Hockey Regina optimistic season will happen; mini-leagues to take place for now

Hockey Regina is getting ready to drop the puck but a return to normal in the times of COVID-19 remains up in the air.

“We’re a passenger on the bus being driven by the (provincial) government and they’re going to dictate to us what we can and can’t do,” said Hockey Regina executive director Blair Watson.

Hockey Regina announced it will begin evaluation camps in mid-September, with every league getting a set time. The schedule can be found online.

While the team sizes during the season will be like they were in the past, the evaluation teams will be cut down from 17 to 18 players to 12 and 13. Evaluations will also take place in three ice sessions with a mixture of skills and scrimmages.

“We’re optimistic that we will be playing hockey somewhere down the road so we figure we will just make a normal team size and then once our teams are formed, we will pair up teams into mini-leagues and they will play a mini-game against another team in the exact same division,” Watson said.

Under current provincial restrictions, mini-leagues can have only 50 people in them and only 30 can be on the ice. Due to that, those mini-league games won’t be a normal-sized game with teams cutting their size in half.

Hockey Regina will also incorporate all recommendations from the Saskatchewan Hockey Association and Saskatchewan Health Authority, which includes mandatory masks in places social distancing can’t be enforced.

Also due to current restrictions, Regina teams are not allowed to play teams in close communities such as Pilot Butte and White City.

All tournaments and provincial travel are also on hold.

Watson said the fees are going to be similar to what they were in previous years.

“Knock on wood, we’re positively optimistic there will be hockey down the road. The number of practices a team will be front-loaded versus playing games in October,” Watson said.

If the season does get cut short, Hockey Regina will provide some sort of refund.

Watson said the organization is leaning towards doing a schedule up to Christmas.

“That could change tomorrow if the guidelines change. It’s very, very flexible,” Watson said.

According to the plan, the mini-league season is being looked at as a development phase with a regular season set to take place if the province allows it.

The complete return-to-play plan can be found here.