Part of lifting restrictions will be monitoring and tracking all cases and enacting quarantines of all contacts, for the foreseeable future, at least through winter and possibly into fall 2021.
How does that work for even one travel team, playing at two rinks in one weekend, coming into contact with staff, officials, other players, that now has a "hot spot" of positive cases? And since kids are known carriers and can transmit the diease, but not necessarily symptomatic, if officials or coaches become ill, the assumption needs to be kids must have it.
Are entire teams quarantined? What happens to their games? What happens if we start losing officials, even to long illnesses? What happens to the rinks they've played at -- are we assuming every rink is "wiped down" and sanitized after each team leaves? What happens if the season starts, then rinks need to close again due to hot spots -- what happens to the season, to the money paid, etc.?
I don't see this season happening. At least not travel hockey. And not if there are restrictions on gatherings of more than 50 people.
The best bet to get kids back on the ice and just skating and not shut down entire rinks in a region again is to have people register at one rink for the season within their region (x-mile radius).
That's where you practice and play in-house games (eventually).
No parents/fans in stands. No exceptions.
No locker rooms -- come to rink dressed, walk in with hard guards on, get in, get on, get off, go home.
Start with skating practice and individual drills. Low numbers on ice. Eventually, as restrictions lift, some scrimmages, pick-up games, possibly some neighboring rink games.
Coaches and officials wear masks. Temperature taken before entering the building, every time.
No contact with staff.
There's no way there is a safe way to do travel hockey, with kids from hot spots like Jersey and Philly and Delaware and their families traveling all over the region, or kids and families from other regions traveling into Philly, Jersey, Delaware. Not this year.
The goal needs to be just to get the kids on the ice, see their friends, get some exercise. Anything beyond that is setting them up for more disappointment.
As a high-contact sport, hockey will be scrutinized and the last to come out of lockdown. We need to be proactive and have a plan to be OK with less hockey so our kids get some hockey.