July 29th Governor's Announcement

Today's announcements of the Governor's Guidelines for Youth and Recreational Sports, along with the Illinois High School Association's Modified Schedule for 2020-21, have left all of us at LFHSA disappointed. In the current guidance, created in response to COVID-19, hockey is considered a Higher Risk sport along with football, wrestling, competitive cheering, competitive dance, lacrosse and rugby. The guidance sets four levels of play allowed based on current public health conditions. As a higher risk sport, hockey falls under Level 1, and as such only no-contact practices and training are allowed. 

The IHSA also announced today a modified schedule that will shorten some sports' seasons and shift some sports to new seasons. Although the IHSA does not govern high school hockey, AHAI, the governing body for hockey in the state of Illinois, has previously stated that they were waiting for IHSA to release its guidance before presenting its approach for hockey’s return to play. We expect over the next week to learn from AHAI how they will proceed and what our options will be for hockey this year. We ask for your patience as we work our way through this strange and often confusing time. Once we learn of AHAI’s guidance we will share it with all of you as quickly as possible. Please know that while we want to provide all our boys the opportunity to play hockey, their safety and health are our first priority. We remain hopeful that AHAI will provide a realistic plan for how high school hockey will be played in 2020-21.  

Sincerely,

The Lake Forest High School Hockey Association.