identification and training phase for the time 小蓝视频. Once teams are formed, they are restricted to practice together. The SHA has restricted minor hockey to a 50-person limit within facilities for mini-leagues. A total of 30 individuals within the 50 can participate in one ice session at a time.
鈥淭he 50-person maximum per mini-league includes coaches/staff, instructors, participants from multiple teams, officials and volunteers who cannot maintain two meters of distancing from others at all times,鈥� said SHA GM Kelly McClintock. 鈥淪pectators, including parents, who are not part of a previously listed category, and others who can ensure physical distancing are not included in the 50-person total.
鈥淥rganizers must keep a record of attendees,鈥� he said. 鈥淎ll players, spectators, staff, and volunteers should be provided with a sign-in on arrival option, with name, phone number and/or email to facilitate contact tracing, if necessary. Records of attendance must be retained for a minimum of one month. Where possible, do not use a common pen. Providing this information is voluntary for attendees and can only be used for the purposes of COVID-19 contact tracing.鈥�
Until there鈥檚 a clear idea from the government and Sask. Health of when competitive hockey can return, McClintock said the SHA is in a tough situation and can only allow for practices that follow the protocol within communities and can鈥檛 give much of an idea for when games can begin
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a little difficult because we haven鈥檛 had any real certainty of things from the provincial government and Sask Health,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been waiting and waiting and we put together a best and worst case scenario for them. We told them we wanted hockey to start like normal and have our tryouts and get into a training phase until we can start games. We gave them some dates for when we would like to start games, but they aren鈥檛 prepared to set a hard and fast date for us at this time to start games.聽
鈥淲ith our plan, we wanted to let communities to know what to plan for so they鈥檇 know what to do with their rinks. A lot of communities still aren鈥檛 sure if they want to open their rinks. I told them we needed to give people in hockey some hope, especially when we鈥檝e got 197 minor hockey associations. It鈥檚 impacting a lot of communities so we needed to get something out. There鈥檚 still a lot of people that have anxiety about when we鈥檒l start games and if we鈥檒l be able to play tournaments. I鈥檓 telling people not to worry about that, the likelihood of a tournament is probably non-existent. Specific to a border community like Moosomin, they don鈥檛 allow travel outside of the province and that puts any border community in a difficult spot. It鈥檚 a really tough situation for them trying to create guidelines for all different sports.鈥�
Even though there鈥檚 no dates set for games, McClintock said the SHA has the time to wait and see how things play out and if the season needs to be delayed and extended that鈥檚 not something that would be detrimental to the season.
鈥淭he majority of our membership is under seven, under nine, under 11,鈥� he said. 鈥淯nder our rules under seven can鈥檛 play games until Dec. 1 anyway, and under nine and under 11 can鈥檛 play games until Nov. 15. We鈥檝e already implemented that for those ages, frontloading the season with development, skills, and skating, and back loading them with games. For those age groups, if we can start by Nov. 15 it won鈥檛 impact them at all and that鈥檚 a positive thing from a development standpoint.聽
鈥淚鈥檝e also always personally felt we start playing games way too early and maybe this can be a season for older age groups where we can spend some time practicing at the start of the year and maybe extend the season until the end of March instead of having leagues done the first week of February. You can鈥檛 make a schedule now, but when you can, why not make sure you鈥檙e using the rink until the end of March.聽
鈥淚 really believe the government wants to see how school goes for a few weeks and see what things will be like and if we can get games going by Nov. 15 or Dec. 1, we still have three months if you play until the end of March,鈥� he said. 鈥淔or higher level teams in AA or AAA, then you can play until the end of April. We can just extend our leagues if we don鈥檛 have national or regional play.鈥�
McClintock is less concerned about the actual hockey season at this point and more so with the ripple effect the changes could have for hockey in smaller communities throughout Saskatchewan.
鈥淭he only difference from a normal season is it鈥檚 just no games for the time 小蓝视频,鈥� he said. 鈥淟et鈥檚 say we can get started by November or December, hopefully by February we鈥檝e got this under control. In that case the hockey season will look different, but it will still be a season.聽
鈥淭he biggest challenge will really be for towns and villages, opening the rink, having limited opportunities for lots of games so your kitchen isn鈥檛 doing well, and if the kitchen isn鈥檛 making revenue then how do you pay your bills? That becomes the challenge.聽
鈥淗ow much extra cleaning will rinks need? Will it impact scheduling? If rinks are allowing people in then more cleaning is needed. If typically it鈥檚 one person running the zamboni with cleaning in-between, then rinks may need to hire another person or find volunteers for cleaning. Do rinks have the money to buy the extra cleaning supplies? There鈥檚 all that logistical, behind-the-scenes stuff that people in hockey don鈥檛 necessarily think about.聽
鈥淪ome of the rinks that have been running for three or four months still aren鈥檛 allowing kids to dress in dressing rooms 鈥� even though you鈥檙e allowed to 鈥� because that鈥檚 added manpower and cleaning supplies,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ith summer weather you can go dress in the parking lot. When it gets into October and November, it鈥檚 a different situation. How does that impact scheduling? Do you have to have half an hour between ice times? If you can only afford one person, that person can鈥檛 do everything.
鈥淚f the guy鈥檚 riding the zamboni and there鈥檚 still the limits we have, will the town allow anybody into the lobby? And how many people? As soon as the ice times done, do those people need to get out before the other people can come in? Who will clean in-between? And if you let them into the stands, now you鈥檝e got to clean the stands and you鈥檝e got to clean the dressing rooms. It piles up and there鈥檚 still so many questions. There鈥檚 a lot of logistics that I don鈥檛 think a lot of people have take into account.鈥�
