Ontario to weigh chance of NHL amid lockdown

TORONTO — Ontario’s minister of sport says the provincial government is examining how a Canadian division in the NHL might work.

Lisa MacLeod says that discussions about the league’s return-to-play plan are happening at Ontario’s public health table with the province’s chief medical officer of health, as well as officials from Toronto and Ottawa.

She says she expects to join those conversations in the next few days, as will her federal counterpart Steven Guilbeault.

Several media outlets are reporting the NHL is planning to realign its divisions next season with a seven-team all-Canadian division with no cross-border travel. The league has targeted midJanuary as a potential start date.

However, the Ontario Hospital Association asked the Ontario government for a four-week lockdown in regions with high rates of COVID-19 that would include Toronto and Ottawa.

Also, the mayors of Toronto and Mississauga, Ont., both said Wednesday they want a strict four-week lockdown to begin over the winter holidays to slow the rapid spread.

Ontario reported a single-day record of 2,432 new cases of COVID-19 Thursday, and 23 new deaths.