The Manitoba AAA U18 Hockey League has said it hopes to begin the 2020-2021 season between October 9 and November 1.
Hockey Manitoba is currently in Phase 2 which begins on Tuesday and it includes on-ice skill development (non-contact), drills, team tactics, online or in-person clinics, as well as tryouts. The league has put together a Return-to-Play Task Force which is made up of league executives and team executive members. The Task Force will determine the league's start date and the number of games played.
Locally, Tyler Carefoot and Rick Freese have been running conditioning camps ahead of training camp which is slated for September 25-27 and the news of a possible start date in early October is certainly welcoming.
"We've been in limbo for a long time and it's great that we were provided with a direction as far as where the league is going," said Carefoot.
The Rangers were initially set to begin training camp on September 8 inside of Credit Union Place leading up to the annual intrasquad game one week later. But, as noted above, plans have changed, albeit by just a couple of weeks.
"The Rangers have typically held their camp prior to junior camps and then you lose players that are trying out for junior teams," said Carefoot. "We just felt that if we scheduled ours after junior camps, we would have more of our core group intact."
September 25 will include testing before the Club holds a 4-on-4 mini-tournament on September 26 and 27. There will then be practices on Tuesday, September 29 before the intrasquad game takes place on Thursday, October 1.
As of today, roughly 44 have registered to take part in training camp, a rather significant spike from years past. With a solid group of players that played on last year's team alongside players that have moved up to the U18 level from the U15 age group last season, Carefoot is thrilled that so many young Parkland stars are interested in playing on this year's team.
"Rick and I took the initiative to get out and meet some of these families and I think our presentations really showed what this program is made of," ended Carefoot. "We're expecting a really competitive camp full of players who are ready to compete for spots. This truly is a tremendous league and we're looking forward to a tremendous camp."
Stay tuned in the coming weeks for a training camp roster, full schedule, and of course, Carefoot's thoughts heading into September 25.
