As cases of the coronavirus continue to ravage the region, most prep leagues in New England still aren’t sure what their 2020-21 winter seasons are going to look like.
Some of those leagues, such as the Connecticut-based Founders League, already have called their seasons, forcing teams to go rogue and play independently.
The Lakes Region, however, is a different story.
Thanks to the northern layout of the eight-team league, with seven teams in New Hampshire and one in Vermont, as well as the relatively low numbers of COVID-19 in those states, the process of outlining, and executing, a Return To Play plan has been significantly easier for the Lakes Region league compared to the rest.
Now, heading into an extended holiday break that will run all the way through mid-January, Lakes Region coaches are confident a league season will happen, even offering an idea of what things will look like once the puck gets dropped.
Since returning to campus for the start of in-person classes in late August, and then starting on-ice practices in early September with a few exhibition games sprinkled in, Lakes Region teams have enjoyed relatively normal falls, all things considered.
“The fall, it was actually really good, believe it or not,” New Hampton head coach Connor Gorman told NEHJ on Tuesday. “We were in person, in classes and playing hockey all fall, which is everything that we wanted and told our kids we would do.
“We didn't play as many games I think everybody had hoped. But other than that, I tell the guys every day, ‘Listen, we're on the ice four times a week, we're working on strength training, we do a bunch of yoga — take what you can get.’ ”
With NEPSAC — the New England Prep School Athletic Council — having lifted fall training rules to allow for more fall practice time, it’s been a great period of development, Kimball Union Academy coach Tim Whitehead said.
“Pretty much every day for an hour and a half and then in the weight room for at least an hour, three times a week, so we're really getting after it,” Whitehead said. “From a development standpoint, this is actually a pretty good model. We wish we had more games, but we understand in the COVID times that that’s quite unlikely.
“It's been a lot of fun. We’re making our practices very competitive, so our guys are getting in game situations every day. These are important years for these kids to make progress physically and mentally. Of course, the big bonus is we're on a campus where our kids are allowed to go to class every day. We really feel lucky.”
While some exhibition games have had to be canceled as cases inevitably popped up over the course of the fall, the first stage of the season went pretty well — aside from the mid-October, two-week state hockey shutdown they had no control over.
“Probably the hardest conversation I’ve ever had to have in my coaching career is telling a group of kids that, ‘Hey, you’ve been here since August 25, you haven't left campus once, you wore a mask 24/7, we get tested every single week, and our rink is still closed,’ ” Gorman said. “So, that was pretty tough to tell the guys, but they handled it well. … All in all, I think that we’ve made the most of what we’ve had.”
This weekend, KUA and New Hampton will meet for their final two exhibition games of the “first half” of the 2020-21 season, before leaving campus Nov. 22.
Once they return to campus in the first week of January, all Lakes Region student-athletes will have to endure a seven-day quarantine period, the details of which are yet to be announced.
Once complete, teams can reconvene and return to practicing. Then, if all things go according to plan, the season will start at the end of January.
The campaign, which will feature, at minimum, 14 conference-only games — one home and one away for each team against each of the league’s seven opponents — will be played entirely in New Hampshire using home-and-home weekend series.
It could be 21 games, with three games against each league opponent, sources said, but like most things in this day and age, it remains a fluid situation, week-by-week.
“Our first games are scheduled for January 29 and 30,” Whitehead said. “And we're going to play pretty much every Friday and Saturday until March 27. So, we've extended the season to the end of March to make up for some lost time.
“We hope to get at least two playoff games in. We usually get two, so we'll shoot for that, but based on how we've been doing things, it might be possible to play (four). But for sure we'll play everyone twice. Depending on where things are at with COVID, we'd love to add some more games, but right now that's what we have scheduled.”
The biggest hurdle in planning for a season came with aligning all of the schools with the same COVID testing procedures and safety protocols. As evidenced by the league’s positively uneventful fall — as a test run of sorts — it appears reliable.
The other roadblock arose when creating the schedule and attempting to ensure that all schools play only one opponent in all of their sports per weekend, in an effort to limit campus-to-campus exposure and curb the spread of an outbreak.
For now, sources said, fans, including parents, will not be allowed to watch games at rinks. But for the sake of the kids, one said, it will be worth it. At least there will be hockey.
“We feel very fortunate to be in the location that we are in northern New England,” Whitehead said. “Although things are spiking a little bit in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, it’s certainly not to the extent that it is in other parts of the country. So we're still quite hopeful that we can continue these games in the second half of the season.”
Things don’t seem as positive for the other leagues in the hockey-centric region.
“It’s so difficult. I really feel for all of the teams in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,” Whitehead said. “It’s really heartbreaking to see teams at all levels having restricted seasons. Again, we understand we’re fortunate to be located in (an area) that is less populated and has less cases, so the opportunity is there. It’s certainly nobody's fault in any area if they can't play, we're just lucky that our population is small, and geographically we're in a pretty good location. It would be foolish not to take advantage of that here to help these kids enjoy their high school experience.”
A lot can change between now and the middle of January when teams are set to resume their hockey activities, but for now, at the very least, a plan is in place.
“We have a plan in place, which, kudos to our program, team and administration, and heads of schools for having a plan already,” Gorman said. “It’s a good start.”
Liam Flaherty can be reached at liam.flaherty@hockeyjournal.com and on Twitter @_LiamFlaherty.
