Ice hockey and the search for a 'new' normal

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“People want to have hope, and to plan for the future.”

Todd Dutiaume’s observation chimed much wider than just ice hockey.


Finding the ‘new’ normal when life as we know it as effectively ceased isn’t easy, but there has to be an end in sight.

Sport stopped almost overnight in March, and those initial postponements have now become cancellations.

Seasons ended prematurely will remain incomplete; an asterix noting the reason why stats stalled, and no-one was conferred as champions.

As for the 2020-21 campaigns, when they start remains unknown, but for coaches such as Dutiaume and Omar Pacha at Dundee Stars, the groundwork has to be done now.

They go into summer unsure whether players will cross the Atlantic and, if they do, what sort of EIHL they will be part of.

It’s entirely possible import numbers could be cut to absorb costs, and a delayed start could mean a curtailed season. Indeed, will all ten clubs make it to the starting line?

Pacha’s interview with britishicehockey.co.uk probably spoke for all coaches when he said: “The most important thing we can do is try to prepare as normal for a season as though we’re all good to go again.

“This has affected everybody, no question, but with our model, what we want to do, when this is all over, is get everyone back on board and push ahead for the future.”

But what that landscape will look like is open to wide interpretation.

Starting the engine up may take some fine tuning.

For Dutiaume, the plans that were being pursued for pre-season exhibition games are pretty much on hold until the uncertainty clears, but his work goes on.

And there are some absolutes.

“Players want jobs, agents want to get their players signed, and teams want to move forward,” he told the Fife Free Press' website Fifetoday

The unknown is how the coronavirus lockdown may impact on the usual movement across the Atlantic

Last season feels like it ended a lifetime ago, as the pace of life has slowed us all down so dramatically in lockdown.

In fact, it should now be reaching its crescendo with play-offs and then the finals weekend.

That annual gathering - which is about so much more than just the games - will be missed by the thousands of fans who made the journey to Nottingham.

Talk of a Magic5 curtain-raiser gives hockey fans something to look forward to, and hearing from coaches will help sustain the offer season summer chat.

But the rumour mill may too be a very flattened curve for some time to come.

September feels a hell of a long way away right now,  but Dutes is right.

People want to have hope, and to plan for the future.

The alternative is too dark to contemplate.

Tomorrow there has to be sunshine.

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