U SPORTS cancels winter championships

U SPORTS has announced the 2021 winter national championships have been cancelled due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The impacted sports include men’s and women’s basketball, hockey, swimming, track and field, volleyball and wrestling. Curling Canada previously announced the 2021 university championships would not go ahead.

The UPEI Panthers were scheduled to host the men’s hockey nationals in March.

The decision to cancel the national championships received unanimous support from the board of directors and the four conferences – Atlantic University Sport (AUS), Réseau du sport étudiant du Quebec (RSEQ), Ontario University Athletics and Canada West.

“Following consultations with the four conferences, we agreed that student-athlete safety remains our top priority,” said U SPORTS interim chief executive officer Dick White in a media release Thursday. “It is not logistically possible for teams to be travelling across the country at this time. Therefore, U SPORTS is in the unfortunate position where we are unable to offer the 2021 championships.”

In Atlantic Canada, the AUS announced in a media release on Thursday that a committee has been formed to look into possible return-to-play options for winter sports.

“The remarkable success of the Atlantic Canadian bubble places our conference in a unique position nationally to consider options surrounding return-to-play,” said AUS executive director Phil Currie. “And while we approach this committee with great optimism, we also know that we must exercise caution and vigilance with respect to public health guidelines.