COVID-19 still rages
CAHA met to discuss the up-coming season
GSE announces clinics
2 GSE alumni are drafted to the NAHL
And the top 20 AA clubs in the United States
is announced and guess whose on it?
I'm William Stone and this is Eagle News
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We are seeing 10,000 new COVID
cases a day in California
with little relief in sight.
We have the second-most cases in the
United States behind New York
but we are going to exceed New York's
numbers within a week.
California is currently holding at stage 2
with some rollbacks in certain counties.
In order to conduct sports teams' practices,
California needs to allow youth sports to begin.
which could in Stage 3. Games will
must likely not come until Stage 4.
However looking at the latest graphs,
we are going in the wrong direction.
If California does not get the virus under
control, we may not have a hockey season.
The CIF has already announced that there is going
to be no High School sports this calendar year.
Governor Newsome and the CDC are
urging that people to stay at home
but if you need to go out, wear a
mask and stay 6 feet apart
and wash your hands frequently.
Rinks are only open currently
by county exceptions
and they must adhere to the CDC guidelines.
No team activities are allowed,
but clinics are permitted.
Still, thing are going to be very
different inside our rinks.
Our GSE rinks are following the CDC
and county guidelines
and we were the first to receive
county approval for our clinics.
We all need to adhere to the CDC guidelines.
So what this means is if you have
symptoms, do not come to the rink.
When attending a clinic, you
need to come and leave dressed.
Locker rooms will not be used.
Bring your own water bottle.
Never drink someone else's.
There are no checking or
close-contact drills.
And when you are on the ice,
space yourself 6 feet apart
while waiting for your turn
to take a drill.
We need everyone's cooperation in order
to continue to keep our rinks open.
CAHA had an emergency meeting to discuss
the situation with the up-coming season
given COVID.
First and foremost, tryouts have
been pushed back, again.
As you remember, tryouts were
originally scheduled for June,
then August, now they are in October.
Tier 1 tryouts are October 1st.
Tier 2 tryouts are October 5th.
The other remaining tryouts are
going to be October 8th.
However this all depends on California.
The state needs to allow youth sports to return.
Most likely, not going to happen until Stage 3.
If California has not given CAHA the
green light for the tryouts dates,
we assume CAHA will give us
further guidance at that time.
CAHA's board agreed to allowing AAA or Tier 1 teams
to initiate a roster without conducting
a tryout, starting July 24th.
The reason is that AAA teams play the
majority of their games out of state.
Such tournaments are the
Tier 1 Elite League
that plays in Phoenix, Dallas, Chicago,
Boston, and Detroit
which are current COVID-19 hotspots.
In fact Chicago and Boston currently
have a mandatory 14 day quarantine policy.
Because of the uncertainty with
regards to tier 1 rostering
CAHA has stated that they are
not going to approve any rosters
including AAA, until California
allows youth sports to begin.
Therefore teams cannot travel
to tournaments until then.
Players that sign up for a AAA team now
will have until the actual tryout,
currently scheduled for October 1st,
to either stay or leave that team
without any legal or financial penalties.
For AA or tier 2 hockey, due to the
tryouts being pushed back,
CAHA will not be doing the sanctioned
CAHA weekends like we have always done.
So, AA games will be conducted by
the local leagues.
So, NORCAL will schedule its
teams to play each other,
while SCAHA will do the same
in Southern California.
At the end of the season,
NORCAL will select 2 teams
and SCAHA will select 4 teams
to participate in the state playoff.
The winning 18, 16, and 14 U teams
will move on to play at Nationals.
The CAHA playoff venue has yet to be determined.
Again, all this relies on California
giving us the green light
to return to youth sports.
With tryouts being pushed back further
GSE has created a program to fill the gap
called the GSE Preseason Development Program.
This program is not just for tier players.
GSE has opened this up to all
travel players from any club.
These are high intensity skill clinics
for all ages and skill levels.
Players will be placed in like-skilled groups.
There are no tryouts for
this - you just sign up
if you are interested.
There will be several clinics
each week for each player.
The purpose of this program is
to get the players ready for tryouts
and get them back on the ice.
In the era of home confinement,
players really need something like this.
Clinics will be conducted out of the rinks
in Cupertino, San Francisco, and Vacaville
to allow the families to pick the
best rink that fits their needs.
The GSE Preseason Development Program
will start in the third week of August.
Some details like the schedule will not
be known until we get closer to the date,
due to the government restrictions
due to COVID.
Go to gsehockey.com/pdp for more info and to sign-up.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, space
is going to be limited.
So, sign-up right now.
The NA held their draft this week
with 2 GSE alumni being selected.
Both players were selected to Texan teams.
Napa's own Deven Boldway was
drafted to the Wichita Falls Warriors,
while San Jose's Owen Bohn was
drafted to the Amarillo Bulls.
Deven and Owen will be joining
a long list of GSE alumni
that have gone on to play
higher levels of hockey.
To see the full list of our alumni, go
to our website and select the Alumni tab.
This week Culturama unveiled their
list of the top 20 AA youth hockey clubs
in the United States.
The evaluation is based on
having multiple strong teams
over multiple years, 5 years of
data from MyHockeyRankings,
program structure, reputation, and fear factor.
GSE landed at number 20
and you will not stop hearing
us crow about that.
But, we couldn't have done
this without our awesome
and supportive players
and families like you.
So, thank you.
If you want to see the full video
from Culturama, go to our website.
Like I said, we are crowing about it.
Well, that's it for us.
We want everyone to stay healthy
and please wear a mask
and practice social distancing.
We need to get California's
numbers down
so we can get back to hockey.
I'm William Stone for Eagle News.
Thanks for watching.
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