Athletes, leagues and organizations were looking forward to Jan. 22 as the magic date when they could lace up the skates, put on the shoes or put up the nets to resume action this season.
They’ll have to wait a bit longer.
Dr. Kami Kandola, the territory’s chief public health officer, announced earlier this week that high-risk indoor activities, such as contact sports and any indoor winter sport, wouldn’t be allowed to return to the playing field until at least Jan. 30.
That means groups such as the Yk Rec Hockey League, which had already rescheduled games between Jan. 5 and 22, will need to reschedule again in order to make sure games can proceed.
Charles Wyman, the league’s president, said games wouldn’t resume until Feb. 1, if they get the green light to hit the ice by then.
“The rec league plans to reschedule all missed games, assuming the city gives us ice times,” he said.
He also said the intention is to play past the Easter long weekend, which is the traditional end of the rec hockey league season in the city. That’s when the annual rec hockey tournament takes place, but there’s been no word on whether that event will go ahead. If it doesn’t happen, it would mark the third consecutive year with no Easter tournament.
Wyman said if the league does play past that point, it would have to be approved by the league membership.
“It’s all hopes and guesses right now but once we are approved, we will be back on the ice until they take the ice away from us,” he said.
NWT Speed Skating announced on Wednesday that no action would be taking place until at least 5 p.m. on Jan. 30, which is when the current public health order is set to be lifted, and that includes the Yellowknife Speed Skating Club.
The Yk Volleyball Association was scheduled to hit the courts for its restart this coming Monday but that’s up in the air.
Terrel Hobbs, the association’s president, said he hasn’t been told whether volleyball will resume on that date or if he has to reschedule.
Schools are set to reopen to in-class learning on Monday, but since the league plays games in the evening, gym times are rented out through the city and Hobbs said there’s been no word from the municipality on the situation.
One group that has managed to get in some practice time is Team Galusha. They’re getting ready for the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Timmins, Ont., and that’s scheduled to get underway on Jan. 28. But the practice hasn’t been as a unit, according to skip Kerry Galusha.
“We get one player at a time and we have to leave 30 minutes in between to allow the ice to set,” she said. “It’s not ideal but at least we have something before we go.”
The ladies were able to get an exemption from Kandola’s office in order to practice and that was arranged by Shona Barbour, the team’s coach, she added.
Their final on-ice practice was on Thursday and Galusha said it consists of just throwing stones.
“Margot (Flemming) goes out for about an hour, I do about 45 minutes, Megan (Koehler) has her time,” she said. “It’s around one hour per person once all the warm-up is done.”
As for the Scotties itself, there was still no schedule on the event’s homepage as of Wednesday, but Galusha said there was a meeting planned for Thursday involving the 18 teams and Curling Canada to figure out the logistics.
The ladies are also in the midst of a staggered isolation period before leaving for Timmins next Tuesday with four days of soft isolation followed by three days of hard isolation.