The Crookston Sports Center will open back up on Monday, January 4. There are several changes to normal operations that have been put in place.
One of those operation changes will be that face masks are required for everyone, including participants, explained Parks and Recreation Director Scott Riopelle. “We open Monday, January 4 for practices only,” said Riopelle. “Games aren’t allowed until after January 14. Anyone entering the building for practice purposes will enter the east side, have their temperature taken, and sign-in. Masks are to be worn at all times. When I say all times, now, all players practicing will have to wear a mask beneath their equipment.”
As was the case earlier this winter, participants will be expected to come as dressed as possible for practice, and parents won’t be allowed to attend practice unless the child is 8 or under. “People will have to come dressed,” said Riopelle. “They can put on skates here. This is all by Minnesota Hockey mandate. They will come in for their practice session 10 minutes prior and are asked to be out by 10 minutes after. No equipment bags, goalies are the exception. They get to bring in a bag of some stuff because they don’t have to have their big pads on, but they are to come as dressed as possible. Parents won’t be allowed unless kids are 8 and under unless there is a kid with special needs. Then it doesn’t matter the age; the parents can come in.”
Dryland activities have also been prohibited in rinks for the reopening, meaning only on-ice training can occur. “We can’t use our dryland area during this time either,” said Riopelle. “The big thing was the face coverings. Make sure when your child comes, they have a face covering, or they won’t be able to enter the building. We do have the walkthrough temperature sensors. If it states that the person is too warm, we will ask them to leave at that point. Then, by signing in, we have a way to contact trace all those that were in the facility for that particular session.”
Riopelle said locker rooms also will remain closed, but two groups can use a sheet of ice at one time. However, they are prohibited from engaging with each other. “We can’t use the locker rooms,” said Riopelle. “We have chairs set up outside the locker rooms; that way, we can sanitize those as soon as the people leave that area. That’s why they’re asked to be here 10 minutes before and leave 10 minutes after, not only the sanitation but so we don’t come in contact with other groups. We can have two pods of 25 on each sheet of ice. So, for a practice session, you can have up to 50 people. But the 25 in the pod is not to engage with the other pod, so we have to keep them separate. Whether we do that with a rink divider, or the coaches do it, we have to adhere to those rules as well.”
The Parks and Recreation Department also purchased several seating section covers, which Riopelle said will be used to reduce seating and the area that needs sanitizing once games resume. “We covered the two ends of the rink and are in the process of getting the last ones bolted down,” said Riopelle. “As you see on television watching some professional games since no one is in the seats, they’ve covered those. We have covered the two ends because if we were allowed to have spectators for a game, at this time, the max was 250. We have seating for 1,200. The idea was we’d cover those seats because we don’t have to sanitize those seats if somebody goes and sits there. If you leave it wide open, you could have people 500 feet away from each other and have to sanitize all of that before the next group comes in. We’re trying to make it as efficient as possible for our people.”
