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Minnesota Hockey Announces Season Extension, COVID-19 Rules

By Minnesota Hockey, 12/17/20, 11:00AM CST

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St. Paul, MN – December 17, 2020 – The Minnesota Hockey Board of Directors, which hosted a special board meeting on Sunday, December 13, has approved the extension of its season by delaying the 2021 State Tournaments and instituted multiple rule changes related to the COVID-19 pandemic for the 2020-2021 season.

Season Extension: The 2021 State Tournaments have been moved to March 26-28, 2021. The Drive to State, presented by Chevy, will begin with District Tournaments, which must now be completed by March 14, followed by Region Tournaments on March 19-21 and will conclude with the State Tournaments. These changes will effectively extend the Minnesota Hockey regular season by three weeks for the 2020-2021 season, which officially ends for all Minnesota Hockey team on the final day of the State Tournaments.

Roster Deadlines: The Board of Directors also extended two important roster deadlines to provide flexibility to teams who have not completed tryouts yet. The roster deadline for teams eligible for the 2021 State Tournaments has been extended to January 31. Team rosters must still be approved prior to their first league or tournament game. In addition, the deadline for players in Junior Gold & 16U classifications to play in five games has been extended to February 28. These changes are in effect for the 2020-2021 season only.

COVID-19 Rules: In an effort to increase accountability, the Board of Directors voted to make several COVID-19 guidelines into rules and instituted more strict measures on locker room use in cooperation with the Minnesota Ice Arena Manager’s Association. Below is a summary of the new rules:

  • Locker rooms are closed for Phase 4
  • No bags, with the exception of goalies, allowed in facilities for Phase 4
  • No spectators in arenas for Phase 4 with two exceptions. One parent will be allowed at the Mite/8U levels and below, and a max of two people may be allowed to live stream games.
  • All players and officials must come fully dressed, except helmets, skates and gloves. Goalies must come half dressed.
  • No one may enter the arena until 10 minutes before the scheduled ice time, and everyone must exit within 10 minutes of the end of the ice time.
  • No ice resurfacing during games will be permitted for the remainder of the regular season.
  • No dryland activities will be permitted inside arenas.

The COVID-19 related rule changes listed above have been implemented for the 2020-2021 season only. Minnesota Hockey will release updated return to play guidelines, including more insight on a phased return, in the coming weeks.

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