Report: Big changes coming to minor hockey once restrictions are lifted

As provinces and states across Canada and the United States begin “re-opening” this month, recreational hockey players are left wondering where they fit in the grand scheme of things.

Yesterday, we covered the story of the reopening for the Jacksonville Ice & Sportsplex in Jacksonville, Florida and the difficulties that they’re facing. 

 “We have to either open or close,” owner Mark Schiff says. “We’ve pretty much hit that point. We closed on March 17 and I decided to continue to pay the employees until about two weeks ago when we were just running out of money. The landlord wanted their money and they weren’t making any concessions and the $15,000 utility bill had to be paid.”

Scheff admits thought, it won’t be business as usual when the rink opens this weekend. “We’ve put together seven or eight pages of public protocols, the majority of which will stay in place forever,” Scheff said. “I truly believe this is this generation’s 9-11. It’s going to change everything

It’s clear that things won’t ever be the same, especially for us beer leagues. But what about the kids? What will minor hockey look like when rinks begin re-opening?

In his latest article for The Athletic, reporter Sean Fitz-Gerald, speaks with some minor hockey brass from across Canada and uncovers some interesting insights.

Read below for some snippets from Fitz-Gerald’s article:

“I know, for a fact, that we’ll lose some families because they just won’t feel safe without a vaccine,” says James Bradburn, president of the Peterborough Hockey Association, in Central Ontario. “There will be families who just won’t come out until that’s sorted. It’s too risky.”

On Tuesday, a governing body in Ontario announced it was putting “a stop to any further planning of minor hockey tournaments” for the upcoming season. The Ontario Hockey Federation has declared all existing tournaments have been “put on hold until further notice,” and that no team will be allowed to register for tournaments inside or outside the province.

“At this point, for us, everything’s on the table,” said Nic Jansen, the executive director of Hockey New Brunswick. “We’re not eliminating any possibility. We’re willing to look at a number of options.”

“We think sports are important for the physical and the mental wellbeing of youth across the country,” Jansen said. “But we fully understand that, until a vaccine is in place, in order for organized sports to happen, there will be changes that have to be made.”

“We kind of kicked around an idea of one parent per child,” said Glenn McIntyre, the general manager of Brampton Hockey, in suburban Toronto. “I don’t know how that would actually get regulated, or cast in stone. How do you police it, even?”

“Maybe the lobby becomes obsolete,” he said. “There’s emergency entrances to all the rinks, so maybe they open up those and not allow people back into the lobby area. I don’t know.”

Jordan Bateman is an executive with the Langley Minor Hockey Association, in suburban Vancouver, and he is also an executive with the Independent Contractors and Business Association in British Columbia, which are unexpectedly similar this year. Both, he said, have to demonstrate risk mitigation in the face of the virus.

“It’s one thing to try to get outside sports going,” he said. “But hockey is so much more complicated because it’s an inside sport. And it’s a contact sport.”

For the full article at The Athletic, click below: