Nova Scotia Midget X Winter Hockey League future up in the air

Hundreds of hockey players in Nova Scotia have a choice to make.

Hockey Nova Scotia wants to know by Thursday if teams plan to stay with the Nova Scotia Midget X Winter Hockey League, which was started to help players benched by the teachers' work-to-rule job action.

Darren Cossar, executive director of Hockey Nova Scotia, said there are deadlines that have to be met if the league is going to continue, including playing in the SEDMHA tournament as well as for booking ice and officials and arranging trophies. 

'We'll keep it going if they want it'

"We'll keep it going if they want it," he said in an interview Tuesday. "If they are prepared to go back, then we'll move on and take care of our day-to-day business."

The Nova Scotia Teachers Union announced the end of work-to-rule last week after reaching a tentative deal with the province, but the return of the high school hockey teams is not a certainty.

Union president Liette Doucet said Tuesday some teachers have decided to stop participating in lunch supervision and some after-school work.

33 teams

Cossar said players and parents have to decide what is best for them. 

The Midget X League consists of 33 teams in four regional leagues across the province. There have been a couple of exhibition games and league play started last week.

"They know that in the league, the Midget X league, they will get to play. All of the teams will get to play in a championship; whereas if they go back [to their high school teams], they might only get two or three games in a playoff and then be done for the season so that's something to be considered," he said. 

"But we don't want to be putting pressure on kids and parents. They have ties to their schools and are proud to wear their school colours. On the other side of that, they want to play hockey so it's a tough decision."

Review anticipated Friday

Cossar said  there's not enough ice time and available officials to support both the X League and the regular high school league.

"And another piece to that would be the athletes themselves. How many games can they play and does it affect their schooling and education? We want to make sure there is a balance and the number one focus from the formation of the league is just to get these kids on the ice to make sure so they could play and experience hockey."

Hockey Nova Scotia will review the teams' plans Friday and work with the Nova Scotia School Athletic Federation to determine whether there's enough support to keep the league going.