KENSINGTON, P.E.I. — The welcome sound of basketballs bouncing off the hardwood has returned to P.E.I. school gymnasiums.
Play in the P.E.I. School Athletic Association (PEISAA) basketball leagues will resume with intermediate games today. The senior schedules will resume on Friday.
Games were last played on Dec. 4. The 2020-21 season was just one week old when the province announced circuit-breaker measures on Dec. 6. It resulted in a pause of all extra-curricular school activities.
“We realize how fortunate we are on P.E.I. to be getting back in the gyms and resuming our sports for the well-being of the students,” PEISAA school sport co-ordinator Phil Bridges told The Guardian in a phone interview. “Of course, teams haven’t practised in over a month, so we had to give some practise time this week before starting games.
“Everybody is looking forward to getting back and resuming the schedule.”
The different leagues at the senior and intermediate levels have lost 2 ½ weeks in games. Bridges noted athletic directors are working to reschedule the postponed games.
“Some teams have a couple of games in, and some teams haven’t even gotten their uniforms yet,” said Joel Arsenault, athletic director at Three Oaks Senior High School in Summerside.
Arsenault said with games beginning again, the seeding committee will have a chance to evaluate teams and divide the schools into leagues.
Season extended
Bridges said this season will be extended due to the pause in activities. He added the PEISAA hopes to get in as many originally-planned games as possible, adding the organization does not want to affect spring sports.
“We are hoping that if everything goes well, we will have our intermediates finished before spring break (March 15-19) and that we would have our high school finished before Easter weekend, which is April 2,” said Bridges.
He is confident this can be achieved as long as the weather co0operates and there are no further shutdowns.
“We would have had some wiggle room in the original schedule; now there is very little wiggle room,” said Bridges. “If we get into storm days or something, we will have to put the thinking caps back on again.”
Schedule
PEISAA basketball schedules for today and Friday:
Today
Intermediate AA Girls
4 p.m. – Queen Charlotte at Birchwood.
7 p.m. – East Wiltshire at Summerside Intermediate.
Intermediate AA Boys
5 p.m. – East Wiltshire at Summerside Intermediate.
6 p.m. – Queen Charlotte at Birchwood.
Intermediate A Boys
4 p.m. – Francois Buote at Grace Christian.
4:30 p.m. – Summerside Team Two at Ecole Sur Mer.
6 p.m. – Souris at Belfast.
6 p.m. – East Wiltshire Team Two at Queen Charlotte Team Two.
6:30 p.m. – Hernewood Team Two at Kensington
6:30 p.m. – Englewood at M.E. Callaghan.
Intermediate A Girls
4 p.m. – East Wiltshire Team Two at Queen Charlotte Team Two.
4 p.m. – Souris at Belfast.
4:30 p.m. – Hernewood Team One at Kensington.
4:30 p.m. – Athena at M.E. Callaghan Team Two.
6 p.m. – Francois Buote at Grace Christian.
****
Friday
Senior Girls
4:30 p.m. – Grace Christian at Kinkora.
5 p.m. – Bluefield Team Two at Souris.
5 p.m. – Three Oaks Team One at Colonel Gray Team One.
5:30 p.m. – Westisle Team One at Bluefield Team One.
5:30 p.m. – Kensington at Three Oaks Team Two.
Senior Boys
5:30 p.m. – Francois Buote at Charlottetown Rural Team Three.
6:30 p.m. – Three Oaks Team Three at Kinkora.
7 p.m. – Bluefield Team Two at Souris.
7:30 p.m. – Westisle at Bluefield Team One.
7:30 p.m. – Three Oaks Team One at Colonel Gray Team One.
7:30 p.m. – Three Oaks Team Two at Charlottetown Rural Team Two.
Arsenault is hoping the good weather continues. He added games in the senior leagues will be played on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Intermediate games will continue to take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
“We want to do what we can to get the kids playing and get the games in,” said Arsenault. “We are lucky to be having provincial championships.
“We are one of the only provinces in Canada to have our provincial championships at the senior high level.”
Jason Simmonds is The Guardian's sports reporter. He can be reached by email at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @JpsportsJason .
