EVHA Families,

EHVA has been closely monitoring developments related to the governor’s announcement this week.  While we do not have a lot of information to share as of this evening, we want to provide you as much detail as we can.

Wednesday evening Dec 16, MN Hockey hosted a meeting that EVHAs leadership team attended. While we do not have answers to many questions yet, we can share the following in terms of the restart on January 4.  Unfortunately – we still do not have a lot of clarity to many questions we all still have.  MN Hockey sent an update from Q&A on Dec 18.  

Both documents are to the right.

Here are answers to the questions we do have answers for.

When can we get on the ice?

EVHA Practices will resume on January 4th! We are all excited to get back on the ice! While some practices are still on calendars, we ask that you PLEASE DO NOT show up for any ice times that may be on your calendar prior to January 4th – we will be working with managers to remove ice times over the next week.

MN Hockey is not sanctioning any activities until January 4.  Additionally, it is highly likely that practice times will change.  Our ice coordinators will communicate to managers once times are locked in – thank you for your patience.

Will practice ice for teams no longer going to tournaments?

We will be reviewing all ice and doing the best we can to ensure teams get practice ice. 

What about outdoor ice?

The City of Apple Valley let us know they do intend on flooding rinks; however, the ground is not yet frozen enough.  Once they are frozen, our ice schedulers will assign ice for each team (it will show on your calendars) as use-or-loose.

When will games resume?

We currently do not know.  We have not yet received guidance from MN Hockey as to when competitions can begin as this has not yet been determined by the state.  The hope is that games can resume as of January 18, however this is NOT verified at this time – we hope to hear more about this in the next week.

When will tourneys be allowed to start?

It is believed that one of the primary areas of concern for spread of COVID-19 is tournament travel.  Tournaments will be dependent on when games will be allowed.  There may not be ice available for tournament games, so as of tonight we do not know if or when tournaments will be allowed. 

Out-of-state travel, out of state teams coming in?

Out of state is highly discouraged.  We do not know how this will play out.

What is the plan for EVHA’s payment plan?

We have not paused our payments and a January payment will still be drawn as per prior communications on this topic.  EVHA will be reviewing finances and will determine overall income and costs and will true everyone up once the season plays out – and any potential refunds will be provided by the end of our fiscal year – at the end of April).  At this time, we can assure you EVHA will NOT be adding an additional payment at the end of the season. 

Will we get more ice this season? Will the season be extended?

MN Hockey intends to extend the season through March.  We are working with the cities rink managers to determine our allotment.  With rescheduling of High School Games and the like, we will get what we can and do what we can to get as much ice as possible for each team.

What restrictions will be in place for practices?

MN Hockey’s new MANDATED rules will be:

• No Locker Rooms will be open.
• No player or coach bags will be allowed in the rink (unless needed for a medical device such as an inhaler.
• Goalies should come as dressed as possible but can bring a bag with their pads.
• No spectators will be allowed for practices, except for 1 parent per player at the mite level.
• Players must come fully dressed, except for skates, gloves, and helmet. (Goalies my put pads on at the rink.)
• 10 minutes for entry and exit of facility will be allowed.
• There will be no resurfacing DURING games once they resume (meaning no mid-game cleans).
• Dryland in arenas will not be allowed.
• Game Officials will be allowed at games (scorebook and scoreboard) – only 2 are allowed in the box – and if/when spectators are allowed, these officials DO NOT count towards the spectator count.
• When games start – if a rink does not have video, a team manager or 3rd coach is available, may broadcast/stream this out. 

How will this be enforced?

This will be a team sport.  We will be reviewing the needs and requirements with our rinks over the next couple of weeks to determine how to best manage and handle these restrictions and will be considering volunteer hours to help ensure kids are in and out of the rinks, not congregating, and the like.

If you have any questions, feel free to enter them on our Q&A page or email us!

We are anxious for the season to restart and are excited to being practicing again.  We were disappointed that games could not yet start – and like you - have additional questions and are waiting to better understand the status of Tournaments, games, and the season extension.

Thanks for your patience – we’re all anxious to get things moving again… until then - have a great holiday!