Hockey Northwestern Ontario remains in a state of waiting when it comes to planning for next season.
President Jason Perrier says the body did put in place a Return to Hockey Task Team last year, which was able to get a shortened season in before the plug was pulled in February.
“We have two health units with our branch,” says Perrier. “We have a great relationship with (both the Northwestern Health Unit and the Thunder Bay District Health Unit). We must follow their guidelines to what we can do, and hopefully, we can have full, non-cohort hockey in the fall.
Related: Step One: Getting Ontario Open
Last month, provincial Sports Minister Lisa MacLeod unveiled an acceleration of Ontario’s return-to-play plan for professional and certain amateur leagues. The teams can hold non-contact practice and dry-land training and will be allowed to resume games as soon as August.
While the announcement did include a number of leagues, it didn’t include Ontario University Athletics (OUA) or the Superior International Junior Hockey League.
Perrier says they’re still waiting for more instruction on how to proceed.
He says there are still more questions than answers as to what a season would look like.
“Players and parents will be asking about tournaments. I don’t have an answer for that as I just don’t know,” says Perrier. “We don’t know what we’re going to be allowed to do. How many people can we put in the building at one time? Are we going to have masks or no masks? It’s too early to tell what’s going to happen.”
Ontario is currently in Step 2 of its reopening strategy.
For sports leagues, training is permitted, but indoor use of facilities is still prohibited.
That won’t be lifted until Step 3 occurs and with restrictions.
The province has not said what those restrictions will be.
Fort Frances town Manager of Culture and Recreation Aaron Bisson says they’re working on the premise that all protocols in place last winter will remain until told otherwise.
