PIHL ready to get back to action

By: Michael Love
Sunday, January 3, 2021 | 10:24 AM

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The PIHL, along with the WPIAL and other sports organizations, is returning to team activities Monday after a shutdown issued by Gov. Tom Wolf on Dec. 10 as part of overall efforts to slow the spread of covid-19.

The league is scheduled to resume games Jan. 11. PIHL president John Mucha said the targeted date will give teams the opportunity over the next couple of days to get back up to speed with on-ice practices.

Nine games — three each in Class AA, Class A and Class B — were scheduled to be played Monday, with an additional 11 slated for Tuesday and 13 for Thursday.

The regular season, which began in early November, runs through mid-March, and the Penguins Cup playoffs are scheduled to start in April. The league, anticipating a number of postponements, built in a couple of open weeks in between to make up games as necessary.

The league already had begun the process of rescheduling as many of the affected games from November and December as possible.

The state-wide shutdown mandate began for hockey with games scheduled for Dec. 13. Ten games were played Dec. 10 across the four classifications before the league paused activities.

In addition to the shutdown in Pennsylvania, a number of games were postponed over the first two months of the season because of a high school sports shutdown in West Virginia ordered by that state’s governor, Jim Justice, on Nov 17.

That shutdown is scheduled to end Jan. 11. Wheeling Park and Wheeling Catholic, members of Class A, played just one league game before Nov. 17.

Wheeling Catholic is scheduled to return to action Jan. 14 at Indiana, and Wheeling Park is scheduled to host South Park on Jan. 12.

The PIHL Board of Governors is expected to discuss additional scheduling efforts when it meets again Jan. 13.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.