Too cold for outdoor youth hockey?

The Exiled One · Post by **The Exiled One** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 1:47 pm

My kid is in an outdoor Mite jamboree this weekend. Saturday shouldn't be too bad, but the high temperature on Sunday is forecasted to be -13 in Mora. The first game on Sunday is at 9:30am so the temperature will be closer to -20 with -50 windchill. These are Mite D players, so we're talking 5-7 year-olds. So far, they haven't cancelled any games. In fact, the teams received this email just last night...

We will NOT be cancelling any games this coming weekend due to weather.

Thoughts on this?

I worry if it's going to take some kids going to urgent care for frostbite treatment before they scrap the whole thing. Obviously, I'm not going to put my kid in a situation to get seriously injured, so I'll be playing it by ear up until game time. However, no parent or kid wants to be the first one to back-out, me and mine included.

Have any of you or your kids played in conditions like this? To match these temps, it'd have to have been 1982, 1989, 1994, 1996, 2004, or 2006. Some of these years only came close to what we'll see this weekend, which could break records.

old goalie85 · Post by **old goalie85** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:29 pm

They closed indoor school for mon. Mite hockey should be a no-brainer.

The Exiled One · Post by **The Exiled One** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:35 pm

old goalie85 wrote:They closed indoor school for mon. Mite hockey should be a no-brainer.

You'd think, but this is their associations' money-maker. I can understand their motivation not to cancel, but is it smart for them to continue?

old goalie85 · Post by **old goalie85** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:40 pm

understand $$ is important, but not @ the risk of kids.

LivinDaDream · Post by **LivinDaDream** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:45 pm

I certainly wouldnt let my child play. Why not just move the event to indoor ice now, and promote it as a positive.

The Exiled One · Post by **The Exiled One** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:47 pm

LivinDaDream wrote:I certainly wouldnt let my child play. Why not just move the event to indoor ice now, and promote it as a positive.

I imagine that the indoor ice is already booked and paid for. Otherwise, I'm totally on-board with that idea.

nofinish · Post by **nofinish** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:49 pm

Outdoor Jamboree is a great idea, just bad luck with weather. Because it is outdoor ice and they are mites the schedules should be open to reschedule on a warmer weekend.

The Exiled One · Post by **The Exiled One** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:54 pm

nofinish wrote:Outdoor Jamboree is a great idea, just bad luck with weather. Because it is outdoor ice and they are mites the schedules should be open to reschedule on a warmer weekend.

That's a possibility, but I'd still like them to play the Saturday games. Many of the teams are from far enough away that they've already booked and prepaid hotel rooms (myself included).

nofinish · Post by **nofinish** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 3:02 pm

I am old enough that all my mite games were outside. Although I can brag about how tough we were back then, some of the memories of standing in snow banks freezing my cojones off I can do without. Looks like dangerous windchills sat as well, not worth it. Good Luck however it works out.

Froggy Richards · Post by **Froggy Richards** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 3:30 pm

That revenue is really crucial for some of these Associations so I understand why it's so hard for them to cancel.

I think tomorrow is doable, you can dress them up pretty good. Sunday, no way! It would be insane to send kids out to play on Sunday. I'm sure they will come to their senses once it gets closer. Are there lights at the rink? If they thought of it soon enough they could have played Sunday's game(s) late today/tonight.

The Exiled One · Post by **The Exiled One** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 3:49 pm

Froggy Richards wrote:That revenue is really crucial for some of these Associations so I understand why it's so hard for them to cancel.

I think tomorrow is doable, you can dress them up pretty good. Sunday, no way! It would be insane to send kids out to play on Sunday. I'm sure they will come to their senses once it gets closer. Are there lights at the rink? If they thought of it soon enough they could have played Sunday's game(s) late today/tonight.

There are lights, but the Saturday schedule is booked pretty solid already.

57special · Post by **57special** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 4:09 pm

baseball tournaments deal with weather problems all the time. Reduce game times and amounts if plausible, but otherwise you have to look at cancelling. Frostbite is no fun.

The Exiled One · Post by **The Exiled One** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 7:02 pm

Good news!

Thanks so much for sticking with us on this, but I think we made the right call at this point with the weather forecast. I have attached the NEW schedule with the Sunday games being played INDOORS.