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The Minnesota State High School League held a board of directors meeting Thursday morning to discuss the winter sports season as well as the possibility of postseason play for fall activities. 

In a unanimous decision, the board passed the motion to approve a “maximized winter season,” while voting down a motion that would have extended the fall sports season by one week to add a regional championship.

The winter season will see the number of contests for each sport cut down by 30% with a maximum of two competitions each week. No scrimmages, invitationals or tournaments will be allowed. Three contests may be played each week in the final two weeks of the season to allow for rescheduling of games that might have been postponed in previous weeks. 

In order to avoid overlap with the extended football and volleyball seasons, start dates for winter sports were pushed back by one to two weeks. 

Dance starts Nov. 9; boys’ basketball and boys’ hockey can begin Nov. 23; wrestling, boys’ swim and dive and girls’ hockey starts Nov. 30; and gymnastics and girls’ basketball can start Dec. 7. 

Under current guidelines from the Minnesota departments of Health and Education, no spectators are allowed at indoor events in school facilities. Postseason play for all winter sports will be discussed at a later date. 

The board also had a lengthy discussion on the possibility of state tournaments or play beyond the section tournaments held at the end of the fall sports season. It was eventually motioned to vote on the option of having teams play in a regional championship that would pit the winners of Section 1 vs. Section 2, 3 vs. 4, 5 vs. 6 and 7 vs. 8. The board voted down the motion 10-8, meaning the section tournaments would be the final events of the fall season.