The P.A minor hockey league is set for the heat of the playoffs to get underway. (Teena Monteleone/paNOW Staff)

By Ronald Quaroni

Playoff juggle

P.A. minor hockey balances ice time during playoffs

Mar 21, 2019 | 12:01 PM

With melting ice and upcoming playoffs, it’s a stressful time of year for the P.A. Minor Hockey Association.

P.A. Minor Hockey Technical Director, James Mays said it’s a juggling act to cram all the teams onto various ice surfaces around the city.

“It’s a couple hundred playoff games if everyone is in the playoffs and having some success. It’s quite a balancing act to try and book everyone’s games in,” Mays said.

Mays said within the seven divisions they work with, there could be upwards of 45 to 50 teams looking for ice time.

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Mays indicated the warm weather would take away practice time on community-club run rinks but it wouldn’t affect playoffs.

“We’ve learned from the past, where we’ve had to book some and then it warms up, they have to cancel and then we’re scrambling for ice,” Mays said.

He also said the ice at the Art Hauser Centre can also be tough to come by in March with the Raiders, Mintos, and Northern Bears sometimes competing in the playoffs.

Mays said good scheduling by their director helps manage all their teams, as well the Championship Weekend March 30 to 31.

“All seven divisions, all their playoffs are done that weekend in basically 36-40 hours. It’s our fifth year of championship weekend, the hockey community really looks forward to it,” Mays told paNOW.

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ron.quaroni@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @RonaldQuaroni