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More shutdowns?


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8 hours ago, hockeyisgreat said:

Can the independent rinks last another 3 months shutdown?  Even with private ice times I'll bet they are taking hugh losses.  I hope they all can survive.

Aren't the majority of our area rinks privately owned? Can you imagine the future landscape of WPA youth hockey if even just a few of those rinks go under?  You'd have to think that those organizations would be absorbed into others, which would limit the amount of kids they could place on teams due to available ice, etc.... Yikes.

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40 minutes ago, forbin said:

Aren't the majority of our area rinks privately owned? Can you imagine the future landscape of WPA youth hockey if even just a few of those rinks go under?  You'd have to think that those organizations would be absorbed into others, which would limit the amount of kids they could place on teams due to available ice, etc.... Yikes.

I think even ONE rink closing would have a huge impact. Just in the last 5 years or so, we've lost Airport, Planet Ice and one sheet at Bethel. We gained 2 sheets at UPMC, and now Alpha has 3 sheets instead of 2. So the net loss I guess is 1, but even then I feel like most rinks are maxed out. I feel like putting a roof over the rink at South Park would have made a lot of sense given how little ice is available.

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On 12/16/2020 at 11:25 AM, forbin said:

I am trying to be extremely optimistic about Jan 4th, but I can't help but feel like our kids wont play until middle of February at the earliest. Sure the cases may go down from now until the 4th, but you can bet on them rising again around the 10th of January (approx 2 weeks after Christmas) when people really start noticing symptoms.

My pessimism for this has resulted in me purchasing synthetic ice for my basement. Not a very big area, but at least it keeps my kid skating a bit and shooting. I can't take another 3-4 months of him being depressed about not playing.

Aw. This all sucks. You will get use out of that beyond being quarantined. My boy went through something similar last time.

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On 12/16/2020 at 9:49 AM, hockeyisgreat said:

Time to get back to the topic at hand!  Who here really thinks we will get back to play on January 4th?  Maybe we should start a Pool and all pick dates as to when we think we might actually get back to Hockey.

My pick is February 1st 2021

 

I don't know about the 4th, specifically, but I think there's really good reason suppose we will have a complete season before this is all over.

Others here have expressed concern about ice in Pittsburgh, and noted that the loss of even one sheet of ice, especially in the South Hills, would probably be devastating. This I agree with 100%. The addition of ice at Harmarville and in Cranberry doesn't begin to offset losses of sheets of ice in the hockey heavy South Hills.

But honestly I think there is a better reason to think the season will be completed as much as it is possible. If the season is shortened by any significant number of games, organizations will find themselves stuck with issuing refunds. There are a few organizations for whom that would be mostly an inconvenience, because they are large and well-funded. It's hard to imagine the Predators, or, for the sake of the debate that never ends, the Pens, having existential issues with giving refunds. But issuing refunds would be really difficult for some of the smaller organizations, or for the more poorly run organizations. It's hard to imagine PAHL not doing everything they can think of to ensure that such a thing doesn't happen. For the sake of civility, I won't name any here, but I can think of two or three organizations that are struggling badly just to put teams on the ice.

That's my take. It might extend the season to June, but I think they'll extend it to ensure 'everyone' has 20 games. Anything else could have serious repercussions for both the rinks and the some organizations.

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I sure hope you are right.  I agree that there should be no reason why the season can't be extended into at least May.  At that point I think you might have some conflicts with Spring and Summer sports.  For some kids of course they pretty much play year round with Spring teams right back into the Fall.  Seems like they take a break for the month of July and then are pretty much back in to it.

My concern is how long the Rinks that are not open can hold on before they can't pay there bills.  Does anyone know if the organizations pay in advance for ice time?  I would imagine that ice time is an organizations biggest expense.

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9 hours ago, hockeyisgreat said:

I sure hope you are right.  I agree that there should be no reason why the season can't be extended into at least May.  At that point I think you might have some conflicts with Spring and Summer sports.  For some kids of course they pretty much play year round with Spring teams right back into the Fall.  Seems like they take a break for the month of July and then are pretty much back in to it.

My concern is how long the Rinks that are not open can hold on before they can't pay there bills.  Does anyone know if the organizations pay in advance for ice time?  I would imagine that ice time is an organizations biggest expense.

Lots of high schools have now canceled winter sports until the third week of January now. But this is going to conflict with track, baseball, and other spring sports if extended 

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29 minutes ago, bender05 said:

Lots of high schools have now canceled winter sports until the third week of January now. But this is going to conflict with track, baseball, and other spring sports if extended 

Yes. Conflicts for sure. I would love to get back to having conflicts in my life. Too many places to go would be wonderful. I think of all the things I used to complain about and how I would welcome them back.

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20 hours ago, bender05 said:

Lots of high schools have now canceled winter sports until the third week of January now. But this is going to conflict with track, baseball, and other spring sports if extended 

Well, too bad then. Make a choice. More ice time for the ones that choose hockey. 

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18 hours ago, BeaverFalls said:

There’s been virtually no decline in cases or hospitalizations in the past week that isn’t coordinated with a similar decline in the amount of tests given.  I don’t see how the restrictions are lifted in anyway in January. 

If the numbers decline, the strategy is working and we need to keep it in place.  If the numbers don't decline, we need to keep it in place and make more. Lose-Lose for everyone but the Wolf. 

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