FROZEN OUT
The Penticton Vees want their Centennial Cup national tournament host spot back.
Due to COVID-19 concerns, the Canadian Hockey League announced the cancellations of various events on Friday, including the Centennial Cup, the five-team Junior A national finale that the Vees were slated to host in May.
Vees general manager and coach Fred Harbinson says his team is keen on hosting the nationals in 2022 instead and expects to hear Hockey Canada’s plans for the event in the coming weeks. Saskatchewan’s Estevan Bruins were originally awarded the 2022 event, but that’s being revisited, with a Hockey Canada spokesperson explaining on Monday that “we are having ongoing discussions with the host committees of all our spring events to determine what the hosting arrangements will be for 2022 and beyond.”
The 2020 tournament, which was to be hosted by Manitoba’s Portage Terriers, was also called off due to the pandemic.
“We feel we have one of the best fan bases in Junior A hockey and we feel we have one of the best facilities in Junior A hockey,” said Harbinson, who has seen the team’s 5,000-seat South Okanagan Events Centre home used by the Vancouver Canucks’ Young Stars Classic in the past. “We’ve never hosted the (Centennial Cup) tournament before and you’ll be two years without having a tournament when it comes time in 2022. We feel it would be a no-brainer to put us in that spot.”
As for this season, the Vees and the 16 other BCHL teams based in this province continue to wait to see when they can start their regular season after provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry decided Friday to extend an order that, among other things, forbids game play between rival teams and travel for sport in a bid to help curtail COVID-19 cases.
Teams are currently allowed to practise, with a focus on drills that promote social distancing. The Wenatchee Wild, the BCHL’s lone American team, has opted to take this season off due to uncertainty about border travel and restrictions in Washington state.
Henry didn’t give an exact deadline for this latest batch of restrictions, pointing instead to the “end of the month.” Conversely, the BCHL is now hoping to start league play in March.
The five WHL teams located in B.C. are aiming for something similar. That Vancouver Giants, Kelowna Rockets, Kamloops Blazers, Victoria Royals and Prince George Cougars have teamed up with the BCHL teams to approach the provincial government in hopes of receiving financial assistance. Assuming they do start regular season action, it’s highly unlikely they’ll be permitted to have fans in the stands and both leagues are gate driven.
The BCHL played exhibition games from September until November in empty arenas before health orders shut them down. The teams charged players a fee to help with costs. What the players are being asked to pay has never been made public.
The five WHL teams in B.C. have yet to reconvene this season. The WHL’s Alberta teams have been green-lighted by that province to begin a 24-game season Feb. 26, while the WHL’s U.S. clubs will start play on March 19 on a yet-to-be-announced schedule.
The five WHL teams in B.C. have yet to reconvene this season.
The WHL teams in B.C. were aiming to split into two hubs, based in Kamloops and Kelowna. The BCHL pitched a Penticton hub to health authorities in November, but it wasn’t passed and commissioner Chris Hebb has said that they’re looking at various options now. One of those is playing in regional cohorts, like they did in the exhibition season.
Meanwhile, the 17-team Junior B Kootenay International Junior Hockey League announced Friday that it was cancelling the remainder of its regular season and playoffs.They had played just one week of hockey in November when play was halted.
“We are disappointed for our players, team staff, volunteers, sponsors, game officials and fans that the 2020-21 season will not be completed,” KIJHL commissioner Jeff Dubois was quoted as saying in a release on the league’s website. “Over the past number of months we have made every effort possible to keep our athletes on the ice and to give all of them, and especially our graduating 20 year olds, the opportunity to compete for a league championship.
“However, the further extension of the PHO takes us beyond where our regular season would typically end and our playoffs would begin. As we approach March and April, we are faced with the reality of arenas removing their ice for the spring and summer, and that leaves us unable to plan for a meaningful conclusion to our season.”
The league did say teams could continue to stick together for training purposes and possibly exhibition games if restrictions loosen.