No rush to open rinks

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This article was published 09/02/2021 (1749 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A loosening of code-red restrictions is unlikely to create an immediate rush to hockey arenas around the province.

On Tuesday, the Manitoba government announced it would allow the reopening of rinks, gymnastics and martial arts clubs provided capacity was limited to 25 per cent with one-on-one instruction only. Outdoor rinks will also reopen for casual games and organized practices with multi-team tournaments not permitted.

In addition, athletes identified as potential participants at the Paralympic Games Summer or Winter Olympics would also be able to train indoors with safety measures in place.

“We’re in a difficult situation,” said Peter Woods, executive director of Hockey Manitoba, which represents 35,000 members, including players, coaches and officials. “Yes, they’ve opened up outdoors (but) we have some challenges with outdoor sports. Just the regulation of facilities, the benches are smaller than what you would get in an indoor facility. The community centres are not open right now so you couldn’t change in those facilities.

“They say they’re opening up washrooms in those facilities — well, they have dressing rooms in those facilities. That’s what a dressing room is for.”

Inconsistent ice maintenance and the absence of painted lines and glass in some rinks could limit outdoor sessions to the under-10 age groups.

“Originally, everyone’s excited but when you do a bit of a deeper dive, there are some challenges I think with outdoor, not to mention the weather,” added Woods.

When it comes to using indoor ice, Woods will be looking for clarity when it comes to determining what 25 per cent capacity mean. “I’ve talked to some facility managers and they don’t know either.”

The one-to-one, player-to-coach ratio may also require some clarification.

“That’s one player, one coach — 25 per cent (capacity),” said Woods, noting that ice time costing $250 per hour would be prohibitively expensive for most small groups. “Does that mean you can have six players and six coaches? That would be 12 people so I’m not sure what the difference is between six players and six coaches or two coaches and 10 players?”

Hockey Manitoba’s board will meet Wednesday to calculate its next move.

Hockey Winnipeg president Chris Hall admitted the picture looked bleak. Even outdoors, where Hockey Winnipeg observes a minus-28 cutoff, the current deep freeze is problematic.

“(These rules) take us to March 5 before the chance of expanding beyond that,” said Hall, whose organization cancelled the regular season and playoffs city wide Jan. 30. “They’ve just shut it down completely as far as I’m concerned. There is the opportunity for outdoor rinks… but you still can’t use change rooms or anything. It’s nice that they’re opened up the washrooms though.”

Tuesday’s news wasn’t much relief for MJHL commissioner Kevin Saurette, whose league has been on hold since mid-November.

“I’m still seeking further clarity with exactly what the new orders mean as it relates to recreation facilities and one-on-one training but it’s the first step to getting players back on the ice,” said Saurette. “But it’s it’s not the first step that we’re hoping for.”

Meanwhile, Boxing Manitoba chief official Andrew Bestland said local boxing organizers were meeting online Tuesday night to discuss what this means for their sport. Over on the hardwood, Basketball Manitoba executive director Adam Wedlake is in a similar position. His organization isn’t entirely sure how this will affect them. He said there will be some changes for basketball, but overall, they’ll be “minimal at best.”

Tennis, in addition to golf, was the first sport allowed to return to action last May after the initial lockdown. Despite being considered a low-risk sport, there will be no special exceptions made for tennis since instructors can only work with one player at a time.

— with files from Taylor Allen

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14