The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference issued a proposal Monday outlining plans to move forward with its 2021 winter high school sports season.
The proposal, made in conjunction with guidance from the state Department of Public Health, assesses the risk level of COVID-19 transmission for each sport.
Sports deemed as high-risk — wrestling, competitive cheer and competitive dance — should not hold any competitions or matches this winter, the DPH recommends, but can participate in “small group conditioning and non-contact skill building.”
Hockey, categorized as a moderate-risk sport, along with basketball, gymnastics and indoor track, can begin team activities no sooner than Jan. 19, the plans say.
“In alignment with DPH guidance for sports, the CIAC winter season may being no sooner than January 19, 2020, unless determined otherwise,” the CIAC writes.
This includes, “any team activities that involve group aerobic conditioning, non-contact skill development drills, team practices and/or intra-squad scrimmages.”
Per the proposal, and the consideration of future trends, games can begin Feb. 1 with state tournaments taking place March 8-21, pending the first contest date.
“Assuming community metrics continue an appropriate downward trend and athletic activities are not impacting in-person learning, interscholastic in-state competitions should begin no earlier than February 1, 2021,” the CIAC writes.
The plans also include a list of mitigation protocols for each winter sport provided by the DPH, which were approved by the CIAC’s Board of Control last Thursday.
In terms of hockey, players, coaches and officials must be wearing masks at all times and must remain socially distant wearing masks on the benches.
The CIAC advises players and officials to have multiple masks on-hand at games.
Multiple one-minute mask breaks will be instituted throughout games, including stoppages at or after the 4-minute, 8-minute and 12-minute mark of each period.
Players must maintain greater than six feet of distance and may get water during the mask breaks, the CIAC says, which are not to be used as instructional timeouts. Additionally, per their discretion, officials may stop a play at any point to address mask concerns, including a player or official’s mask falling off or below their face.
A final decision regarding the approval of the winter sports proposal will be made later this week, after a vote at the CIAC’s Board of Directors meeting on Thursday.
The interstate travel ban, which prohibits out-of-state competition and is backed by all six New England governors, plus New Jersey, will remain in effect until Jan. 31.
Over the course of the past week, 15,874 new cases of coronavirus have been reported in the state, CDC data says, with 7,364 of those coming since Friday.
Further updates will be published following the BOD’s decision on Thursday.
Liam Flaherty can be reached at liam.flaherty@hockeyjournal.com and on Twitter @_LiamFlaherty.
