The Kenai River Brown Bears, currently based in Breezy Point, Minnesota, confirmed on Thursday
that a Forced Pause due to the Minnesota Emergency Order announcement has been enacted.
Effective Friday, November 20th at midnight, the Forced Pause has put the Midwest and Central Divisions of the North American Hockey League in an impossible situation for playing hockey.
On Wednesday November 18th , Minnesota Governor Walz announced a plan to address COVID spread and related issues, with an Emergency Order that closes all adult and youth sports, as well as many other actions.
For the 6 NAHL teams currently in Minnesota, this Forced Pause has eliminated games and practices while closing ice arenas.
Chris Hedlund, General Manager of the Kenai River Brown Bears stated, “With the announcement by Governor Tim Walz, it has made it impossible to play/practice hockey and will force us to reschedule our upcoming games. Our home games and away games were jeopardized as they were all in, or against teams residing in Minnesota.”
“This encompasses six Minnesota teams and our divisional partners in a major way. Rescheduling games is always challenging and adding in our goal to be back in Alaska adds even more complexity. We anticipate beginning in Minnesota around the New Year and resuming our schedule with any modifications needed,” said Hedlund.
“As it relates to being back in Alaska after the new year, we will continue to monitor travel restrictions,
travel protocols, COVID testing, etc, to determine that outcome.” stated Hedlund.
The Kenai River Brown Bears are scheduled to re-locate to Alaska for a scheduled Alaska opener on January 15th against the Fairbanks Ice Dogs at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex. The SRSC is currently closed due to COVID-19 mandates enacted by the City of Soldotna due to the rise of positive covid testing on the Kenai Peninsula and in Alaska.
