After a month and a half away from the Dog Pound, the Dryden GM Ice Dogs will be making their return as recreational facilities are scheduled to open on January 31, 2022.
This exciting news comes after the province laid out its three-step plan to gradually lift public health measures starting next Monday (January 31, 2022).
Ice Dogs president, Mike Sveinson said the return to play is great news not only to the staff but to the players as well.
“The players were scared about it. You got to remember even when it comes to Junior A players, these are kids. They need someone to advocate for them and show them what the path forward is going to look like. They relied on us to be that for them,” Sveinson said.
Sveinson took it upon himself to start a petition advocating to the province for the return of sports, which saw over 5,600 signatures.
The Ice Dogs season has been shut down since January 5, 2022, when the province mandated for recreational facilities to be shut down after a significant rise of COVID-19 cases and the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Though there is uncertainty on how or if the games missed will be rescheduled, Sveinson along with the Ice Dogs are invested in the continuation of the season.
“We are were pretty hopeful the whole time it would be a brief break, seeing that it was at the end and we’re back is a major relief,” Sveinson concluded.
Dryden finished the first half of the season on a hot streak winning 11 of their final 13 games, which included a 10 game winning streak.
The Ice Dogs were last in action on December 15, 2021, when they lost 3-2 on home ice to the Red Lake Miners.