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Orangeville Minor Hockey planning for September start

September 11, 2020   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

It’s a ‘go’ for minor hockey in O-ville as the Orangeville Minor Hockey is gearing up for a start in late September.

The ice should be in place in both rinks in the Alder Street arena, however, there is still some debate as to whether Tony Rose arena will have it’s ice plant running.

“We will be starting up on September 21,” said Orangeville Minor Hockey president, Rick Stevens. “Our house league, our local league, will start on October 3.

Hockey will be played but there’s going to be a lot of changes for this season.

“Our rep teams will be playing four-on-four hockey,” Stevens said. “Right now those teams will only be playing in house. Depending on what happens with COVID-19, we’ll be playing in-house games but if everything goes good, the OMHA may open it up and we may be able to travel within our health unit area. If all goes well, then maybe later we will be able to travel to areas outside of our health unit are, so maybe places like Brampton and Caledon.”

There will be no over night travel this year due to the logistical nightmare of trying to travel and book hotels while maintaining certain safety protocols.

There will be no tournaments held this season for that reason.

For house league, games will be played in a three-on-three or four-on-four format.

Player’s fan base this year will be a little smaller.

“Right now the town is allowing one parent per child in the stands,” Stevens said. “We’re only going to have nine players per team. When you add in coaches that’s only 20 people.”

Current restrictions allow for 50 people to gather indoors meaning there’s another 30 people who can be in the stands to watch the games.

“I believe there’s two pads of ice already in. The green and red arenas (at Alder Street) are either already in or will be ready. The ice at Tony Rose won’t be in until later on. For the month of September we will just have development. There will be practices.”

It’s not known yet if dressing rooms will be available. The town is working on a ‘return to play’ document that will be given to Minor Hockey with restrictions, rules, and guidelines for using town facilities.

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