Saskatchewan Hockey Association has plan, ventures into uncertain COVID-19 future

Fingers crossed all goes well for sports body

A picture from the Saskatoon Contacts last game on March 12.

The Saskatchewan Hockey Association’s return to play plan has been green lighted by the Government of Saskatchewan, but the road forward is still not a certain one.

March 12 was the last day meaningful hockey games were played in the province. Hockey Canada cancelled all its sanctioned events on March 13 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.

At that time, shutdowns were occurring across all sectors due to the pandemic, and all sports activities in Canada had basically been brought to a stop on March 13 outside of some recreations leagues that are not governed by sports bodies. Those recreation leagues would be halted too in the handful of days following March 13.

Hockey Canada lifted its national ban on sanctioned activities on June 4. That allowed the ball to get rolling for provincial associations to start working towards resuming game play.

In a media conference on Thursday, Dr. Saqib Shahab, who is Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer, talked about how important it was to work with organizations that promote physical activity and hockey will be treated like all other organizations that have returned to play with public health measures in place.

He said there have been sporadic cases from people playing hockey just like those that have occurred in schools and work places, but there hasn’t been any widespread transmission associated with sports. He credited everyone involved with sports in the province for following the guidelines and rules in place to help prevent widespread transmission of COVID-19.

The Moose Jaw Warriors and Saskatoon Contacts battle on March 12.

After that press conference was held, the Saskatchewan Hockey Association released its return to play plan that has been approved by the Government of Saskatchewan.

The 64-page document is pretty comprehensive, and it is obvious a lot of work was put into creating it.

Only evaluation and training had been allowed by the Saskatchewan Hockey Association until now. Under Phase 2 of the plan, exhibition games within a mini-league have been given a tentative start date of this coming Saturday.

Phase 3 will allow for regular season games to take place in a mini league starting tentatively on November 1. Phase 4 for league games with expanded mini-leagues have been set with a January 18, 2021 tentative start date.

Phase 5 for playoffs and provincial championships are still being determined.

The start dates for the under-11, under-9 and under-7 age categories are a little different. For the under-7 age category, exhibition games will tentatively start on Dec. 1, and regular season league games are slated to tentatively begin on January 1, 2021.

In the under-9 age category, exhibition games are set to tentatively start on Nov. 15, while regular season league contests will tentatively follow on Jan. 1, 2021.

For the under-11 age category, exhibition and league games are tentatively given a Nov. 15 start date.

The Saskatoon Stars and Regina Rebels battle last season.

A face covering policy has been put into place for all members of minor hockey including players, coaches, bench staff, on-ice officials, off-ice officials and parents and spectators until it is deemed safe to remove that policy.

Tournaments and out of province travel will not be allowed for teams this season.

Each team will have a designated safety person who will be responsible for ensuring guidelines and protocols are followed.

At the moment, spectator capacity for minor hockey games has been capped at 150 people provided there is enough room to maintain two-metres of physical distancing between extended household groups.

For junior, senior and under-18 AAA hockey games, assigned seating must be available. If assigned seating is not available, a maximum of 150 spectators are permitted.

Also for junior, senior and under-18 AAA hockey games, spectators are allowed to attend at up to 50 per cent capacity provided there is enough room to maintain two metres of physical distancing between household groups.

The junior A Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League announced in a release on Friday a start date was still being determined for that circuit once protocols and the abilities for arenas to handle fans are satisfactory to the Government of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Health Authority. The SJHL operates under the Saskatchewan Hockey Association umbrella.

The WHL, which includes five Saskatchewan teams in the Moose Jaw Warriors, Prince Albert Raiders, Regina Pats, Saskatoon Blades and Swift Current Broncos, is targeting to start on Dec. 4.

That circuit is facing the challenge of satisfying four provincial governments and four health authorities in Canada and two state governments and two health authorities in the United States along with issues regarding crossing the border between Canada and the United States.

The Prince Albert Mintos and Saskatoon Contacts go at it.

The WHL, OHL and QMJHL, which are all under the umbrella of the CHL, operate as entity separate from Hockey Canada and Canada’s various minor hockey organizations, but all those bodies do work in partnership with each other.

Looking at the Saskatchewan Hockey Association’s plan, it is a good one to get the sport rolling in a bigger way in the province.

Even with the best thought out and made plans, the spectre of the COVID-19 pandemic still hovers over everything.

In Saskatchewan, there was great joy when outdoor sports like auto racing, baseball, golf and softball were able to successfully hold modified seasons this past summer.

There is still trepidation when it comes to indoor sports and the possible transmission of COVID-19. Hockey is the one everyone is watching to see how it operates and handles difficulties.

Most sports bodies take a cue from what is done in hockey.

All it takes is a surge of cases somewhere to get the ball rolling to bring everything to a stop.

On Monday, Saskatchewan recorded a jump of 48 new COVID-19 cases, which is the largest jump seen since July 29 as 50 new cases were reported at that time. As of Monday, there are a total of 215 active COVID-19 cases in Saskatchewan.

The provinces of Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick are bringing back in various degrees of shutdowns due to an increase of new COVID-19 cases. The Greater Toronto Hockey League has postponed all sanctioned activities until January 1, 2021.

The Saskatoon Stars celebrate a win from last season.

On Friday, the World Health Organization announced a new daily record high for COVID-19 cases in a 24-hour period at 350,766. Over the past week, a number of countries including Canada have set a daily record for COVID-19 cases in a 24-hour period.

The Saskatchewan Hockey Association has a good plan, but you still have to cross fingers and hope factors outside of the organization’s control will allow it to go forward. There are no guarantees that shutdowns will be avoided.

The Saskatchewan Hockey Association’s ‘Safe Guidelines’ document for a return to hockey will be a fluid one as restrictions are lifted or imposed. The latest version of that document can be found on the Saskatchewan Hockey Association’s return to play page, which can be found by clicking right here.

CJFL franchise explored for Lethbridge, other notes

The Hilltops and Huskies could have a new PFC foe.

Teams in the CJFL’s Prairie Football Conference could have a new rival in the summer of 2022.

On Friday, the PFC announced it had received an application to establish a junior team in Lethbridge, Alta. The Lethbridge Junior Football Club, which is led by Lethbridge area football enthusiast Anthony Parker, will be called the Vipers and will play out of the University of Lethbridge Community Stadium.

The next step in the expansion process will see the Lethbridge Junior Football Club develop a strong business plan, which will address the operations side of the organization, formalization of recruitment strategies and long term player, coach and organizational development plans.

The PFC will ensure that its expectations from all member teams for a high degree of social responsibility and community involvement from players, coaches and organizations can be met through granting a franchise to Lethbridge.

The Lethbridge Organizing Committee will continue to work on the expansion plan through the winter and is slated to give a presentation including a business plan at the PFC’s Annual General Meeting slated for March of 2021.

At that meeting, the membership will vote to accept the franchise, reject the franchise or put out a request for more information deferring a decision to a subsequent meeting.

The Lethbridge Junior Football Club is proceeding with the support of the City of Lethbridge, local MLA Nathan Neudorf and the Lethbridge Sport Council.

The Calgary Colts may play a new nearby rival.

The CJFL hasn’t had teams located in Alberta outside of the cities of Edmonton and Calgary since the Red Deer Packers were in operation from 1969 to 1978 and the Medicine Hat Rattlers existed from 1976 to 1979.

Lethbridge has a population of over 101,000 people and is located in an area of Alberta that has a high level of support for the sport football. The small city has two major post-secondary institutions in the University of Lethbridge and Lethbridge College.

Lethbridge’s economy is traditionally agricultural based, but it has diversified in recent years getting into businesses related to alternative energy including wind power, solar power and biofuel.

On paper, Lethbridge should be a strong candidate to land a CJFL expansion team.

The last time the PFC expanded was when the Winnipeg Rifles joined the circuit in 2002.

The PFC also includes the storied Saskatoon Hilltops, who have won the last six CJFL championships and 22 CJFL titles overall, Regina Thunder, Edmonton Huskies, Edmonton Wildcats and Calgary Colts. The CJFL as a whole is composed of 18 teams from across Canada.

The CJFL season was cancelled for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the circuit is aiming to hit the field in 2021.

• Last Tuesday at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, the Seattle Storm down the Las Vegas Aces 92-59 in Game 3 of the WNBA Championship series and swept the best-of-five set 3-0. The win marked the fourth time in team history the Storm captured the WNBA title. This one came playing in a hub facility format.
• On Wednesday night, the Prince Albert Raiders announced at their annual general meeting the team lost $331,895 for the 2019-20 campaign, which was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic cost the Raiders two home regular season games and home dates what would have come from the 2020 WHL playoffs had they been held. The Raiders lost out in shared revenue from the Memorial Cup that was to be hosted in Kelowna in May but cancelled due to the pandemic and a loss of money from Sportsnet’s CHL contract rights that didn’t come in due to cancelled games. The Raiders losses included their share of a settlement in a CHL-wide class action lawsuit that argued major junior players are employees and not student-athletes and were entitled to employment standard compensation. Lucas Punkari of the Prince Albert Daily Herald had a good breakdown of the story, and it can be found by clicking right here.
• I contributed two pieces to the Howe Happenings blog run by the Gordie Howe Sports Complex that went live on Friday. The entries had a “girl power” theme to them. I put together a piece on track star Michelle Harrison, which can be found by clicking right here. I created a piece on all the media attention Emmarae Dale has received since being added to the roster of the CJFL’s Saskatoon Hilltops, and that piece can be found by clicking right here.
• On Saturday, the Texas A&M University Aggies drew an announced crowd of 24,079 spectators to Kyle Field at College Station, Texas, to see the hosts down the visiting University of Florida Gators 41-38 in contest in the top tier of NCAA football. The online story from The Dallas Morning News focused on how the crowd noise helped the Aggies win this game played during the COVID-19 pandemic. Several photos of the packed student section at Kyle Field circulated on social media. The Dallas Morning News reported A&M athletic director Ross Bjork tweeted a video message about Kyle Field protocols and safety on Friday urging fans to wear face coverings and stay in their assigned seats. There has been speculation over social media the Aggies drew more spectators than the attendance figure they announced.
• On Sunday at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida, the Los Angeles Lakers downed the Miami Heat 106-93 in Game 6 of the NBA Championship series. With the win, the Lakers took the best-of-seven series 4-2. The Lakers have won 17 NBA titles in team history and this was the first captured in a hub centre format. The NBA had no positive COVID-19 tests holding the final bit of its 2019-20 regular season and entire post-season at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
• In his Taking Note blog on Saturday, Gregg Drinnan outlined the difficulties the QMJHL was having in its restart with COVID-19, and there are a lot of them. That piece can be found by clicking right here.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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