Some Saskatoon hockey parents receive warning on COVID-19 protocols, threatening hockey shutdown

Parents in the Zone G area received a warning Saturday, through email within the Saskatoon Minor Hockey Association (SMHA).

The email, obtained by 650 CKOM, outlines some of the issues the Zone G Redwings have seen in the past in Saskatoon’s hockey rinks. It also added that “the government has placed all minor hockey on a one-week notice and if protocols are not being followed, then hockey will be shut down.”

SMHA executive director, Kelly Boes told 650 CKOM that the email may have gone too far in this instance.

“Late Saturday, I had asked our zones to do their best to make their families aware that we need to be as good as possible,” he told 650 CKOM Monday.

“Our zones were told that like all other sports, we’re being monitored for the next week… we sure hope that it doesn’t lead to a shutdown. We’ve never been told that we’d be shut down for a week.”

The email to Redwings parents says that the executives of the zone had “some concerning examples in the last couple of days.”

The examples include people showing up at the rink 45 minutes early to games, watching the game previous. Also, people at the rink sick to the point “that they are throwing up on the bench.”

According to the SMHA guidelines, players should arrive at the rink no more than 20 minutes before their ice time.

Boes said, for the most part, people are following the guidelines.

“We want to be as close to perfect as we can… I think hockey has done an excellent job so far. Protocols are very strong and spectator capacities, while controversial because they’re too low, are working because it keeps a fair number of people out of the rink,” he said.

“We don’t want people in there that aren’t feeling well because you don’t know what they have. It could just be a cold, could be a flu bug, could be COVID. If they don’t come in, then we don’t have to worry about what they do have.”

Boes said with 325 teams, averaging around 15 players per team, multiplying that by two parents— there are a lot of moving parts within SMHA.

“We don’t expect perfection, but if we can try and strive to be the best we can, then I think we will do our bit to make sure that hockey plays as long as it can possibly play,” he said.

“We’re all doing this for the kids that are playing. That’s what it’s there for. As adults, hopefully, we can all do the right thing for our kids.”

The email stated that if members do not adhere to the rules, “the likelihood of a shutdown is almost certain.”

Boes said the strive for perfection is the goal within SMHA, as the COVID cases rise within the province and in Saskatoon.

“A very, very high percentage of our people are doing the right thing, and that’s awesome. The point of the message was, to try to say, ‘can we get that almost to perfect?’ So we get more people doing the right thing, all the time,” he said.