Tough call to take
UPEI coaches understand decision to cancel nationals but still feel the sting
Coaches at UPEI are voicing disappointment, but certainly not disbelief, at news that the 2021 winter national championships have been scrapped due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“It’s disappointing but at the same time totally understandable,’’ Bruce Donaldson, coach of the UPEI women’s hockey team, said Friday.
“It doesn’t come as a big surprise.’’
Donaldson adds U SPORTS made the “right decision’’ to cancel the championships, which include men’s and women’s basketball, hockey, swimming, track and field, volleyball and wrestling.
The team has already felt the sting of the pandemic while playing host to the nationals this past March, only to have the event cancelled after the first two games.
However, Matt Gamblin, head coach of UPEI’s women’s basketball team, feels “really fortunate’’ his players were able to compete in the national championship last
March that was completed just days before everything in sport and elsewhere started shutting down.
And compete they did, winning bronze in thrilling fashion with a spirited comeback in a game the Panthers trailed by as much as 18 points.
Gamblin says he does not think anybody is surprised by the cancellation of the national championships.
He is, however, “cautiously optimistic’’ about seeing play in the region this year.
The AUS announced Thursday that a committee has been formed to look into possible return-to-play options for winter sports.
“We are in our routine and we are just kind of moving forward,’’ says Gamblin.
Cancellation of the national championships is a particular blow to UPEI’s men’s hockey team that was set to host the big event in March.
Coach Forbes MacPherson says a great deal of hard work went into working towards hosting the nationals with players and other stakeholders excited at the prospect.
“It hasn’t been officially indicated that we would be the next host (of the men’s hockey nationals), but we are very confident that in the very near future we will be hosting,’’ he adds.
MacPherson, who held a team meeting Friday morning to address the disappointing news of the cancelled championships with his players, says he appreciates the need to make the difficult call.
“These are just the circumstances that we have been handed because of COVID,’’ he says.
He adds there is “good reason’’ to remain optimistic the hockey season can be salvaged to some degree for the Panthers.