“It’s not going to look like our previous seasons,” says TinaMarie Ritter, with Slave Lake Minor Soccer Association.
The season doesn’t start until May 17, so the restrictions may change, but the association decided to plan the season based on the current restrictions for outdoor recreation.
The Slave Lake Icedogs have been busy as a roomful of one-armed paper-hangers lately, with players arriving and players leaving. But that’s all over now, says team owner Lauren Barr, with the trading deadline for the league having come and gone (it was March 15).
‘Drop us a line!’ says Slave Lake’s Anglers Cup committee – pun certainly intended. The big walleye tournament is going ahead again in 2021, after a year off.
“We just got our license last week,” says chief tournament organizer Tracey Crain. “We’re getting entries in already.”
As reported in this space a week ago, the Slave Lake Icedogs got back to practicing on indoor ice on Feb. 22. It’s not exactly normal, but as head coach Gregg Kennedy says, any indoor ice is better than none at this point.
One reason he said that was because the temperature that day was well above freezing and the outdoor rinks were in bad shape.
Don’t get too excited just yet, but the field house at the Slave Lake Multi Rec Centre opened back up for use this Monday, March 1.
It doesn’t much resemble what people are used to, but given the current restrictions, a little is a lot better than nothing.
There’s not a lot of optimism going around about hockey or figure skating getting re-started. Based on last week’s government announcements about the gradual easing of restrictions, plus Hockey Alberta pulling the plug on the season (there goes minor hockey), things look pretty gloomy.
Word on the street is there are a lot more private skating rinks this winter than usual. People want to skate and with hockey and indoor facilities shut down for three weeks, back (and sometimes front) yard rinks are one answer.
Curling Alberta has given clubs in ‘enhanced’ zones the green light for allowing individual, one-on-one, and family (same household) practices.
So we are opening up the club starting Wednesday, December 2nd for individuals, one-on-ones, and families from the same household to book a sheet.
Lakeside Figure Skating Club in Slave Lake received $10,000 from the Jumpstart Sport Relief Fund Grant, to help it respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A media release from Lakeside says, “In September, Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities announced an $8 million
Minor hockey finally arrived back on the scene this past weekend. It came with a new set of headaches, thanks to COVID, but the hockey was good, the kids had fun and fans of the game (including your local sports reporters) are happy it’s back.