CANADIAN NHL CITIES BACK IN THE HUB GAME
Ottawa amends quarantine rule to help bids as U.S. infections soar, Lance Hornby writes.
With a string of red light COVID-19 warnings across the U.S., three Canadian cities have the green light from the federal government as potential hub cities for the NHL playoff tournament.
But at the rate that cases are spiking to the south, maybe two Canadian hosts from among Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver would be an option, though the league is still looking at Las Vegas as a hub.
On Friday, the federal government confirmed its order in council which would allow American players and teams a “cohort quarantine” to skate around the 14-day isolation rule when crossing the border. Government officials took a hard look at an NHL plan to keep up to 50 players and staff per team in a bubble of hotel to rink, with intense testing.
“There are different stages and phases in the training (camp), up to the actual games in the hub,” said chief public health officer Theresa Tam. “There are different measures at every stage to ensure there is appropriate screening, testing and quarantining in groups to make sure there is no impact to the local population. I think the collective review is that they’re very, very robust proposals. These things have to be reviewed all the time. The activity of COVID-19 is changing as we speak in Canada and in areas of the U.S.”
A stream of bad news has come from the latter in the past few days. An Arizona Coyotes staff member tested positive, then the Tampa Bay Lightning shut down their practice facility Friday after three players and some staffers tested positive. They were discovered through twice-weekly testing that’s part of the NHL’S Phase 2 return-to-play plan, ahead of the scheduled opening of training camps July 10.
When the tournament starts, and that date is also up in the air for later in the summer, the NHL is to pay for its own tests while in the hubs.
Tam was asked what strategies were in place if a player or staffer did test positive while in a Canadian hub.
“Those protocols must be worked out with the local medical officer of health. (But) the idea through regular testing is to reduce the actual impact of people who would have to be removed from the game itself. Ultimately, the decision has to be based on (the best interests of ) public health.”
No fans are likely to be allowed in any of the potential Canadian sites — Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Rogers Place in Edmonton and Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
But the presence of 11 visiting teams and the home club sequestered as well would be of some help to the local economies.
“It will be great for the psychology for the city,” Toronto Mayor John Tory said. “There will be some business for hotels, because there are multiple teams and staff members and others coming.”
While B.C. and Alberta have relaxed restrictions on the public as spring wore on and less people got sick, Toronto remains in Phase 1 of its recovery, at least for a few more days.