Flames 2020-21 Season Outline

First State Ice Hockey, LLC has issued the following statement outlining the upcoming Flames 2020-21 season.

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We extend our thanks to those people that took time to respond to our survey a couple weeks ago. Your comments were extremely important in helping us understand market concerns and desires related to youth ice hockey over the next 12-18 months. This feedback helped us frame our strategy for the upcoming season.

Our plan addresses the primary concerns that you identified:

• Financial impact and uncertainty
• Travel to higher risk areas (i.e., geographic pandemic “hot spots”)
• Safety and cleanliness of rinks
• More integration between travel and scholastic ice hockey

The First State Flames program will focus on minimizing health and safety risks while providing a high quality product at a lower cost. Our organization will continue to lead in facilitating positive change for Delaware in accordance with our goals.

The mission of First State Ice Hockey has always been:

• building youth hockey in Delaware by creating opportunities for more Delaware youth to play ice hockey
• promoting a unified statewide goal of helping every participant strive toward their full potential
• providing fun, inviting and fulfilling opportunities for each player to develop, regardless of age and skill level

For the 2020-21 season, the Flames will offer independent teams at the 10U (two teams), 12U, 14U, 16U and 18U levels. The cost is $1,150 and will include:

• 24-26 games, including two tournaments
• 16 practices
• Home and away jerseys
• Paid coaches
• On-ice and off-ice instruction for all players

Practices and home games will be held at various rinks throughout the area.

First State Ice Hockey will make sure the rinks we deal with are in strict compliance with health and safety guidelines. Tournaments will be held within 90 miles of Wilmington, so overnight stays will not be required. We will also proactively “scout” our tournament venues to ensure that they are managing to health and safety guidelines. If a tournament is unexpectedly cancelled and we receive a refund from the tournament organizer, we will give our players a credit towards future FSIH clinics.

We will select our non-tournament opponents based not only on comparable skill, but also on an assessment of their home rink in terms of health and safety concerns.

This approach gives us the ability to manage some of potential risk still associated with the pandemic by managing where we go, when we go and how we go.

First State Ice Hockey will continue to be the leader in bringing smart and creative ideas to grow youth ice hockey in Delaware.