The Thunder Bay Kings are returning to the ice in the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL).
The league unveiled Tuesday that on-ice programming may resume on Monday, January 31st to coincide with the beginning of Ontario’s gradual and phased in re-opening plan.
President Michael Power told Acadia News Tuesday that the work continues on arranging ice for next week.
“We’re working very closely with our arena partner at Fort William First Nation,” Power noted. “Dan Gelmich and the group there (have been terrific), we have our home dressing rooms in that arena. We’ll be excited to get back to full-time indoor practices. I know many members of our U-13, U-15 and U-16 teams have been skating outdoors, staying on the ice and staying active.”
Indications from the organization are that game action for the Kings will resume the weekend of February 4th.
Power mentioned that the league has guaranteed that they will get a full season in despite the shutdown, which means trips to Toronto every weekend until the middle of March.
Talks have begun about planning post-season play.
“We have to accommodate not only our participation in the GTHL playoffs, when and if we make it at the various team levels, but we also have to accommodate the regional playdowns,” added Power. “For example, the U-18 team competing for the Telus Cup has to play in the Regional Branch Championship. If they’re successful in that, they advance to the Western Zone Championship and then a trip to Cape Breton for the Telus Cup if they’re successful there.”
The Kings will play a best-of-five series against the Kenora Thistles starting on March 19th with the winner advancing to the West Regionals in Virden, Manitoba at the end of March.
The Telus Cup is set for April 18-24 in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
