It’s go time for the SJHL.
The Junior A league has been given the green light to start games.
“The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League has been approved to start play, effective immediately,” said the league in a press release. “The SJHL will be allowed to have a maximum of 150 fans in attendance. Fans will be required to wear masks while in the arena.”
The SJHL also says attendance for regular season games will be announced at a later date. It’s expected the regular season will start the first week of November.
The pre-season schedule has been released and the La Ronge Ice Wolves will play the Flin Flon Bombers four times over the next two weeks.
The SJHL has released its pre-season schedule.
The @SJHL_IceWolves will play four games against the @FFBombers:
Oct. 22 @ Flin Flon
Oct. 24 @ La Ronge
Oct. 28 @ La Ronge
Oct. 31 @ Flin Flon #SJHL #LaRonge #Sask— Braden Malsbury (@BradenMalsbury) October 18, 2020
The exhibition schedule for the Ice Wolves kicks off on Thursday night at the Whitney Forum in Flin Flon. La Ronge will then host Flin Flon on Saturday at the Mel Hegland Uniplex, with puck drop slated for 7:30 p.m.
“It’s been tough, it’s tough on the guys, it’s tough on the fans, the cities, the coaches, but finally we got a little bit of clearance to get to play some exhibition games,” said Ice Wolves Head Coach and GM Kevin Kaminski.
“I know when the boys heard, they were absolutely ecstatic. Now it’s time to get prepared, obviously it’s what we’ve been doing, but now they have something to look forward to instead of practicing against each other all the time, it’s getting monotonous.”
The Ice Wolves say due to COVID-19 numbers and protocols, they will restrict spectators for their upcoming two exhibition home games to billet and player families only.
(PHOTO: The Ice Wolves celebrate a goal last season. Photo courtesy of Brandon White.)