Sask. hockey player, coach react to lost season

The Saskatchewan Hockey Association (SHA) doesn’t anticipate games to resume before the end of the season due to the province’s COVID-19 measures.

For players and coaches around the province who are affected, it’s a tough pill to swallow.

Brent Kaytor coaches junior C and atom hockey in Regina. The two age groups don’t have any games on the schedule and the junior age group can’t practise as a team.

Kaytor says while players under the age of 18 can still practise in groups of eight, the season has felt completely lost for players in the junior league.

“There has been a lot of heartbreak for all the kids, just the way things have been going and everything,” he said. “They’re very disappointed. They’re waiting day to day hoping to come back and at least start practising.

“They still want to be able to participate in hockey and have fun while getting exercise.”

Rhett Gherasim, who’s in his final year of junior C hockey for the Regina River Rats, says he’s hopeful that he will be able to join his teammates on the ice once again.

“We were told just to keep waiting and that eventually it may start up again,” he said. “I haven’t given up on it yet.

“If it doesn’t happen, it’s OK. I had fun, and it is what it is.”

Despite not being able to spend his last season captaining his team, Gherasim understands the reasoning behind the health policies in place.

“We know we’ve got to prevent the virus as much as we can,” he said. “I’ll still be able to play hockey next year. It won’t be quite the same. It’s not as competitive, but it’s still hockey.

“I’m grateful that I can still do that.”

Despite the waiting game being played for players over the age of 18, Kaytor is glad that younger players are still getting to experience playing hockey and learn more about the game, even if practising looks very different compared to past years.

“It’s a little better with eight players out there because you have more of that one-on-one time,” he said. “When we have some players in the dressing room it gives us more time to focus on fundamentals.”

While eight players are on the ice, the other eight remain in the dressing room for half the practice before switching halfway through.

“It’s a challenge to keep them away from all their friends,” according to Kaytor.

“They want to be with their buddies,” he said. “It’s hard for them to not all be together at once.”

The SHA said it plans on having meetings with zones and minor hockey associations in the province, as well as senior leagues in the next two weeks about what the next few months could look like.

Meanwhile, a petition has been launched calling on Premier Scott Moe to ease the province’s restrictions on hockey, a move that would allow minor hockey to resume next month.

So far, more than 8,500 people have signed the petition.