Release from 23.10.2020

Statement of the bet-at-home ICE Hockey League on the current COVID-19 situation

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The last few days have confronted the bet-at-home ICE Hockey League with unprecedented challenges. Due to the increasing number of positive Covid-19 cases within the club organizations, games had to be postponed and the schedule had to be rearranged at short notice. Also in the future short-term changes will not be avoidable.

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The bet-at-home ICE Hockey League is aware of the social responsibility that a professional sports league bears in times of a worldwide pandemic. In addition to the "Return to Play" concept approved by the Austrian Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Health, further medical and organizational precautionary measures have been taken to ensure that the championship is carried out according to plan, always bearing in mind that the health of all involved must be ensured in the best possible way.

Thus, all teams have committed themselves to intensify the testing procedure as well as the testing frequencies beyond the legal requirements. Instead of the legally required symptom testing, all players and coaches (ON-ICE group) are tested at least weekly. If the results are positive, a PCR test is performed immediately for confirmation. If a corona case is then confirmed, the official guidelines are strictly followed and implemented. This means: the persons tested positive are immediately quarantined, the persons tested negative are kept in team quarantine ("bubble").

In addition to the routine weekly tests, any symptoms are tested immediately. Once a confirmed positive case is detected, the team in the team quarantine must have another negative test before the next game. More than 3,000 tests have been performed since the beginning of the league, and most of the players and coaches tested positive have not shown any symptoms.

In order to be able to make decisions quickly and purposefully within these difficult conditions, a medical team under the direction of Dr. med. Christiane Loinig was installed in addition to the Corona Commission. The decision whether a game can be played is made jointly with the team managers by the Corona Commission after consultation and recommendation by the medical committee. All game postponements so far have been made according to exactly this described procedure - always in coordination with the respective club managers. The primary goal is always to be able to play as many games as possible.

In addition to the active players, strict precautions must also be implemented for other persons involved in the game. The referees have committed themselves to keeping a health diary, just like the players. The daily entries as well as regular test results can only be viewed by the medical department of the league. In addition, the referees have been equipped with a special whistle, which largely prevents the possible leakage of saliva particles.

With the early start of the league, the conditions were created to be able to postpone games flexibly due to the Covid-19 situation. Due to the cancellation of the national team activities in the course of the November IIHF Break, these dates are now also available as possible substitute dates for the league games. The ICE organization will continue to do everything in its power to maintain the operation of the multinational ice hockey league under the principle of "safety first" even under the given conditions.

The bet-at-home ICE Hockey League would like to take this opportunity to thank the ice hockey fans, the media and the TV partners for their understanding in continuing this journey together with the clubs, the players, coaches and the team of the league organization.

With sportive regards,

KR Mag. Jochen Pildner- Steinburg        Christian-Feichtinger
President                                                     Managing Director