2020 State Wars Update

Hello State Wars Fans,

Over the past few weeks we have been going back and forth with deep discussion over this event and once we knew we would not be able to host it in Michigan we turned our attention to Fort Wayne Indiana, where we have held the tourney 3x prior.  The SportONE Icehouse has been a great home to State Wars and a facility that our teams have loved to be at.  What makes Indiana so appealing is the fact that it is not the most populated of states and the virus of course has affected us all but Indiana has done better than most places overall.  The Icehouse is also open now and having hockey, with the entire state hopefully entering its final phase of full opening on July 4th.  With us being weeks later than that we feel very good about this location.

The new tournament dates will be July 31 - Aug 10 and here is a link to the new block dates.

One thing we are proud of is that we have not just been working with the facility, but our city contacts who in turn have been working with state health officials.  Together we are working in bringing the safest and funnest event we can, as we are taking many extra precautions for the tourney, some listed below:

• Having additional locker rooms assigned to each rink, so that a set of locker rooms can be sanitized after each game played.
• Not having hand shakes after games
• All games starting on time (not early) so that players do not need to arrive to facility more than 30 minutes prior
• Bench areas, bathrooms, bleachers and all high traffic areas to be sanitized and cleaned throughout the day
• Extra security limiting crowds and encouraging teams to get out of locker rooms in a quicker manner
• Having hand sanitizer stations throughout the building
• And of course there could be other things as to the suggestion of local health officials…. Here is a link to current guidelines the Icehouse is working with on a daily basis as well

As far as travel planning, teams flying of course in this crazy year, nothing is certain and guidelines or things could change weekly.  We are very confident in holding this tourney but anyone running any tournament in any sport that told you things were 100% would be not telling the truth.  So for that reason, for those flying I would always suggest waiting on booking tickets when possible (prices and airlines are very reasonable this year so not an issue) and more than ever book with insurance just in case things were ever postponed or cancelled.

In regards to hotels we are just now getting our housing bureau up to speed with the change in venue.  They will begin organizing our host hotel list.  Please DO NOT book your rooms in the area yet, as all teams must book through the housing system.  Just staying in a host hotel is not sufficient.  More than ever this year, we need to be very strict with this rule and insuring that teams are all following the rules that we have.  I will send this info out asap!

Our new deadline for registering a team for State Wars is July 1.  But considering we will only be using 2 rinks this year (the facility needs one to satisfy ice clients as well), space will be limited, as we have also reduced the # of days of the tournament we highly recommend registering immediately to secure your spot.  If anyone has already registered a team but no longer can play the new dates or at the new location we of course will refund you.  Of course if for some reason this event is cancelled or postponed we too would issue a full refund as well, no worries there.

We look forward to seeing you soon!