Multiple sources are now reporting that the Kenai River Brown Bears are temporarily relocating to Minnesota to play until January.
Other sources are reporting that the New Mexico Ice Wolves will also relocate temporarily to El Paso Texas. El Paso is the home of the NA3HL Rhinos formerly of the WSHL.
Both of these moves make sense considering neither New Mexico or Alaska will be allowing games to be played in the near future. While Minnesota looks to be opening up for games without many fans, and Texas is wide open for play.
Other rumors concerning teams taking the year off, and a league imposed deadline to make the decision are looking to be just rumors.
State by State COVID-19 conditions are changing on a weekly basis in many cases. The league, trying to mandate decisions, is unlikely to be the case.
States will make decisions and those decisions are made on a week by week basis in most cases. While some States may be ready to play in October, others will not, and things can change along the way.
It is more likely than not that every league will experience stops and starts to the season in many locations simply do to the changing conditions. How they react to those challenges will determine how well the season progresses.
The most important part to any return to play is that the players are kept safe. While we all want hockey, and everyone is itching to play, it is not worth the risk if one player, parent, billet family, or fan gets seriously ill or worse.
As August ends, and we set our sights on a return to play, lets do it safely.
Joseph Kolodziej – Adviser
