(File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D'Andrea

Minor Hockey Registration

P.A. Minor Hockey opens up registration and is ready for anything

May 30, 2020 | 12:00 PM

The Prince Albert Minor Hockey Association (PAMHA) fired up their online registration on Thursday night, hoping for a regular start to the season in not-so regular times.

The PAMHA’s strategy, as laid out by technical director James Mays, is to aim for the beginning of September to start their seasons like in a ‘normal’ year. If adjustments need to be made at that point, Mays said they have contingency plans ready.

“Let’s plan for a normal start time. If we can get the kids into the rink early or mid-September, then we can have the tryouts and evaluations and practices and get everything in place and rolling,” Mays said. “If we have to delay until maybe October 1, then we’ll plan for that at a later date and maybe condense the season and see what we’re doing.

“If we don’t get up and running until a few weeks after that, maybe we have some sort of a rebate for our members. That all remains to be seen. We’ll just see where we’re at come September and go from there.”

Allowed crowd sizes would still need to rise. Gatherings up to 10 people are allowed currently under the Re-Open Saskatchewan plan, and are expected to rise to 15 people indoors on June 8.

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Hockey teams can dress a maximum of 20 players, 12 forwards, six defencemen and two goaltenders, there could be as many as 40 players alone playing in every game. That doesn’t take into account both team’s coaches, the referees, scorekeeper and timekeeping officials, penalty box attendants and rink attendants—let alone family and friends in the stands.

But in terms of crowd caps, getting minor hockey back in action could be a little easier than restarting the Western Hockey League and the Prince Albert Raiders. For the WHL to re-open, thousands of people would need to be allowed to gather in Saskatchewan and the other provinces and American states that have teams.

With the exception of the Under-18 teams (formally Midget AAA) like the Prince Albert Northern Bears and the Prince Albert Mintos, crowd sizes are less of a priority.

“Who do you have at an atom game? You have parents, grandparents and a few friends. We’re in a much better spot than the Raiders. The Raiders need a full rink,” Mays said. “They need 2,500 people in their rink every night. We don’t—100 people at a novice or atom game is a lot.”

Mays added that ice will be available once it’s safe.

“They know that with the Kinsmen and the Stuart Arenas for minor hockey, we will book every available minute they can give us—as we do every year, especially September, October and November,” Mays said. “If we can get up and running, and of course meeting all of the criteria the government and the health authority have in place… If we can go with some semblance of normalcy with our program and our season, the city has said that we’ll have ice.”

**Editor’s note**

On Thursday, Mayor Greg Dionne told paNOW that it would not be possible to hold hockey games in city rinks if gatherings could not exceed 50 people. However, the city then issued a clarification making it clear that no decisions had been made on the opening dates of pools, arenas and rinks and staff continue to refer to the provincial Re-Open Saskatchewan Plan for further guidance.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW