New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
New state of play for hockey
Ice rinks adjust to protocols as teams get ready for season
Across the state, as high school hockey teams prepare for competition to begin Feb. 8, operators of hockey rinks are busy adjusting to and implementing new safety measures.
Whether it’s spraying down impromptu changing areas in West Haven, wiping down touch points in Danbury, building openended tents in the parking lot in Bridgeport or partaking in specific safety training in Greenwich, rink owners and managers are working to provide a healthy environment for high school players and coaches.
Earlier this week, as evening approached, members of the West Haven/ Sacred Heart Academy girls hockey team skated
off the ice at Bennett Rink.
They exited through the bench closest to the front of the rink, then made their way into the stands to one of four designated areas for teams to remove the majority of their equipment. It was the same spot in which they had earlier prepared for practice. At the same time, on the far side of the rink, members of the Notre Dame-West Haven ice hockey team were putting on their skates, helmets and jerseys.
As the Zamboni completed its final pass to clean the ice, the Green Knights jumped on. Members of the West Haven/Sacred Heart team had just left the building.
This is ice hockey during a pandemic in 2021.
Locker rooms around the state have remained closed since Jan. 19, when the CIAC, the state’s governing body for high school sports, cleared the way for the start of winter practices, following the guidance of the Connecticut State Department of Heatlh. Teams are asked to come to rinks partially dressed, holding off on adding complicated or restrictive equipment until arrival. It is one of several new cahanges.
Signs reminding everyone to wear masks, stay six feet apart and follow other guidelnes to avoid the spread of COVID-19 are plastered all over rinks.
“It’s tough, people don’t like the guidelines that are imposed,” said Chris Everone, Director of Facilities for West Haven. “But we explain to them that they are here for a reason, and to stay open we have to follow these.”
Everone isn’t the only one who has had pushback.
“It’s a constant battle about wearing masks,” said Lisa Fedick, General Manager of Wonderland of Ice in Bridgeport. “Most pushbacks we have gotten about wearing masks is from the adults.
“Kids are so happy to be on the ice, they will do what they need to do.”
Including wearing masks during both practices and games, even when they are on the ice. There will be three one-minutes mask breaks each period during CIAC competitions. CIAC hockey schedules emphasize league play, and regional discretion for nonleague matchups. The
CIAC will abide by the interstate hockey ban for youth hockey, implemented by six Northeast governors in November and extended through March 31 this past week.
At rinks across the state, staffs are cleaning deeper than usual and more often. They have adapted to the guidelines as they have changed.
“We did specific training before the season opened with the town,” said Sue Snyder, Superintendent of Recreation for the town of Greenwich. “It’s just constant cleaning.”
Hockey is unique because often multiple high school teams share the same rink, along with youth and adult leagues. So cleaning has become a full time job.
The Danbury Ice Arena hosts four boys high school teams, three professional and juniors teams, and several youth teams and adult leagues.
Chris Buonanno, Danbury Ice Arena Managing Partner and General Manager, said the arena has never smelled better and has never been cleaned as much as it is now.
“We have one to two people scrubbing and cleaning all day,” he said.
Bennett Rink, despite only having one sheet of ice, will host four high school teams this season, along with youth teams.
On the first night of the CIAC season, Everone and his staff will host three games – at 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
“We are constantly spraying disinfectant,” said Everone, who estimates his staff cleans and disinfects every 45 minutes to an hour.
The staff uses what they call “The Fogger,” an electrostatic sprayer with EP grade disinfectant.
“Teams are always coming into a disinfected place,” Everone said. “We clean touch points, spray touch points, wipe handles down, clean the bathrooms more often.”
Bob Crawford, who played professionally for the NHL’s Hartford Whalers and New York Rangers, owns three state rinks: Champion Skating Center in Cromwell, the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury and the Bolton Ice Palace.
Crawford and those associated with other privately owned rinks around the state started the Connecticut Rink Owners Association. Crawford, who created the association with Newington Arena owner Anthony Guisto, said he did so because the business of running a rink is complicated and they wanted owners to have a voice in the process.
Guisto is also the coach of the Cheshire High
School hockey team.
“Over the last two months we’ve put together a dynamic group,” Crawford said.
The Association has worked with the CIAC, the Connecticut Recreation & Parks Association and Connecticut Hockey to come up with guidelines and mitigating strategies. Step 2 of their plan begins Monday with the start of scrimmages and consideration to reopening lockerrooms when proper social distancing is attainable.
“Everybody is walking in lock step,” Crawford said. “What we’re trying to do is standardize what happens in rinks. It’s really having the teams and coaches take responsibility as well. No (making) tape balls, and leaving the benches clean. It’s a constant vigilance.”
Crawford said his rinks plan on opening locker rooms soon.
That is not the case at Wonderland of Ice where they expect to keep the locker rooms closed during the season. Players will be asked to put on their remaining equipment outside in tents.
“There are two openended tents,” Fedick said. “One is in the parking lot and one is in front of the building.”
There is a separate spot for them to put on their skates inside the rink. No bags will be allowed in the rink. Same goes for the Dorothy Hamill Skating Rink in Greenwich. Goalies will be permitted to bring in equipment bags.
“We have small locker rooms in a small building,” Snyder said, referring to Dorothy Hamill Skating Rink. “No way (the locker rooms) can be used to keep (the players) distant.”
Everone said that they would like to open the locker rooms for games at Bennett in West Haven. He added that he has a plan to keep everyone distant and they will be disinfected every time a team leaves.
Gov. Ned Lamont has noted the spread of COVID-19 in athletic competion has been minimal, but has expressed concern over
the social aspects surround events.
Crawford said they are discouraging people from hanging out in the parking lot before or after games at his rinks.
Everone and his staff are doing the same. No one is allowed to leave Bennett Rink through the lobby, only through the side doors. Those entering Bennett Rink need to sign in. There are masks at the door, along with hand sanitizer.
“They’re not cross-mingling with each other,” Everone said. “It has worked out very well the past couple of weeks with high school (season) starting.”
Crawford added he doubts coaches will even be providing long speeches before games anymore.
“We’re trying to get kids to play hockey and sports in general,” Everone said. “So, we do whatever we can to stay open and follow the guidelines by the state and the CDC.”