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High School hockey almost certainly done for 19-20


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With Gov. Wolf's latest announcement that schools are closed (for on campus education) at least through April 30, that basically puts a fork in all high school sports for the 2019-2020 season.  And likely means no prom, possibly no big public graduations (diplomas in the mail??)…  Since nobody has skated for a few weeks, that all but does it for the high school hockey season.

Wow what a crazy and memorable year for sure.

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1 hour ago, Lifelongbender said:

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?

I sure hope ALL of the rinks are taking this chance to melt their ice and redo it... some of them have so much buildup around the boards it looks like its been years since that has been done.  I remember one rink where the ice surface went down several inches after they did this- it had so many years of buildup...

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32 minutes ago, dazedandconfused said:

I've been told that Belmont and Southpointe have taken down their ice. Not sure if those are facts or rumors.

Both Pittsburgh Ice and Rostraver have melted, and I have it on good authority that Center Ice has picked up tryouts from other rinks if they do happen, but are also planning on melting one rink at a time (Minus the Badgers rink, which is already melted anyways to convert to roller) if they remain closed. 

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20 minutes ago, hockeyisgreat said:

How long does it take to freeze another sheet of ice?

Depending on the equipment that the particular rink has, it's usually a few days... most rinks usually do multiple layers.

The layered process at local rinks is usually much more manual than shown in this video (which shows a Zamboni like vehicle spraying the layers).  Local rinks usually do this with a long hose and a tool with sprayer nozzles on it.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

The real interesting issue will be the fall.  So, if you look at the High School Seniors who lost their last season, they will go off to college in the fall.  I just read that most schools are already preparing for fall classes to be online.  If this holds true, that will be no hockey tryouts and no hockey games/teams for the fall.  Even if restrictions are lifted for 2021.  How many schools are going to have club hockey for just Jan and Feb?  Please note that ACHA wraps up their regular season pretty early (in Feb) and has playoffs and championships usually wrapped up in March.  If they hold true to online this fall, these means that the kids who are seniors now, would not be playing "competitive" hockey until September of 2021.  That will be 17 months away from playing real games (stopped in March 2020, start back up in Sept 2021).

Let that sink in...…………….

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Agreed.  The NHL is one of the few sports that rely on in-person attendance more than tv.  Football, basketball and baseball are mostly tv revenue.  So, the idea of playing games with no fans in stands doesn't hurt them as much as it hurt hockey.  Team like AZ, Florida and others were on the brink anyway. 

How about the Seattle expansion team?  Anybody see this not happening now?  I do, there will not be a team there for quite some time, if at all.

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