Relief as July 25 is set as date to reopen
THE recent government announcement that ice rinks and other indoor sports venues can reopen from July 25 will be a great relief to the many ice hockey players and fans across the country who have been deprived of their favourite pastime since all venues were closed back in March as part of the coronavirus lockdown.
In the wake of the announcement, the English Ice Hockey Association has submitted its action plan to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport setting out how it how it plans to safely operate in the postpandemic environment, and any adaptations that may be required.
This is a five-stage plan which begins with reintroducing on-ice training – albeit with a whole raft of new safety measures including reduced numbers per session and strict distancing between participants – and builds up over time to allowing limited body contact, then full contact training sessions and, eventually, friendly matches between teams.
Each individual sport has to have its own action plan signed off by Public Health England and the Health & Safety Executive before it is allowed to resume in any form as an indoor team sport, and the EIHA say they are hopeful that “our guidance will be signed off to coincide with the date when ice rinks can reopen so we can move to the next phase of our return to play plan.”
While competitive ice hockey matches in front of spectators are probably still a bit of a way off, the reopening of the rink will, at least, enable players to get back to training on ice again after a four-month absence.
This will enable the Widnes Wild NIHL team to commence preparations for the new Laidler Division season – although there is still no indication as of yet as to when that might be cleared to take place – and for the Wild women’s team to prepare to defend the league title that they won in March.
There are a large number of junior players involved at all age levels from Under 9s (with some players as young as three years old) right up to Under 18s who will also be keen to get back on the ice.
The Planet Ice rink at Widnes is also home to three adult recreational teams who normally play their matches during the summer months – the Riverside Raiders, Earle Road Elks and Halton Huskies – as well as a highly popular and successful adult hockey basics course where players of all levels and ages can learn to take up the sport.
There are two new regional teams – both, incredibly, formed during the recent lockdown period – the Peelers IHC northern police team and the North West Lions tournament club – who will also be using the venue as an occasional base for training sessions.
Para Ice Hockey (sledge) training is also likely to return as the Mayhem team use the Widnes rink for their weekly sessions and the Great Britain national team also meet there once a month for training.