Challenging season for MHL
President ‘humbled’ by cooperative effort to push forward with modified schedules
Sophomore jinx or slump. Second-year blues.
It could refer to the performance of athletes, musicians or films.
For Steve Dykeman, his second year as president of the Maritime Junior Hockey League could have easily given him the blues as the sports world was turned on its head by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“No one could’ve predicted this and if they would’ve told me this would be happening, I would’ve called all of them liars,” the 52-year-old Dykeman said in a recent interview. “It’s really been challenging and a learning process for me.
“Business as usual this year is something that’s very different. But from an organizational perspective and getting people moving in the same direction, it’s been a real gratifying experience to see the work we’ve all done to get to this place.”
While other hockey leagues across the region have been forced to pause mid-season, the MHL has managed to carry on with some bumps along the road.
When the league announced in October that the 2020-21 season would commence with a modified 40-game schedule, the league brass had the foresight to break the Eastlink North and Eastlink South divisions into mini-divisions based on geography.
The South Division, which includes the six Nova Scotiabased franchises, was split into a mini-division consisting of the Amherst Ramblers, Truro Bearcats and Pictou County Crushers and another with the Valley Wildcats, South Shore Lumberjacks and Yarmouth Mariners.
When COVID cases swelled late last month and travel within the region became restricted, each of those minidivisions became its own bubble and allowed those teams, for the most part, to continue playing against each other.
“A lot of it has to do with our geography, the nature of our league and where our teams play,” Dykeman said.
“Our teams are in smaller communities and smaller centres that – knock on wood – haven’t seen the outbreaks that have been seen in larger centres. Real thought went into where we could limit travel which obviously helps teams out from an expense perspective and also helps in the community where players aren’t moving around so much. Luckily with how our geography lines up, we were able to do that.
“When we looked at the schedule and the creation of those divisions, it was really about how do we keep players closer to home and how do we reduce travel for a number of valid reasons.”
The schedule has remained fluid as the impact of the virus changes daily and the league has had to adapt accordingly.
On Friday, the New Brunswick government announced that the Edmundston region (the province’s Zone 4) would move to the more restrictive orange level of COVID-19 recovery. That forced the postponement of five upcoming games involving the Edmundston Blizzard and/or the Grand Falls Rapids.
Earlier this month, the Summerside Western Capitals paused their schedule until after the Christmas break, forcing them to reschedule seven of their games.
“I’m proud to say the teams have all pitched in together, doing what’s best for their teams, for the league, for their community, for their volunteers and obviously for the players,” Dykeman said.
“We have had teams that haven’t been able to play. Campbellton had to postpone its start to the season. They did all of the right things in Campbellton to get their zone back to normal, whatever normal is. We had to build flexibility into the schedule and we needed the teams to buy into that.
Dykeman said he’s “appreciative” and “humbled” by how all parties were able to unite and put some form of season together.
“The credit is very widespread, whether it’s the MHL executive, our board of governors and all of the hard work each of our teams has done to put our plan in place. It’s just a huge effort by so many people,” Dykeman said.
“Everyone knew going into this year, things would be difficult. But we’ll continue to work with our arenas to make sure we have the right number of fans safely. No one has a crystal ball but as the season goes, things may change from an attendance perspective and we’ll get more fans watching our games.
“We’re just so thankful that we’re in the situation that we are. It didn’t come without a lot of hard work by a lot of people. As it stands today, we’re in a good place and we’re just happy that most of our teams are able to play.”