KITCHENER -- After an early end due to the COVID-19 pandemic, minor hockey leagues across Waterloo Region are working on a plan to return to the ice this fall.

Earlier this month, the Ontario Hockey Federation released its Return to Hockey Framework, which outlined a staged-in approach to bringing hockey back to the province.

“This staged approach does not have a specific time frame, but will evolve further to guidelines of the public health authorities, the provincial government, and our governing body, Hockey Canada,” the guideline reads.

Kitchener Minor Hockey Association General Manager Rolland Cyr is optimistic about a 2020-21 season.

“We are actively in our planning mode so the phase of the return to play process where we are creating models and identifying the best ways to return to hockey,” he said.

However, there isn’t a firm timeline yet for a return to play.

“We have been up until this week waiting for our governing bodies hockey Canada and the Ontario Hockey Federation to pass down to us the return to play documents,” Cyr said. “We now have those so we can begin to work at the grassroots level.”

The provincial framework outlines stages from small group training to larger on-ice practices. The final stage is five-on-five hockey.

“We actively have our skills development people designing programs for what it will look like,” Cyr said.

That design could include smaller groups of players working with a coach, all while maintaining two metres of physical distancing.

Any return to play will need a green light from Public Health.

“The most important thing is that we’re waiting for Public Health to make sure whatever return plan we have in place is safe,” Cyr said. “We want our kids back and we want them to stay, we don’t want them to have to go in and out because we’re not taking a safe approach.”

Players and their parents are looking forward to another season at the rink.

“At the end of the day, if these kids are able to get back together as a group, if social distancing needs to happen or whatever, I still think it’s going to be a good thing,” Barclay Whittaker, a dad and coach, said.

Registration for next season is expected to open this week.

Correction:

This is a corrected story. A previous version suggested that Rolland Cyr was the president of the Kitchener Minor Hockey Association. In fact, he is the general manager.