STEPHEN RICCIO
SHAWVILLE Oct. 21, 2020
The Shawville District Minor Hockey Association (SDMHA) has had to suspend its hockey season, as nearly half of the association’s teams are now operating from within the more restricted red zones.
The SDMHA’s decision was made on Oct. 11 and came into effect on Oct. 15 after Gatineau and the MRC des Collines became red zones on Oct. 10, which forced teams in those regions to . . .
cease hockey activities.
Councillor Bill McCleary, head of the Shawville Arena Committee, said that the arena is already receiving bookings from both the local figure skating club and private sources.
One of the big impacts on the SDHMA was having kids who live in Quyon who were unable to come play, but McCleary said this is less of an issue for the figure skaters. However, the arena still has limitations on the number of people allowed on the ice.
“There’s one of [the figure skating] programs, the little tiny kids, that had more than 25 so they’re going to have to figure out how to have it in different sessions,” he explained. “[For] the normal figure skating, [that’s] not an issue. “
The maximum number allowed on the ice at one time is 25. Meanwhile for locker rooms, ten people are allowed in the bigger rooms while eight are permitted in the smaller ones.
McCleary said that there is also a group of guys that are going to begin renting the ice this week for casual hockey games, likely on Monday and Wednesday nights
He is optimistic about minimizing the arena’s financial losses with the ice now being available to rent.
“It depends on how much we pick up in other rentals. It’s obviously going to be a bit less but if it’s popular enough that the parents are booking those hours, it would be just about the same thing [as hockey season], but obviously it will be down a little bit.”
With files from Caleb Nickerson.
