The Nashua South-Pelham hockey team took the ice at Conway Arena for the season's first practice on Monday, all players wearing masks.

NASHUA – They were on the ice Monday, separated into two groups, one at one end, one at the other end.

Every once in a while, new Nashua High School South-Pelham Kings coach Jordan Sarracco would blow the whistle, and get the players into a spaced group and point out a few things on the white board.

When the hour practice was done, players were out in the open lobby, taking off their skates, putting on their coats. It’s their new locker room.

Down the street, a little later, one by one players were summoned from their cars to go into the lobby outside the Belanger Gym. There they fill out a health assessment, temp check, and there you go.

Welcome to the local winter high school sports season in the COVID world.

“It’s been a day,” Panthers girls basketball coach John Bourgeois said. “It was strange calling them from their cars one-by-one, but that’s what we have to do. Whatever we have to do, we’ll do. We’ll do everything possible to make sure we have a season.”

That was the attitude at Conway Arena as well.

“It was great to get out on the ice for sure,” Sarracco said. “I think a lot of them enjoyed being back out, too. It’s good to get the season started, and get our legs under us.”

Kings goalie Cam Reinbold is on the NHIAA Student Athletic Leadership Council, and said he was pretty sure that since there was a fall season, there would be a winter one as well – so far.

“Right now, we’re good,” he said. “We’re all happy to be on the ice right now. We’ll see how the next two weeks go, and hopefully we’ll be all set.”

“I was worried about not having any practice,” Kings skater Bailey Landsteiner said. “It was good to get out there, glad we got practice time. It’s good to get out on the ice.”

Both the hockey players and basketball players have to deal with wearing a mask, but it’s worth it. They’ll have 10 days to get used to it now, then a pause through the holidays, then back at practice Jan 4 before games start around Jan. 15.

“It’s a lot harder to breathe,” Reinbold said. “But I’ve been playing hockey since I’ve been 18 months old. It’s going to take some getting used to, for sure, but we’re going to get through it as a team and everything we need we’ll get done.”

Sarracco echoed that.

“It’s a little tough, a little different,” he said. “The good news is, everyone’s going through it together. That’s a plus. Something we all have to get used to, for sure.”

The basketballs were bouncing in Hudson at Alvirne as well.

“Great to be back and see all these wonderful kids,” Broncos boys hoop coach Marty Edwards said. “We had a great turnout in numbers. Our freshman class is well represented and has some very good athletes.

“It was interesting as we try to ponder how we will look and where our strengths and weaknesses are.”

Bourgeois said the players were happy to be back in the building, at practice/tryouts. Remember, Nashua students are mainly learning remotely.

“They were pretty excited to have some normalcy back in place,” Bourgeois said. “It’s a good change of pace, a good setting for them.”

Now the goal is to keep it that way, as the Winter 2021 high school sports season is officially under way in the final weeks of a year, 2020, that will be remembered but that everyone would like to forget.

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