We're at the point where health outweighs hockey

Be positive. Be hopeful. Be optimistic. Wake up believing that every day is one day closer to the end of the pandemic, right?

Now if only there were NHL hockey to help with the escape, allowing us to keep calm and carry on through a COVID-19 winter.

It's late November, time to remember how so many of us used to fill up all the idle hours.

Typically, by now, almost two months into an NHL season, there would be fresh anecdotes for the timeless discussion about whether the Toronto Maple

Leafs need to sacrifice offence for defence.

Or there could be a much-needed tonic in arguments about whether the Edmonton Oilers should keep Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the same line.

The early success or struggles of Jacob Markstrom in his move to the Calgary Flames from the Vancouver Canucks would be on the tips of tongues of Western Canadian fans.

Winnipeg Jets fans would be full of fever about whether Patrick Laine should stay or go.

The Montreal Canadiens might have turned the corner into Stanley Cup long shots and perhaps the kids with the Ottawa Senators would have shown more signs of what could be a promising future.

Unfortunately, there's no place for those conversations to breathe.

Instead, the hockey talk in the last few days has mostly been about how COVID is looming over everything.

From the death of Fred Sasakamoose to the outbreak of positive COVID-19 tests at the Canadian world junior team evaluation camp in Red Deer and among NHL players in Columbus and Vegas, there's no hiding from it.

What to do? Leave the laptop, shut off the Twitter updates and look out the window for some hope?

So much for that. In this part of the country, the snow was coming down hard Wednesday morning, followed later by the promise of a lovely coating of freezing rain in the evening.

It was a metaphor for what's going on (or not going on) in the hockey world, with layers of distress piling up.

In the big picture, radio silence continues on when and even if the NHL will return with severe restrictions this season.

Even the holiday spectacle of watching potential future NHL stars at the world junior tournament is suddenly in jeopardy.

The bubble concept worked remarkably well for the NHL in the summer, but crisis management is in play right now in Red Deer. There have been at least two positive COVID-19 player tests and one positive coaching test since Saturday.

Late Wednesday night, Hockey Canada announced that all players are now under quarantine for 14 days, with a plan to return to the ice on Dec. 6. That is a smart call, probably the only that could be made given the health and safety rules surrounding positive tests.

When they do get back on the ice, the Canadian team may also need an exemption to the current shutdown rules in Alberta. All levels of sport have been stopped during the state of health emergency. Premier Jason Kenney is threatening even harsher restrictions if the current COVID-19 numbers don't come down.

If the junior squad can get through the current COVID-19 scare, there's the not-so-small matter of moving on to Edmonton in mid-December to prepare for the actual tournament. Teams from the other nine countries are also due to fly into the COVID-19 hot spot on or around Dec. 13.

As much as the world juniors are a gold mine for TSN, there is a point where health concerns should outweigh hockey concerns.