18 on QMJHL team test positive
Blainville-boisbriand Armada members placed in isolation for 14 days
“I think things like delaying the league, like some of the other leagues did, would have been helpful.” LORIAN HARDCASTLE ASSOCIATED PROFESSOR
LONGUEIL — 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 BlainvilleBroisbriand 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 National Hockey League did raise 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.
“I think that particular age group and gender tends to be not as risk averse as we may like,” she added. “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.”
The Armada learned of one positive test Monday after opening weekend and suspended in-person operations.
The Sherbrooke Phoenix also suspended in-person activities after playing the Armada twice on the weekend.
“Although our sanitary and medical protocol is very strict and rigorous, we knew that COVID-19 was highly infectious and could eventually hit certain players and team staff members,” QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau said Wednesday in a statement.
“Nevertheless, we are extremely confident that the measures contained in our contingency plan, which is currently deployed, will prove to be very efficient.”
Quebec’s rate of infection has risen in recent days.
Almost 6,000 people have died with the majority of fatalities among people over the age of 70, according to provincial statistics.
The Quebec government nevertheless shut down team sports Monday in the province’s “red zones,” which include the greater Montreal area and Quebec City.
That announcement encompasses the Armada, based 35 kilometres northwest of Montreal, and the Quebec Remparts.
“While that group may be at extremely low risk of death, if they contract it, we certainly don’t know how it how it will affect their vascular system and their respiratory system in the long term,” Hardcastle said.
The QMJHL’S schedule features only intra-divisional play to start the season.
The six teams in the Atlantic Provinces do not travel to Quebec.
Chicoutimi Sagueneens centre Hendrix Lapierre played two games with his QMJHL club before he was selected 22nd overall by the Washington Capitals in Tuesday’s NHL draft.
“As hockey players, you want to play games and I didn’t play a lot last year, so I wanted to play as much as I could this year,” Lapierre said Tuesday.
“I feel like it’s kind of an advantage for us to be able to play. I see a lot of those guys in the Ontario league or Western Hockey League just training all the time, but it’s fun,” he added.
“I’m with my teammates. We’re playing games. Yes, we’re training, but we have games, we’re together, we’re bonding. I feel like it’s a fun process here and definitely really happy to be able to play hockey this year,” he said.