Saskatchewan Hockey Association ‘unlikely’ to resume games before end of March

The Saskatchewan Hockey Association (SHA) isn’t expecting games to resume before the end of the season due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The provincial governing body of hockey in Saskatchewan updated its members in a memo Thursday.

After meeting with Ken Dueck of the province’s Business Response Team earlier this week, the SHA was told there wouldn’t be any games as part of the organization’s return-to-play strategy for at least four weeks, with little hope given for the future.

“A return to game play is unlikely to happen before the end of March,” the memo read.

The province announced an extension to current COVID-19 restrictions until Jan. 29. Previously, the restrictions introduced on Dec. 14 were set to expire on Friday.

Under the current guidelines from the province, players 18 and under are able to train on the ice in groups of eight or less.

“This certainly was not the news that the SHA, nor all other winter sports was expecting. With the current rate of positive cases per 100,000 people placing Saskatchewan near the top in Canada, the likelihood of things changing before the end of March is looking bleak,” the memo continued.

The SHA said it plans on having meetings with zones and minor hockey associations in the province, as well as senior leagues in the next two weeks.

Earlier this week, Saskatchewan registered the highest COVID-19 active case rate of all provinces in Canada with 319 per 100,000 population.