Saskatchewan Hockey Association releases guidelines, but no date set for season

The Saskatchewan Hockey Association has put out guidelines for hockey to return, but there’s still one major detail missing: A date.

The SHA said the province and health officials are not prepared to set a date for when hockey games can be played. That includes minor, junior and senior leagues.

The SHA said all teams should be aware of the guidelines being put in place by Hockey Canada, which can be found online.

Those will include masks being recommended for coaches and team staff in areas where physical distancing is not easy to do, such as in locker rooms and on benches.

Players will also need to use their own clearly marked water bottles and cannot share them. Hockey Canada also said pre-game and post-game handshakes should be eliminated.

Minor hockey associations that have AA teams can host their identification camps but are restricted to a 50-person limit according to the province’s Re-Open Saskatchewan guidelines surrounding mini-leagues. A total of 30 individuals within the total of 50 can participate in one ice session at a time.

Organizers must also keep a record of attendees, and people participating in the event, including spectators, must sign in with a name, phone number and/or email to help with contact tracing.

Once teams are formed, they can only practise together.

AA teams are comprised of players who live in the AA community or live nearest to the AA community except for four major cities that can’t draw players from outside their cities. (Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw and Prince Albert for male; Regina and Saskatoon for female).

Other hockey teams are formed outside the four larger cities in the following fashion:

• U11/U9/U7 communities must register players who live nearest to their community with an allowable radius of 80 kilometres;
• U13 communities can register any players from within an 80-km radius;
• U15 communities can register any players from within a 120-km radius; and,
• U18 communities can register any players from within a 160-km radius.

There won’t be any tournaments held in the province and teams won’t be allowed to participate in tournaments in different provinces until at least the new year.