However, 2020 continues to lay waste to many a good plan and with the COVID-19 situation still an evolving one, the CIHL has remained on pause, the latest indications suggesting that league officials have reportedly been looking at a December 1 start date.
That however is very much just a floating target it seems, with the requirements for social distancing of COVID pretty well putting their business plan on hold.
With the league dependent on gate driven revenue, the prospect of playing to reduced capacity at arenas across Northern British Columbia is not one that makes for a good blue print and that seems to be the definitive fact when it comes to whether we will see a Senior Men's hockey season in 2020-21.
The Prince Rupert Rampage have not had much to share through their social media stream over the last month, and a fans page in the community notes that the league and team is waiting to hear if the regulations in place on large gatherings will be loosened later into the winter.
In Quesnel, the officials and team members of the Kangaroos are not optimistic for a return to action any time soon, though they correctly note that there are larger issues in motion than hockey, with the main focus on ensuring that all measures towards tackling the COVID challenges remain in place.
The reviews are similar in many of the communities that form up the current roster of seven club teams from Prince Rupert to Williams Lake and the points in between of Quesnel, Smithers, Hazelton, Terrace and Kitimat, each and everyone of them waiting to dig into some ice and returning to competition and providing for high temp hockey again for their communities.
Williams Lake chose to adapt a business must go on approach, having hosted tryouts last month in hopes of a season ahead.
Other teams await their opportunity to at least gather on ice in a practice setting to keep their skills sharp should the go ahead come later into the fall or winter.
The operational plans however will require fans in the seats, they are the lifeblood and financial heft that allows for the circuit to operate and right now, that is still very much an ongoing issue to be resolved.
Hopefully, as they await further guidance on how they may move forward, the group of teams which have become part of a renaissance for the league in recent years will be able to keep their business plans in place for whenever hockey returns.
Updates from the Rampage can be followed through their Facebook page.
There's not much to archive to date when it comes to the CIHL, but what we have, we are sharing through our 2020-21 CIHL page here.
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