And pouring rain in the middle of a cold winter.

This is hockey in 2020, a time when Hockey ACT chief executive Rob Sheekey says "it would have been very easy to say 'let's forget 2020 and just get to 2021'".

Hockey ACT has finally launched its long-awaited 2020 Capital League campaign following a major delay caused by the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Old Canberrans claimed a thrilling 4-3 win over St Patricks to open their women's campaign, with captain Lucy Balfour happy to shelve Zoom calls with her teammates for the real thing.

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United men's captain Brendan Hill wasn't going to be disheartened when he looked out the window to see miserable conditions on game day - this is the moment he had been waiting for. Before long United secured a 4-0 shutout over St Patricks.

Social distancing requirements kept crowds away and reduced the Carter Field grandstand to a sprinkling of lonely silhouettes made up of players and officials.

But Sheekey laughs people will always find a way - that's why cars lined the fences to get a glimpse of their family and friends in action for the first time in months.

"We're trying to limit the crossover of teams wherever possible. There are no spectators this weekend, all the people inside the facility are players, officials and umpires," Sheekey said.

"Effectively, we're running this as we've been running training sessions which have been running since late May.

"It's disappointing not to have spectators here this weekend but hopefully we can have them next weekend, and if not, in the near future.

"The majority of our competitions are volunteer-driven, it's hard in times like this when it would have been very easy to say 'let's forget 2020 and just get to 2021'. Their enthusiasm and passion for the sport is the reason we've been able to get our competitions up this weekend.

"Everyone has had to make their own decisions about whether they return to community sport. Not all of our participants have chosen to play but the majority have, which is tremendous.

"We're running at about 90 per cent participation rates, 85 per cent team inclusion from what we were looking at prior to the season. We're really pleased with those numbers."

Balfour says it felt like business as usual, just without the crowds - for her that means a few nerves on game day, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

"I get that nice butterfly feeling in my stomach, especially in my first time being a captain. I came away very excited and very confident because I believe in our team," Balfour said.

"We've had a huge change in our squad and we obviously weren't sure how it was going to go, change of coach and a new atmosphere. It's really good to be able to put it together."

United men's coach Aaron Hopkins says his side kept in touch via Whatsapp and social media, and once the season was close he put his players to work in a bid to overcome what skipper Hill dubs a mental hurdle.

"It was definitely tough, it was a mental challenge. You prepare yourself at the start of the year and once you get told you can't play for a few months, you're refocusing," Hill said. "Definitely excitement to come out and play, always a tough clash against these guys so there is definitely a good incentive to get up."