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Date: 11/4/2020
WEST SPRINGFIELD – On Oct. 22, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) issued a public health order prohibiting indoor ice rinks and ice skating facilities from operating from Oct. 23 to Nov. 7.
The order’s main purpose is to allow for the development of “enhanced COVID-19 protocols to further protect players, families and coaches” across the state of Massachusetts. This does not however include colleges or universities.
According to the statement sent out by the MDPH, this decision is in response to the growing number of COVID-19 clusters following games, practices and tournaments. In all, there have been 30 reported clusters of COVID-19 associated with ice hockey activities involving residents from 60 municipalities across the state.
The mandate will not only affect the rinks themselves, but also the youth hockey organizations who participate in these tournaments, games, and practices.
For example, there are several Western Massachusetts programs that call Olympia Ice Center in West Springfield their home. And while the rink itself could not be reached for comment, two major hockey programs (who play some of their games at Olympia) provided thoughts on the situation.
“The majority of the players have been in school remotely, so they lose out on a chance for some social interaction and general exercise,” said Steve Roy, the president of the Pioneer Valley Youth Hockey Organization (PVYHO).
According to Roy, the two-week stoppage results in roughly four cancelled practices and two or three cancelled games per team. At this time, there have been no COVID cases reported amongst any of the teams who are a part of the PVYHO, and specific safety protocols were followed prior to the shutdown. These included, face coverings, social distancing measures, lower locker room capacities and limited spectators.
“We have taken extra precautions this season, and to date, we have not had any positive cases amongst our players,” said Roy. “Unfortunately, all rinks and players were lumped together as one whole for this decision, rather than targeting areas where there may have been higher risks.”
For the time being, Roy said that it’s important for parents to have a good line of communication with coaches when it comes to mandated protocols on how to keep everyone safe for the foreseeable future.
“We have plans in place that have teams isolated for practices and or sitting out games, so that if there is a positive case, it can be hopefully limited to one family or team and not multiple teams, or worse, the entire association,” said Roy.
Another organization that’s been directly affected by the statewide closure is Holy Name Hockey out in Springfield. The program’s president, Chris Orszulak, was disappointed with the state’s decision.
“I personally don’t believe it (the decision) was based on a lot of facts, particularly in our area,” said Orszulak. “If you look at hospitalization rates in our area, both of our two major hospitals (Mercy and Baystate) have very low numbers in terms of COVID patients.”
According to Orszulak, there are 108 cases associated with hockey across the state, and there are a little over 54,000 registered Massachusetts hockey participants (players, coaches, officials, etc.), which means the infection rate would come out to .001 percent.
With a percentage that low, Orszulak said that parents and coaches from the organization have written letters to elected officials saying that there are issues across the state that don’t apply to Olympia and their organization.
“We’re trying to differentiate ourselves in terms of the area, that we’ve followed protocols, and transmission rates associated with playing hockey in our area have not been a real problem,” said Orszulak.
Prior to the shutdown, Olympia’s specific protocol involved a limitation of one spectator per player, no siblings; players had to enter the arena 15 minutes before the game fully dressed, and the facility must be exited 15 minutes after the event.
Orszulak, who also coaches four different teams, said that the population in the arena was minimal thanks to Olympia’s proper handling of the situation.
“All this is hurting is children,” said Orszulak. “Kids are being forced to learn in front of computer screens, and at the end of the day, being able to have the physical outlet of sports was very beneficial both physically and socially for kids.”
When asked about what the future guidelines may look like, Orszulak said that it’s difficult to establish “goal posts” on how to mitigate the virus. He believes that one thing the state may try to look into is disallowing inner and outer state tournaments for all Massachusetts teams, which is something they were doing prior to the closure of rinks (no tournaments at all).
“There was some discussion about there being no one allowed in the facility other than a player,” said Orszulak. “The risk of that is, if something were to happen to the kid, and the parent wasn’t close by, do we run the risk of not getting the proper attention if they were injured?”
Orszulak hopes that this is just a warning to the hockey community to take the protocols seriously, and to not overlook any of them.
“I’ve got four kids of my own, and they love playing hockey,” said Orszulak. “It would really disappoint me to not see them be able to play.”