It’s starting to look like the earliest the Hanover Tache Junior Hockey League’s nine teams will restart their 2020-21 season is February.

Our province has been under code red restrictions since November 12th and the Manitoba government announced last Friday that those public heath orders have been extended until January 22nd.

When Hockey Manitoba’s Return to Play protocol is eventually added to the equation, that could tack on another 7-10 days before the Steinbach Huskies, Lorette Comets, Springfield Xtreme, La Broquerie Habs, Red River Mudbugs, Landmark Blues, Grunthal Red Wings, Niverville Clippers and St. Adolphe Hawks can resume their schedule.

“It’s not unexpected,” said HTJHL president Darrell Lupky when asked about the two-week extension of the code red restrictions. “Not sure really if it moves the needle for us in trying to decide what we want to do or if we can make a season happen now. We’ll have a chat with our executive members first just to see what their thoughts are and then we’ll put it out there for the teams. We haven’t come up with a drop dead date but it’s getting pretty tight.”

Lupky says he feels for the players in the league who are in their last year of junior eligibility.

“For a lot of them, this is it. It’s a big step to senior hockey. I feel really bad for them but they may not get a chance to play their last season as a junior.”