Clippers won’t set sail in 2020
Time ran out on the Windsor Clippers and the Ontario Lacrosse Association junior B league on Thursday.
In a release, commissioner Dave Vernon announced that the 2020 season was being cancelled because of the COVID -19 pandemic.
“I honestly was hoping that it would all work out, but I kind of thought it would go this way,” Clippers veteran defender Matt Fraser said. “Just with the NHL and major leagues not playing and our season was supposed to start a month ago, I didn’t see it working out.”
Windsor was to open its season on April 30, but the virus shut much of the province down and a state of emergency was extended earlier this week until June 30.
“I think when the premier announced an extension of the state of emergency, it was the nail in the coffin,” Clippers general manager Mike Soulliere said. “It’s unfortunate, but what can you do?”
Had the season started on time, it would have wrapped up in the middle of June with the playoffs to follow. League officials had worked for weeks to come up with options for a reduced schedule if restrictions were eased.
“We had schedules made and different formats,” Soulliere said. “But if nothing happens until the end of the June, the CLA (Canadian Lacrosse Association) says we need another 15 days (for training camp) before we can start and that puts us in the middle of July.
“It just can’t be done. There are some communities that have closed facilities until Sept. 1 or indefinitely and some that were already looking to put ice in.”
Not only was the season called on Thursday for the Clippers, but it could also be the end of a junior career for several members of the team set to graduate.
“I think all the fifth-years are feeling like I’m feeling,” the 20-year-old Fraser said. “You want to know it’s your last game, go into the rink, take it all in and leave it all on the floor.
“I don’t even remember the last game. You kind of feel like you’ve been cheated. I was just losing hope every week and now it’s done.”
If there is one bright spot, Soulliere said there is a proposal to realign age groups and bring the league from age 21-and-under to 22-and-under next year, but it must be approved by the CLA.
“I’ve heard talk they might give us one more year and we graduate with the 2000 (born players),” Fraser said. “That’s a little bit of hope I’m holding on to.
“We haven’t gotten together (as a team), but we have a group chat and stay in touch. Everyone else is pretty much feeling the same and holding our breath and hoping next year we do get to play.”
For now, Soulliere said the Clippers, who have won the Far West Division title seven straight years and 12 times in the last 14 years, will start planning for next season.