NorthEast warms up prior to their exhibition contest against the Humboldt Broncos on Saturday, Oct. 17. (Twitter/@NorthEastU18AA)

By Mat Barrett

Hockey is Back

NorthEast U18 AA team hosts first game under COVID-19 guidelines

Oct 19, 2020 | 5:00 PM

Hockey is finally back, albeit with a number of guidelines, and only exhibition games for the time being.

On Oct. 8, the Saskatchewan Hockey Association announced that exhibition games would be permitted under the Return to Play plan. Up until that point, only evaluations and practices were permitted. The expanded rules came into effect on Saturday and that’s when the Northeast region saw their first hockey game in what likely felt like and eon.

The NorthEast U18 AA team hosted the Humboldt Broncos U18 AA team in the first exhibition game at the Northern Lights Palace in Melfort with the COVID-19 guidelines in place. For NorthEast they had been waiting since early September for a chance to matchup with some other players for a change.

“So, five weeks of practice, the boys were getting real ready to hit someone else for a change,” said NorthEast Head Coach Bill Eastcott.

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Guidelines are in place for the teams and the facilities to keep the risk of transmission of COVID-19 low and there were a number of eyes on Saturday’s game. Eastcott said they almost felt like guinea pigs in a sense as they were under the watchful eye of the City of Melfort, and the Saskatchewan Health Authority.

“It went over really well,” Eastcott told northeastNOW. “The fans were very good, the boys were good, Humboldt was very respective of the rules, so it worked out very well.”

Only 150 people were allowed inside the area to watch the game, and it was mainly kept to just immediate family who could watch.

The guidelines aren’t just in place for games, but practices as well. Physical distancing is a key in all settings in the area, only a number of players are allowed per dressing room, masks are to be worn in and out of the rink and for patrons watching the game, and talk around the whiteboard is to be kept to a minimum. Eastcott said they as a staff, and players have to adjust accordingly.

“You have to be very prepared, and be very efficient in telling the boys what you expect,” he said. “And go from there.”

Even during games, players were segregated in different dressing rooms, something that Eastcott said made for an interesting dynamic.

“A lot of running from room to room, repeating the same statements over and over,” Eastcott laughed. “It definitely makes it interesting to coach a hockey team like that.”

On the ice, NorthEast came away with the 4-1 victory over the Broncos and Eastcott said the team is a more veteran group this year with 10 players heading into their final year of U18 hockey. There’s also some unfinished business as NorthEast finished first place in the SAAHL Centre Four conference last year, and were getting set for a provincial Semi-Final matchup with Battlefords before the COVID-19 pandemic shut things down.

“We’re looking for big things from this team this year,” Eastcott said. “Our skill level is probably higher than it’s been the last few years, we don’t have the big bodies, so the game is going to change a little for us and we’re going to use our speed to attack teams.”

Eastcott added that the older players have already rubbed off on the younger players with the energy of redemption from last season.

NorthEast and Humboldt will play another exhibition affair on Saturday, Oct. 31, but this time in Humboldt.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6