‘There will be a hockey season this year’ – Raiders’ business manager Michael Scissons

“My personal confidence level is there will be a hockey season this year. If you’re going to ask me as to when, I’m not a health official. I’m not a doctor. They went to school a lot longer than I have to get the better information and to keep everyone safe,” Scissons said. “We’ll follow the protocol by the Saskatchewan Health Authority, the City of Prince Albert to make sure everyone’s safe. When that time comes, we’ll drop the puck.”

Scissons was responding to paNOW’s coverage of the City of Prince Albert’s financial forecast which assumed facilities would remain closed until the end of the year. The city also issued a clarification on Friday morning.

City of Prince Albert Mayor Greg Dionne told paNOW on Thursday it would not be financially viable to open city’s facilities until gatherings of more than 50 people are allowed.

“How can we open the Communiplex, the Art Hauser Centre or any kind of facility if they only allowed 50? That’s two teams with no parents, no coaches, no trainers could go in the rink and play, but that’s it,” Dionne said.

The pandemic has put the world on pause and turned it upside down. Cities across the world are dealing with similar and worse situations.

Despite the pandemic causing confusion everywhere, Scissons said it’s business as usual for the Raiders, who are preparing for next year as if it’s happening on time as any other year.

“We’re doing everything we can to prepare for a regular hockey season just like we would any other year,” Scissons said. “There’s been nothing to point at this point that it’s going to be anything different… We have a big 50^th year coming up right now and there’s a lot of work to go into it. We’re excited for the season to get going.”

Some professional sports leagues have re-started play in empty stadiums. To name a few, soccer leagues in Germany and Denmark and rugby league in Australia have resumed play without fans. The Premier Lacrosse League has planned to cap off its season with a tournament-like set up to serve as its playoffs and determine the champion that way.

The National Hockey League also announced their Return To Play plan, with a 24-team playoff setup with the hopes of awarding the Stanley Cup—even if they have to play in empty buildings.

But the Western Hockey League is in a different boat. They are not a professional league with multi-billion-dollar broadcast deals like the NHL. Leagues like the WHL rely a lot heavier on ticket sales. Playing in empty rinks, without receiving any money at the front gates, would be a much larger challenge.

But to hold mass crowds, there will have to be a big change in guidelines in Saskatchewan and the other provinces and American states that have WHL teams.

As of Friday, only gatherings of 10 people or less are allowed in Saskatchewan. That is expected to rise to a maximum of 15 people for indoor events and 30 for outdoor on June 8. The capacity of the Art Hauser Centre is 3,289, and other rinks have in the league capacities of 5,000, 10,000 and even professional-sized rinks up to 20,000 in places with NHL rinks like the Edmonton Oil Kings and the Calgary Hitmen.

“It’s going to be incredibly hard to play without fans in the building. As we continue to prepare for our 50^th season, we’re preparing to have fans watch us. It’s just what it is,” Scissons said. “We’re like all other 21 other Western Hockey League teams right now. We’re selling season tickets and looking forward to an upcoming year. The best part of junior hockey is the passion and even more so in the city of P.A., we know that commitment is unwavering.”

In the meantime, Scissons hopes Raider fans can stay safe and follow all the guidelines. That way, hockey can come back even quicker and in a safe fashion.

“Let’s do everything we can so that we can come back to a point where we can return to the rinks, returning to the ball diamonds, returning to the gymnasiums and to the libraries and schools without fear,” Scissons said. “You see the passion in our Raider fans, we see it as it continues to grow. We know the fans have our backs, and when we hit the ice, we look forward to playing in front of every one of them.”

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW

***A note from the JPBG Saskatchewan Director of Information Programming – Teena Monteleone

“After the initial story about the city’s financial forecasts and the impact on shuttered civic facilities due to COVID-19, the paNOW newsroom was on the receiving end of criticism suggesting the story was sensationalized and ‘fake news.’

I will agree with some comments that the headline could have been worded better in an effort to reduce the risk of misinterpretation. Our intention was to advise readers on how the news could affect them personally. It was not written in an effort to produce click bait. We immediately attended to a request by the City of Prince Albert to issue a clarification following their expressed concern regarding the headline.

Suggestions on social media that paNOW did not reach out to the Raiders organization for comment is incorrect. We were in contact with the team’s business manager following the news release from the city and after a brief conversation advised we would contact him the next day (Friday) for comment. The piece above is the result of that communication.

There were also accusations from the public that the story content was purposely misleading and to that I take offence. There are no factual errors in the copy and due diligence was taken in contacting city officials for comment, referencing the official press release from the City of Prince Albert and also confirming details through the report provided to city council.

To say that paNOW purposely wrote the story to create fear or with an underlying suggestion that the Raiders season would not take place is unfounded. Nobody wants the Raiders season to continue as much as we do. Jim Pattison Broadcast Group is, afterall, the official broadcast partner of the Raiders through CKBI radio. I am a co-host of the morning show on CKBI. I am a long time Raider fan and I am also a billet Mom for the organization and have been for several years. As a long time journalist in this community, it disheartens me to see that some of our readers and public figures were quick to ‘shoot the messenger’ so to speak and suggest our news team would publish something with malicious intent. I stand by the content and my news team.

I hope this public acknowledgement will be received well as we strive to deliver news that matters in our beloved ‘Hockey Town North.’”

by Jeff D'Andrea

‘There will be a hockey season this year’ – Raiders’ business manager Michael Scissons

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