Covid-19 and rec/minor hockey

[Yukon Joe]

Okay, so the NHL season is suspended, but how is Covid-19 affecting minor and rec hockey out there?

I've just had my first cancellation: the big year-end jamboree for initiation-age hockey (2013-2014 birth year) was cancelled here in Edmonton. I'm now waiting to hear if any other hockey is being cancelled for me or the kids.

The idea in all of this is to avoid large groups where the virus can easily be transmitted. So I get why a big tournament or the like would be cancelled. But just a regular hockey game, with 10-20 people in the locker room, is that enough of a risk?

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[Yukon Joe]

Hockey Canada cancels all sanctioned hockey across the country effective tomorrow.

 

[OfftheBoards]

But just a regular hockey game, with 10-20 people in the locker room, is that enough of a risk?

i'm with you - my daughter's tournament was cancelled last night. I can understand cancelling the tournament. But I'm afraid they will cancel the rest of her season. She has a couple of house games left. I am not sure if that's a significant risk.

 

[Bood12]

Just about to ask about this, have a game tonight and they said it is on for now but not really sure if I should go, my gut is telling me to stay away

 

[Yukon Joe]

My rec league has emailed saying that facilities are still open, so games are still proceeding so far.

I mean: they say to avoid gatherings of lots of people. Rec games at 10:45 at night are hardly big gatherings of people!

 

[Bood12]

My rec league has emailed saying that facilities are still open, so games are still proceeding so far.

I mean: they say to avoid gatherings of lots of people. Rec games at 10:45 at night are hardly big gatherings of people!

Still being in close proximity, they cancelled all Pro and College sporting events not just for the large gatherings but so the athletes do not get close to each other

 

[cleveland408]

Just about to ask about this, have a game tonight and they said it is on for now but not really sure if I should go, my gut is telling me to stay away

I wouldn't if I were you. I'm not going to the rest of my teams games.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Games are still on here in NC. I'm going to reluctantly play tomorrow night unless they cancel it before then. I know it's not the most cautious thing to do, but then again neither is playing rec hockey in the first place.

At this stage of outbreak the chances of sitting next to a victim are about the same as the chances of sliding into the boards and breaking my neck, both being non-trivial.

 

[Neutrinos]

Just got an email saying 8 Rinks in Burnaby - as well as all Canlan Ice Sports Arenas - will be closed beginning tomorrow

 

[Yukon Joe]

Nope - my rec league is shutting down as well.

 

[zeeto]

One of my leagues is still a go, we play tomorrow night, and the other is currently being decided on. I'll probably skip the rest of the games since it's about 5 in total.

My daughter's school just cancelled school for the next month and pushed back the start of lacrosse 3 weeks. If I'm going to tell her she can't have playdates and can't start lacrosse practice for a bit, then I should be leading my example and not just talk.

 

[Bood12]

my games got cancelled, they said the ice was still open for anyone who wanted to play a pick up game so I went, have a feeling that is the last hockey I am going to be playing for a long time

 

[mk80]

One rink I play at closed entirely along with a few others. I'd imagine the rest will close soon in my area.

 

[RibFrabcus]

My league hasn't cancelled yet, but im avoiding games for the next few weeks since my wife just got back from France this weekend.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

the Roller Hockey league I'm in shut down indefinitely until this passes. I'm in a Facebook messenger group with 20-30 or so people that go to Public Hockey at night at the rink that is in our neighborhood and was brought to our attention that our rink has also closed.

Guess I'll be playing hockey in my basement!

 

[BruinDust]

All my local rinks are now closed. My guess is the ones that don't normally run during the summer will take the ice up right away as a way to reduce cost while they have zero revenue coming in. My best bet is to see the ice again in June/July at one of the rinks that normally has ice in the summertime.

 

[Ozz]

Rec/kids leagues were open through the weekend. Canceled for the remainder of the month as of today.

Last week my team advanced to the finals and I was really hoping they'd push the championship to later that night since both teams were playing already. They often do semis/finals in one night so it's nothing out of ordinary. Now we'll have to wait 2 weeks or more to get back to it.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

Rec/kids leagues were open through the weekend. Canceled for the remainder of the month as of today.

Last week my team advanced to the finals and I was really hoping they'd push the championship to later that night since both teams were playing already. They often do semis/finals in one night so it's nothing out of ordinary. Now we'll have to wait 2 weeks or more to get back to it.

I wouldn't be surprised if they cancelled them entirely. Does your league have a spring season? My league basically has a season going at all times, so any kind of delay means that it is going to affect the spring/summer seasons.

 

[Ozz]

I wouldn't be surprised if they cancelled them entirely. Does your league have a spring season? My league basically has a season going at all times, so any kind of delay means that it is going to affect the spring/summer seasons.

Yes we have Spring seasons. They're all short 10-12 game "seasons" and just repeat over and over.

I believe the only remaining games are championship games, and there are only 2-3 divisions which are unfinished. The rink said we'd pick up when they re-open (assumed to be 3-4 weeks) but who knows how that'll change if it goes longer than that. Since there's only a small handful of games left, they should be able to squeeze them in somewhere.

In the past we've had shutdowns around the same time in the playoffs, and what they did was push those remaining games throughout the next season. So you were basically playing 2 different seasons! It was pretty wild but they got everything done. I think it was our 3rd or 4th week of the new season that our "prior season team" played our championship game. They just worked those games into off days and/or late night time slots.

 

[Yukon Joe]

I assume my winter seasons final games and playoffs are just going to be cancelled.

I mean in summer ice times are a little more flexible, but I can't see trying to squeeze in all those games in the midst of summer hockey.

Too bad. My team in the 2nd lowest bracket cruised along in 1st place all season. We weren't blowing people out so they didn't bump us up mid-year, but we're almost certain to get bumped up next year. Probably our only shot at a championship gone.

 

[Slats432]

My son's Junior B team was about to qualify for provincials when they pulled the plug. I was in the middle of a game reffing when we called it when City of Edmonton closed all rec centres.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

It might be time to bump this thread... shifting gears from "what's closing down/when" to... when are things opening back up and what are the precautions needed.

I saw USA Hockey put out a bulletin on their guidelines for re-opening this week. Not date specific, but it did lay out some points about how things are likely to proceed.

Two main takeaways I have:

• Initially only talking about practices/tryouts/combines etc. That will be first. Games will be held off a bit longer. They are recommending non-contact practices with lots of social distancing precautions. Local, no travel.
• It might be more expensive. I guess I see two competing factors here: businesses will be desperate to get people back through the doors, so maybe they don't jack up the prices because of this. BUT. Ice costs probably have to go up to support some of the recommendations, and ice costs are always the biggest part of most budgets. If rinks actually follow the guidelines in terms of infrastructure modifications, dressing room spacing into multiple rooms, cleaning policies... it would probably add to the overall rental costs.

Once the public results of the first wave of the current economic re-openings in the US has had time to filter through things may start to open up for this form of hockey. So say give the rest of May to see if anything blows up. Then maybe by June 1 - or at least by July 1 - if all goes well the rinks could open, with the noted restrictions.

Then you monitor how that goes for July/August, then maybe back to team/league type play in September - although possibly with some additional travel/tournament restrictions if the pandemic seems to be lingering.

I don't know how differently things might proceed in Canada. They seem to be having some lesser rates of the virus, but at the same time might be more cautious from a governing perspective. If those two things somewhat cancel eachother out, though, perhaps there'd be a similar sort of timeline?

Thoughts?

 

[Yukon Joe]

Article today in The Athletic about what pandemic hockey might look like (Paywall):

No parents, no tournaments: Big changes floated in minor...

Nothing is decided obviously, but thoughts and suggestions included:
-no contact
-younger kids arrive fully dressed
-no one in stands, or only one parent per kid
-4 on 4, or even 3 on 3 hockey
-more time in between games in order to disinfect dressing rooms
-no tournaments (this has already been announced in Ontario)

Canada though is much like the US - very different infection rates depending on where you go. Manitoba / Saskatchewan might be on track to eliminate the virus in their borders, BC/Alberta seems to mostly have it under control with a few specific outbreaks, Ontario somewhat worse, and it's not good in Quebec (and even there it's almost all localized to Montreal).

 

[ALF AmericanLionsFan]

Saw a private rink opened up in BC.

 

[Ozz]

Rec/kids leagues were open through the weekend. Canceled for the remainder of the month as of today.

Last week my team advanced to the finals and I was really hoping they'd push the championship to later that night since both teams were playing already. They often do semis/finals in one night so it's nothing out of ordinary. Now we'll have to wait 2 weeks or more to get back to it.

Well, I had the "or more" part right. A week away from 2 months so far and no word on anything changing. I've been skating outside trying to teach my son to skate, and I certainly feel out of shape when I turn on the jets. Obviously it's different skating, but still I just feel like my legs aren't ready for the work. I've been working out like a madman too since I've got a great home gym, so I'm in shape, just not skating shape. As soon as I hear the rinks are opening back up I might be outside doing suicides every day