Junior A loop seeks to clarify `confusing' COVID safety rules
Half of the `confused' league's players are banned from taking part in practice
BCHL commissioner Chris Hebb hopes to have a conversation with health authorities regarding the current orders that are keeping the league's 19- and 20-year-olds from practising with their teams.
The Junior A loop is open to players ages 16-20. When provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry last week aimed at reducing the rising number of COVID-19 cases by banning all adult team sports entirely and moving all youth team sports to a practise-only mode, it cut BCHL teams almost exactly in half.
According to the league, 48 per cent of its players are either 19 or 20 years of age. They are on the sidelines for the time being, while their younger teammates can take to the ice.
“We're not angry. We're just confused,” said Hebb. “I think it's an unintended consequence.
“Please understand that we're not trying to admonish Dr. Bonnie Henry. We think she's done a great job. We think this is a case of broken telephone.
“We need to have a conversation with the provincial health office so they understand the difference with our league. We thought that message was getting through with help from ViaSport and B.C. Hockey, but it's not.”
Henry was asked directly about “unintended circumstances,” regarding the BCHL at her Monday news briefing.
“It was not unintended. It was recognized risk,” Henry said. “We talked with ViaSport, we talked with the leagues and really, it is about the fact these leagues travel, that we are seeing transmission and we are seeing transmission in the U.S. and other sports teams as well. We have been seeing transmission events happening and right now, it is just too risky.
“We don't want people travelling interprovincially. We don't want people travelling to different communities.”
Hebb was quick to say Tuesday his league isn't looking for any sort of travel or game plan currently, but just wants the 19- and 20-yearolds to continue practising with their teams.
The league and its 17 active teams had hoped to start an abbreviated regular season on Dec. 2. They pushed it back to Dec. 8 and on Monday pushed it back again, this time to a to-be-announced date in January.
Hebb admits that junior hockey has been hit hard by COVID-19 across the country. For example, the Alberta Junior A league, which was put on “on pause,” on Nov. 25 because of provincial restrictions, saw 16 members of the Canmore Eagles, including head coach Andrew Milne, test positive for COVID-19.
In October, the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced 18 positive cases and the Sherbrooke Phoenix announced eight.
The Team Canada world junior tryout camp in Red Deer was shut down for 14 days because two players tested positive. The team resumed workouts on Monday, but five players were sent home because they were deemed “unfit to play,” according to Hockey Canada.
Asked about those situations in regards to his league, Hebb contended that the BCHL has been a “gold standard,” in regards to a junior hockey loop dealing with COVID-19. The league started playing exhibition games in September and despite playing 90 games, only two players tested positive for COVID-19. There was a member of the Surrey Eagles in October, and one from the Penticton Vees last month.
They've been playing games in regional cohorts, which is a part of the return-to-play protocols created by ViaSport, the government's sport agency.
“We started working on our return-to-play back in May and we've gone back and forth with the provincial health office (PHO) on our plan. We've done everything that's been asked and more,” Hebb said.
Former Kamloops Daily News sports editor Gregg Drinnan, who now writes the hockey blog Taking Note, obtained a copy last week of a proposed plan to put the BCHL's teams together in Penticton in a bubble for a seven-week regular season and one-week playoff. On Monday, league chairman of the board Graham Fraser mentioned the idea of a “BCHL hub” in a league news release.
Hebb said that all options remain in play, explaining his league will “turn over every stone for the PHO to try to get a season in.”
Asked about the Penticton plan, he said: “We could go there, but we'll go anywhere that they (the PHO) think is safe.”
The Penticton plan states that teams could play between 2024 regular-season games. The Wenatchee Wild, the league's lone American club, would not be included. The Wild announced last month that it was taking a season's hiatus due to issues regarding the Canada/U.S. border and Washington state COVID restrictions.
The BCHL had been playing exhibition games in empty arenas since September. Teams charged players fees to help with costs.
The plan states that players would be charged $1,500 a month, which was the “same as it was for October, November.” The league has never publicly announced what players were being charged.
The plan has the players housed in the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre. Any such plan would have to be approved by the health authorities.