QMJHL’s Armada hit by COVID-19

Major junior hockey players operate in an environment where the risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus is greater than in the professional leagues, says a health and law expert.

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Blainville-Broisbriand Armada has suspended operations indefinitely because 18 members of the team tested positive for the virus.

They’ve been placed in isolation for 14 days. Young men 16 to 20 years of age aspiring to be professional players in leagues that don’t have the financial resources to “bubble” as the NHL did raises the risk of contagion, according to an associate professor in the Faculty of Law and Cummings School of Medicine at the University of Calgary.

“One of the concerns that I have is that they don’t have the same financial resources to put players in a bubble, or to test in the same manner that the pro leagues can,” Lorian Hardcastle told The Canadian Press.

“I think things like delaying the league, like some of the other leagues did, would have been helpful.”

The QMJHL started its regular season last Friday. The Western and Ontario major junior leagues postponed opening until at least December.

Hockey ambition, a lack of fear about the coronavirus and the desire to socialize make major junior players susceptible to contagion, Hardcastle said.

“Many of them are really gunning for a spot in the NHL, so even if they’re sick, they’re symptomatic, they may have an incentive to play anyway,” she said.

“Both playing if they’re sick and engaging in the kinds of social activities that lead to the spread of COVID, engaging in close social contact as people in their teens do, I think that’s very different than the professional leagues.”