Reds to allow full capacity at Aitken Centre

The Saint John Sea Dogs appear poised to play in the first Canadian major junior hockey game (pre-season - but it's something!) that will allow a full capacity crowd since March 2020.

The UNB Reds, who will host four Sea Dogs pre-season home games in August and September, announced Tuesday morning that the originally planned capacity restrictions have been removed. The announcement comes as the province is set to remove all provincial COVID-19 restrictions on Friday at midnight.

“Be prepared to have someone sitting beside you,” said Reds marketing and special events manager Nick Zildjan in an updated post on the athletics program's website. “That might be someone you don’t know, that hasn’t been part of your bubble or unit through the pandemic. We’re hoping the Aitken Centre is full for these games, and our Reds events in the days and weeks after.”

Oh, that sound! Aitken Centre box office ticket machines are humming.
Haven’t heard that since March of 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣0️⃣!!!@UNBFredericton @QMJHL @SJSeaDogs @monctonwildcats @ABTitan @IslandersHKY #goredsgo pic.twitter.com/jGHbmpmRCl

— UNB Reds (@UNBAthletics) July 27, 2021

More from the Reds website:

Originally, under soon-to-be updated COVID-19 protocols, UNB indicated that the Aitken Centre would operate at a reduced capacity for the August games, with a re-assessment to occur before the September games.

But with New Brunswick’s announcement of moving into the green phase of the province’s COVID-19 recovery plan on July 31st, the facility will be allowed to open every seat.

Masks will still be required when entering and moving throughout the Aitken Centre, and while in your seat, except while consuming food or beverages.

UNB is working to have concessions available.

Even in the green phase, ticket holders will be asked to respect physical distancing as much as they can while inside the facility.

Tickets will be sold for individual games. Four-game packages will also be available.

Tickets to all four games went on sale this morning.

The QMJHL begins pre-season play on Aug. 19 with the Sea Dogs scheduled to take on the Moncton Wildcats at the Aitken Centre. Several Quebec teams are also in action that night, but it's uncertain if full capacity buildings will be an option for them at that point.

Coincidentally, CBC New Brunswick reported this morning that, like the OHL, the QMJHL will require "players and staff who are in contact with players to get both their shots before the puck drops." CBC also confirmed that there will be no capacity restrictions set by the province for QMJHL teams.

"Information on the green phase once the mandatory order would no longer be in place has been shared with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey [League], including no mandatory requirements for mask use, physical distancing, or limitations on venue capacity," Department of Health spokesperson Bruce Macfarlane wrote in an emailed statement to CBC.