{"id":807219,"date":"2020-05-07T16:30:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=382913"},"modified":"2020-05-07T16:30:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-07T22:30:00","slug":"summit-hockey-community-hopeful-for-midsummer-restart-after-covid-19-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/summit-hockey-community-hopeful-for-midsummer-restart-after-covid-19-shutdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Summit hockey community hopeful for midsummer restart after COVID-19 shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/SummitHockey-SDN-050820-2-1024x683.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/SummitHockey-SDN-050820-2-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/SummitHockey-SDN-050820-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/SummitHockey-SDN-050820-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/SummitHockey-SDN-050820-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/SummitHockey-SDN-050820-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>The exterior of the Stephen C. West Ice Arena is pictured May 1 in Breckenridge.<\/strong><br \/><em>Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>DILLON \u2014 For Chris Miller, the executive director of Summit Youth Hockey, there are two ways to look at the ongoing novel coronavirus shutdown that has forced him and other hockey lovers off the ice.<\/p>\n<p>On one hand, the shutdown taking place in mid-March came at an OK time in terms of logistics. Summit Youth Hockey players had nearly completed the winter 2019-20 season, and the Summit High School season was over. Aside from the Breckenridge Vipers semipro team losing a few home games, the canceling of the end of the adult league season and the Summit Hockey Classic having to be rescheduled for Sept 18-19, the shutdown has been weathered by the Summit hockey community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it was even a month earlier, we would have had a lot more struggles than we do now,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, the Summit hockey community has endured pain, loss and a void in social lives with the melting of the ice at Stephen C. West Ice Arena.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row sd-donation sd-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/SDN-logo-white-1.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/SDN-logo-white-1.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cOne thing people are realizing now is more the social aspects of our sports,\u201d Miller said. \u201cIt\u2019s unique when you have a locker room, and you are spending 15-20 minutes before and after with the kids. Missing that is the biggest thing, not necessarily the hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With an eye toward running Summit Youth Hockey\u2019s first on-ice events \u2014 camps at Stephen C. West Ice Arena \u2014 at the end of July, Miller and his fellow Vipers teammate and new Summit Youth Hockey Director of Operations JR Engelbert have assessed the current shutdown for opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of the community and financial element of Summit Youth Hockey, the postponement of the annual April Summit Hockey Classic \u2014 the organization\u2019s largest fundraiser \u2014 should help the organization weather the storm, Miller and Engelbert said. Miller said several of the event\u2019s major sponsors have pledged their support despite the change. The postponement gives the local community something to look forward to while the Breckenridge and county\u2019s health protocols prevent the opening of the ice area for, it seems, at least a couple more months.<\/p>\n<p>There have been other cancellations, including some Mountain Militia all-star team events and resort ski school games, but Miller said Summit Youth Hockey should be OK because it was in a strong financial position ahead of the shutdown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom our point of view, we\u2019ve been coming up with all scenarios of when we are going to start for next season,\u201d Miller said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re excited about the new classic date. Instead of it being a way to turn the page on a season, it\u2019s a way to start a new season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Through the shutdown, Miller and Engelbert said they\u2019ve been communicating with the organization\u2019s membership to do everything they can to keep kids engaged. Engelbert said organization leaders are using this time to refine how Summit Youth Hockey will execute a more concentrated focus on player-development skills once they return to the ice. That includes weekly skills practices for all age groups starting with mites, replacing one traditional practice a week.<\/p>\n<p>And in terms of keeping the community of young hockey lovers together, the organization has begun introducing weekly Zoom meetings for coaches and their players. It\u2019s 45 minutes for the teams to come together virtually to chat about a different hockey theme or topic each week. But more importantly, it\u2019s an informal avenue for kids to get back with their buddies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo have a space to open up and talk and have some fun, as well, with hockey on the mind,\u201d Engelbert said.<\/p>\n<p>As for the Vipers, for which Engelbert serves as general manager, he said the loss of the last three home games of the season is a hit to the organization\u2019s wallet considering ticket sales are the primary means of revenue. Most players have been able to keep their local jobs, he said, and the roster is looking intact for a return to the ice next winter, a schedule Engelbert is already planning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt wasn\u2019t anything that is totally drastic,\u201d Engelbert said. \u201cWe are going to be able to take care of everything by the fall again. It hurts when you come up short, and then we also lost a little bit of that capital, and we\u2019re not sure how this is all going to shake out in terms of sponsorship and fundraising, so we\u2019re in a holding pattern right now, but we\u2019ll see how it shakes out when the dust settles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/summit-hockey-community-hopeful-for-midsummer-restart-after-covid-19-shutdown\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The exterior of the Stephen C. West Ice Arena is pictured May 1 in Breckenridge.Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com DILLON \u2014 For Chris Miller, the executive director of Summit Youth Hockey, there are two ways to look at the ongoing novel coronavirus shutdown that has forced him and other hockey lovers off the ice. On one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-807219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-11 19:15:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}