It has taken all their reserves of energy to just keep going during the hardest, bleakest months of the pandemic.  

“You can’t run an ice hockey club on Zoom,” Alex Strachan at Ayr Bruins told Sky News.

He knows, he’s tried. They had no other choice, though.

Like so many others who devote their time and energies to junior sport, they just had to keep the club together while they were apart – through the many months when they were deprived of any access to the ice.

“When it comes to ice hockey, figure skating, curling, they’ve all suffered because of COVID,” Strachan said.

“Every time there’s an indoor restriction put in place, ice sports are the first to lose out, every other sport – whether it’s skiing, etc – it’s all outside, so they’re all fine.

“The kids need to be on the ice more to develop and if they can’t be on ice, they won’t develop, so we will lose a full generation of kids in all ice sports.”

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While some sports were able to grab the opportunity to meet outside again once restrictions eased, ice sports were made to wait.

“Kids were that desperate to get back out after lockdown, they went and joined any sport they could find whether it be rugby, tennis, football, they just went, and they got involved, they made new friends,” said Strachan.

“It was a massive loss to the sport of ice hockey. I know for this club itself, we have lost a good 30-40% of kids just because of COVID, and that’s a huge hit on the teams overall.”

Kids ‘giving up’ on ice hockey

Ice hockey in Ayr dates back to the late 1930s and the town has produced some fine players and teams over the decades, but the current Bruins development sides are now struggling to hold on to their talented players.

“We’ve got kids who are proper ice hockey players – they can skate very well; they can play very well,” Strachan said.

“But the gap because of COVID from the good players to the new players is so big now.

“We are losing kids to other clubs because they’re looking to go and play with better players or kids just giving up because they’ve lost interest in it.

“There comes a point whereby they just give up.”

How can interest in ice hockey recover?

Ice rinks across Scotland have been supported during the pandemic with emergency funding totalling £1.7m and some clubs have received grants to help offset the loss of ticket sales when supporter numbers were severely limited by government restrictions.

A spokesperson for sportscotland said: “We recognise that the ongoing global health pandemic continues to present challenges for many clubs and organisations across Scotland and we are committed to working with our partners to support the sporting system through this difficult period.

“Sport and physical activity will play a central role in Scotland’s long-term recovery from the virus and that will be a key for focus over the coming months. It is vital that we continue to work together to ensure we meet the challenges that lie ahead.”

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This Friday’s training session in Ayr will coincide with the start of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, which is traditionally a great showcase for their sport – when clashes between the biggest ice hockey nations usually produce some memorable moments.

“I really want it to be a huge success,” Strachan added.

“Hopefully there will be kids watching who say, ‘I want to try that’.”

Those moments of inspiration, that the Olympics specialise in, are needed like never before.

Read more:
Future of Winter Olympics and snow sports on thin ice
Beijing Winter Olympics becomes a fortress with ‘closed-loop system’ amid COVID fears

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