Plans ‘up in the air’ Local minor hockey organizations hoping to salvage seasons By: Mike Sawatzky Posted: 7:00 PM CST Monday, Dec. 7, 2020 Last Modified: 5:59 PM CST Monday, Dec. 7, 2020 Updates

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This article was published 06/12/2020 (1438 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two months ago, the folks who run minor hockey in Manitoba were united in their hope to stage full seasons with robust playoffs included.

Those aspirations are more modest now. Administrators are more likely to cheer any kind of on-ice activities as the province nears the end of its first month of code red restrictions.

Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba’s chief provincial public health officer, is expected to extend the current guidelines for at least another 30 days with the COVID-19 pandemic roaring ahead with hundreds of new local cases announced every day.

“Our plans are all up in the air,” Hockey Winnipeg president Chris Hall said Monday. “Because it’s really dependent upon the announcement, come Friday or sooner. Hopefully they make a decision prior to that. Beyond that, if the (restart) is in January, what does this season look like? What facilities will be available to us? Right now, our goal is to get the kids back on the ice.”

“… our goal is to get the kids back on the ice.”
– Hockey Winnipeg president Chris Hall

A committee from Hockey Winnipeg, which governs minor hockey in the city, has been plotting different scenarios for restarting play. Traditionally, playoffs need to be completed by the end of March, coinciding with spring break in the schools and the closing of many city-owned arenas.

Hall said his organization is looking at the option of extending the season through April with the understanding that facilities would stay open longer. There is a danger, he said, that some rinks will close now for the season if the code red restrictions are extended.

“Obviously we can’t play an entire season and have playoffs in by the end of March,” said Hall. “So we’re looking at some sort of modified type of return to play, much like the NHL was looking at a reduced schedule of 56 games instead of the 80 or whatever they normally play. We’d be looking to do something but right now our goal is to stick the kids back on ice and get them active.”

Elsewhere:

• The Winnipeg High School Hockey League season was halted before it ever started Nov. 12 and it appears unlikely the league, trimmed to 12 teams from 36 when schools and divisions opted out owing to the pandemic, will go ahead after the Christmas break.

“Assuming that these restrictions are not going to change because I doubt that they will, then obviously that puts us into January with the high schools running remote learning for two weeks,” said WHSHL president Dana Gordon. “So we’re not making any decisions as of yet but the writing’s going to be pretty much on the wall. I mean, our season would end at the end of spring break, so an eight-week hockey season is kind of ridiculous.”

Gordon expects to meet with the league executive to make a final call soon.

“The other thing that we have to talk about as an executive is if for some reason we do decide to move forward, how many weeks are we going to get in before they shut everything down again?” said Gordon.

• Last week, the Manitoba U18 AAA Female Hockey League elected to delay a restart until Jan. 2. Its eight teams had played between three and eight games each prior to last month’s shutdown.

Now, with the Esso Cup national championship and regional playdowns likely to be wiped from the April calendar, league president Brad Kirk said the season will likely be extended beyond the normal finishing date of Feb. 14, with games running until the end of March.

Playoffs will be impacted by health regulations and the availability of facilities.

“Do you look at having a centralized playoffs over a few weekends and say, do it in Portage or do it in Winnipeg or Brandon, for that matter? said Kirk. “I think our first point is let’s get the league going again and the girls playing and then we can all collectively sort out what type of playoffs we’ll have.”

• Manitoba AAA U18 Hockey League president Levi Taylor said he would like to get all teams up to between 20 to 24 regular-season games, but reaching that target could be difficult with clubs having played between two and eight games before the shutdown.

The schedule is currently booked until Feb. 21 but the Telus Cup national championship and regional playdowns are unlikely to go ahead.

“At this point, we have a number of options available to us and that would include a reduced playoffs, but it might also include just cutting our (regular) season a little shorter and having all the teams enter into the playoffs,” said Taylor. “Our goal now is just to remain flexible. We don’t see these restrictions coming down in the relative near future.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14

Mike Sawatzky
Reporter

Mike has been working on the Free Press sports desk since 2003.

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