Lifelongbender

What provisions are organizations around the city making for letting the players get some ice time before tryouts resume? I'm curious about how the hockey community in general is addressing this for players who haven't skated in literally months.

I've heard through friends that one organization in the region is allowing each registered player one on-ice session for free before tryouts. This seems a little light to me. Are there other organizations making their plans public yet?

I don't see how these repeated sarcastic posts are moving this discussion forward.

I'm afraid that the question of whether social distancing and shut down or operational restrictions of various services and facilities is necessary and the question of whether those shut down/operational restrictions are the law of the land are two different, and, it appears, increasingly unrelated, questions.

The various restrictions on our daily lives may or may not have been necessary. We can never know whether they were or were not necessary because it is not possible to know what would have happened if they had not been enacted. For my part, I suspect they were not necessary, as I have stated elsewhere on this board. However, that question is not relevant to the question of whether rinks/coaches are permitted to operate outside the rules laid down by the government. The various requirements to operate are clear, if not clearly scientific, and operating otherwise is risking official action. There can't be any question about that. It is up to the various rinks to decide what level of exposure they can accept.

On 5/23/2020 at 11:49 AM, BLC said:

Not Bethel....probably P.I.A if I had to guess

YMCA did not take out their ice, but they have made it abundantly clear that they won't permit anyone to use it until the County is green and restrictions are raised.

9 hours ago, hockey2020 said:

willing to bet 90% of people on this board would send their kids to the rink for full games or tryouts tomorrow- with no fear. in talking to many dems and republicans i don’t know anyone who fears school or sports. perhaps they will take precautions and be careful around the vulnerable people in their lives, but that’s it. and it’s not a matter of doing anything so that “little johnnie” shines - it’s just that most people who i know just don't have the fear that everyone says the media has instilled. 

I imagine this is exactly right. I know I count myself among them. 

There are rumors about a number of potentially national-bound teams and teams from several organizations outside the Renegades organization practicing there from the South Hills.

21 minutes ago, Danner27 said:

What insurance company ? These rinks are selling private non sanctioned ice slots. The rinks insurance is for liability only, it’s like going to a baseball game and getting hit with foul ball. Need stitches ? Your insurance covers it. 

He's right about this. Without sanctioning from a body like USA Hockey, you don't even have the fiction of coverage at a rink.

19 minutes ago, Danner27 said:

If it’s private as the original poster said, I don’t see a problem with it.  As I stated above, at least they waited until yellow. Under red I know two other rinks that have been selling private ice. I know a skills coach who has been Doing small groups since the first week of April. my local gym is opening Friday. The owner is Capping it at 20 people at a time, you schedule when you would like to work out, the slots are 1 hour each. 
 

 

I know of one that has definitely been selling private ice the entire time on the down low.

4 hours ago, Danner27 said:

It’s been happening at other rinks now for a few weeks. At least ##### waited until yellow when you can have groups of 25 gather. 

Yeah, it has been. You're 100% correct about that. 

13 hours ago, ctil20 said:

Also did anyone not assume this was taking place. I’d bet some late night skates have happened at a few rinks. We would all like to think it’s a couple kids on the verge of making a junior team. But we all know it’s some well off kid who’s mommy and daddy want him to get an edge on all the undesirables. 

The kids who have had an actual break will be better off in the long run. 

This last sentence. 100%. I wonder if people will notice how the time off affects their players for the positive instead of merely focussing on the slight and temporary decline in skating and stickhandling skills.

The only caveat is that there are surely MANY players - admittedly mostly likely not AA or AAA players - who are sitting on their couches playing video games rather than staying in shape. The first couple weeks back on the ice will be fascinating, and the players who cared to stay active will be obvious.

It has definitely been happening at the Ice Castle.

On 5/6/2020 at 2:43 PM, ctil20 said:

I bet they aren’t now that the word is out. 

This sounds just right.

It's true that the Y doesn't want the ice, but I understood that the contracts had several years left.

21 hours ago, Eddie Shore said:

Ok, so 14 dead in Beaver and 38 in Allegheny.  I could pull the rest of the numbers for within 200 miles and I doubt it would break 100, or if it did not by much.  Not buying it

Eddie, I agree with your assessment. I was just thinking out loud.

Any chance there's an element of being ready to house the bodies from other localities as well? That rink has the virtue of being a little out of the way. One could imagine that scenario.

Some discussion of this over on the "Tryouts?" topic, too.

35 minutes ago, Bob Loblaw said:

https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/04/16/bradys-run-park-ice-arena-refrozen-coronavirus-bodies/

LOL, I logged on here specifically to post this, but you beat me to it.

I can hear the complaining by parents whose kids play there after this is all over. Neither of my kids have played there in over 7 years, but there are games there.

What a situation!

There are plenty of tournament companies still scheduling late summer and early fall tournaments as well.

T

12 minutes ago, Danner27 said:

Valid points and similar to what I have been thinking. Honestly, this is the end of how things once were. There will be a new normal that won’t happen until a vaccine is in place. I was just reading all summer concerts are canceled and it’s looking like they won’t be back until 2021, I suspect youth sports will be the same. Some of my friends disagree, time will tell. I do not think colleges even go back for the first semester, they continue online. Folks, get ready. If this is how it plays out western pa will lose a rink or two. 

The western PA region can hardly afford to lose any ice, but that does seem like a VERY likely outcome of this situation. Hopefully someone comes along who wants to buy them out, but it sure seems like investors for ice arenas are few and far between. There were already a slew of rumors of rinks closing or struggling as it was.

I expect that 'eradication' is a strong word for what is coming - I feel strongly that parents and players are too invested and dedicated to their sports for that - but you can bet that the new normal will be both smaller and weirder than what we had going on before. I worry if some organizations will have trouble getting ice in the coming new normal.

12 hours ago, aaaahockey said:

In general, many AAA families especially at younger ages, are out of touch with reality. I'd be shocked if they didn't travel unless there are specific regulations about it. 

Well, what I think is clear is that if hockey happens, there are PLENTY of people who will let their kids play. Even travel. That's just the way of the world.

23 hours ago, Paul Baxter said:

So in visiting the PIHL website and PIAA websites, the winter/spring sports are "suspended" indefinitely.  So when the suspension ends, say in early May (or whenever) does the PIAA and PIHL actually expect to resume sports in which their players haven't practiced for months? 

I have no idea why they haven't just formally cancelled things. Even if we get back to normal (??) on May 1, I just don't see it being of any practical nature to have HS sports for a month.  I just think these orgs are sad they will be losing $$ more than anything.

Remember that all the rinks are taking out their ice. Even if we could start in May, it would take a little time to get ready to play those games.

Sadly this PIHL season has to be considered over, even if they're not officially cancelling anything.

24 minutes ago, Snap Shot said:

I had a chance to speak to an organization's president last week and he said that he's anticipating August/September tryouts for PAHL teams with PPE probably going in late July depending on what happens with the NHL season since getting the Penguins back on the ice will take priority at that facility.

That's consistent with what I'm hearing from organizations around the South Hills.

From their 3/20/2020 update:

Quote

In addition, USA Hockey strongly recommends the cancellation of all affiliate tryouts, district tryouts, district/multi-district development camps for all birth years for the spring and summer of 2020.

1 minute ago, PeterThePuck said:

USA Hockey Strongly Recommends that there is no Tryouts Spring or Summer.

i don’t see Try - Outs until August September.

With the 2nd and 3rd waves coming do you think there will be Hockey next year?

If a Rink gets this Virus in their place and kids and Teams come down with it. 

For God sake if a kid dies with that a Lawsuit having the rink open doing this pandemic I don’t see Hockey next year.

I agree with @PeterThePuck on his last two sentences here - this is why I do think that organizations will follow USA Hockey recommendations.

At any rate, now that they've made recommendations, I guess we will see who is right about this issue eventually.

On 3/29/2020 at 3:29 PM, dazedandconfused said:

Maybe he should have been doing those during his playing days? For his own development. #drillkillerhimself

Hey, this is off-topic, I know, but  they played game 4 of the 2009 Stanley Cup series against Detroit on SportsNet the other day, and TK looked pretty good in that series. Anyone remember the goal he had in the second of game 4 from Kunitz and Crosby? Lord almighty. I'd forgotten about that play.

Yeah, it's hard to see how HS hockey could restart now. I've heard rumors that some of the rinks have taken out, or are taking out, their ice. Anyone know if there is any truth to that?