Leeds Chiefs coach Sam Zajac remains optimistic over season going ahead

Some leisure facilities – such as outdoor gyms, cinemas, museums, galleries, theme parks and arcades – will be able to open their doors from July 4 onwards while for others, including ice rinks, the wait goes on.

The prime minister’s announcement will have come as a major disappointment for rink owners, including Planet Ice, owners of the new Elland Road facility who were hopeful of opening their doors in some capacity from July 6 onwards.

Those plans, as they are for other rinks around the country, are now on hold, but it is hoped that rinks will be included in the next group of leisure facilities to be told they can open their doors once again, hopefully by early August, although that will depend on how well the latest easing of lockdown restrictions goes from July 4 onwards.

However, even once the doors do eventually open, there will be many more steps to get over before competitive ice hockey returns.

Any realistic chance of the season going ahead is likely to rely on a relaxing of the current social distancing measures, something which would simply enable teams to allow in enough spectators in order for them to reasonably operate.

But, given the English Ice Hockey Association’s recent publishing of their five-step ‘return to play’ proposal document, Zajac remains optimistic.

“It surprised me a bit when rinks weren’t included and it is obviously not what we were hoping for as an industry, we were hoping we would be opening up alongside pubs and things like that,” said Zajac.

“But you just have to trust these decisions and that they are being made by the right people.

“I’m sure there will be good reasoning and good science behind the decision.

“The science obviously dictates rinks have to stay closed, so if it is going to be another couple of weeks or a month before they open then we are just going to have to live with it.”

Last week saw the EIHA implement phase one of its ‘return to play’ plan which allows players to practice and train together in small groups away from the rink.

Phase Two – which allows larger groups of up to 20 to train on the ice – was hoped to come into effect on July 4, but will now have to wait for the next government announcement on the further easing of lockdown measures.

But, despite the current disappointment across the sport and the industry as a whole, Zajac is pleased with the governing body’s approach to how the sport can achieve a return to full, competitive hockey via its five-step plan.

“It was good to see that a lot of thought had gone into the roadmap back for the sport from the EIHA,” added Zajac, whose team finished bottom in their debut season in NIHL National.

“It seems like it is being done with the right amount of caution and the right amount of guidance and that is a huge positive from the EIHA.

“Early on in this lockdown, everyone was waiting to see what was going to happen in terms of how the sport would come back.

“But now we’ve got solid guidelines that we can follow and it gives everyone a framework to work to.

“For me, personally, I’m a lot more confident in the season not being so severely disrupted as we first feared, or the threat of it not happening at all.”

As part of the ‘return to play’ plans, the EIHA set out various proposals for how schedules would be completed were there to be any delays to the start of the 2020-21 campaign, something welcomed by Zajac.

“The EIHA bringing that out when it did was what people involved in hockey and ice rinks were looking for,” he added.

“It has given a lot of people more confidence in the season going ahead, especially with having those other contingencies that have been included in the event of the season starting at different times of the year.

“It shows there is more than just the one option available.”

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