Returning to the Ice: A Poll

[tstop4me]

As we gear up for the second wave, I'm interested in your situation so far.

[FigureSpins]

I asked my students to start wearing masks on the ice, which aren't required at our rink.  Our freestyle sessions run continuously from 6:15am to 10:15am with no ice cuts or sanitizing, so I clean the boards in the hockey box that I use every day.

Despite the rising cases, our rink is using more-relaxed rules than when they reopened.  They just stopped requiring online pre-registration for freestyle sessions, but they do collect payment at the desk, so they know who was there.  All people in the facility have temperature checks done as they enter.

[Loops]

We did open in september, but then shut down again last week with this new lockdown.  Who knows when this will end.  Our club is maintaining contact though with the skaters, and as long as we have the good emails (which we do for 95% of the membership) no one is being left out.

It is colossally frustrating though.  Necessary, mind you, but frustrating.

[AgnesNitt]

We have Freestyle every day, but it's almost twice as expensive.

Public went up $2.

Although you have to wear a mask in the lobby you don't on the ice--but almost everyone does.

[dlbritton]

My rink has been open for Freestyle, Adult public and Hockey stick and puck since NC allowed rinks to open.

Freestyle requires reservations the week before.
Adult public recommends reservations but they take walk up if less than 20 skaters on ice. You have to have prepaid session tickets, sold in sheets of 5 only. I have never seen more than 4 skaters on ice in a session.
Stick and puck seems to have about 5-10 per session.

Masks required to enter and while not on ice, optional on ice.
We are allowed to put on skates inside building now, when they first opened you had to put on skates in your car.
Temps taken with forehead scanner, interestingly the Y has switched to wrist scanning which they say is more accurate.

Cost went up quite a bit. Freestyle went from $4.50 with punch card/$5.50 walkup to $7.50 for 1/2 hour session. Adult session went from $5.00 to $15.00 (2 freestyle stickers).

My coach had bumped her rate from $30/30 minutes to $33 January 1. Our schools are still on distance learning and homeschool has always been popular in my county so she is teaching more now than pre-COVID.

[LunarSkater]

My rink has been open and my club developed (and continually updates) a very in-depth COVID plan. The skaters have been getting lax with mask wearing (it's required) and social distancing, unfortunately. I feel safe skating, but it does concern me that it's not being enforced as much.

What greatly concerns me is the hockey teams and the general public, since both hockey and public skate occur. The amount of people in my area that do not wear or incorrectly wear masks is unbelievable. And from what I've seen, hockey doesn't enforce it.

[Leif]

Last week neighbouring counties went into tier 4, basically lockdown, and the rinks closed. I live within driving distance of 5 rinks, 4 have closed, only the nearest is open. I go to public skating sessions and hockey, the last hockey training had 8 people, normally they are turning people away. The public skates are popular, and I can practice, three turns are coming along, backwards crossrolls elude me.

We've has one rink close for good, another announced the intention to close for good, but are limping along. The local rink will fail in a year or two due to perma frost, and the council are prevaricating over repairs. Come March a covenant ends, they can close it and change its use as the area around is being redeveloped into a giant shopping mall. And yet shops in the town are closing and buildings sitting empty. One of the councillors is a partner in a firm that reoresents the developers, a clear conflict of interest.

[ChristyRN]

I skated until I broke my arm. . .

I was happy with the way the rinks were run except for some of the non-crossing stuff that didn't work the way it should have and only delayed the amount of time allowed to get dressed. One of the rinks used alternating sets of locker rooms so one group could get ready while the other was skating.

I have not been back since the governor required masks while working out, but I wore mine before that requirement. It will be interesting to see if the skate director coaches are actually wearing masks on the ice now. 

[lutefisk]

My rink, in Maryland, makes skaters call and secure a limited spot on a given session.  Publics (limited to 30) and Stick & Puck sessions (don't know what the limit for those are) generally sell out a day in advance. I've been shut out from given Publics a few times when I forgot to call in a timely manner.  Free style sessions (limited to 20) also sell out but not quite as quickly. The doors to enter the building are locked until 15 minutes before the start of a given session. Masks are required to enter the building and are required on the ice as well.  And yes, staff member takes your forehead temp as you initially enter the building.   Peeps with elevated temps are turned away, no refunds for hot heads or guys who pay in advance and forget to show up on time.  After the listed skaters for a given session have been checked in, the lobby doors are re-locked.  Skaters are instructed to spread out where they sit on the benches in the lobby to don skates and then you take all your baggage with you as you leave the lobby and enter the rink area.  There are more benches in the rink area to park your skate bag, street shoes, etc.   Traffic thru the lobby to the ice and then exiting the building is one way.  The restrooms are in the lobby area so I don't know what happens if you suddenly need to use one after you've passed from the lobby to the ice.

[Query]

Last time I went to my favorite rink there was a rule posted that you could not exit back through the lobby - we were supposed to exit through the hockey entrance.

However, one was allowed to go back to the lobby to use the rest rooms.

I asked someone in charge, and he said it was not just for hockey games and players. So I did what he said. But it looked like to me that at the end of session, everyone else went back to the lobby to take off their skates, and exit.

[tstop4me]

Last time I went to my favorite rink there was a rule posted that you could not exit back through the lobby - we were supposed to exit through the hockey entrance.

However, one was allowed to go back to the lobby to use the rest rooms.

I asked someone in charge, and he said it was not just for hockey games and players. So I did what he said. But it looked like to me that at the end of session, everyone else went back to the lobby to take off their skates, and exit.

Last time I went skating was early Nov.  Business had picked up at the particular arena I was skating at (not my usual home arena), and the arena had similarly instituted uni-directional traffic flow.  Enter the arena (two rinks) through a common lobby; enter a particular rink through one set of doors off the lobby; and exit the rink through a separate set of doors (under normal times, these are fire doors/emergency exits only).  Appropriate signs were placed on each side of the doors, and directional arrows were placed on the walls and glass.  Finally, some organization; or so I thought. 

When it came time for me to leave, I dutifully followed the arrows towards the designated exit.  As I neared, I noticed that the door was propped open.  There was a group of ~6 hockey jocks in front of the door inside, and I could see some more just outside.  I figured they were in the process of leaving, and I'd just wait.  But no one moved.  They were yakking, and the ones I could see were not wearing masks.  I turned; headed back towards the lobby; peeked through the glass doors; and saw that the lobby was empty. I exited the wrong way through the lobby.  I haven't been back since.  I spoke to my coach later.  She told me that she had to do the same switcheroo as I did many times.

[supersharp]

Our rink reopened August 2020 for rentals to user groups only (youth hockey, adult hockey, high school hockey, and the figure skating club) only with State of Alaska approved operation plans.  The figure skaters had a mix of mask-mandatory and mask-encouraged freestyles. In late September, infection rates went up and hockey was cancelled for 2 weeks while they re-thought their no-mask plan and having skaters sitting on a bench together. Figure skating shifted to all freestyles being mask-mandatory, with a maximum of 12 skaters on an NHL sheet of ice. There is a 45-min gap between rentals during which the rink sprays everything with disinfectant. We enter and exit the building through one set of doors and exit through another. We enter the ice through one entrance and exit through another. Seats in the lobby are spaced apart at marked intervals. Maximum of 3 in a restroom at any one time. So far, it seems to be working.