PJHL, OJHL 2020-21 seasons now cancelled

Former Petes prospect Falls earns opportunity in the NCAA

The Provincial Junior Hockey League has pulled the plug on the 2020-21 junior hockey season and so, too, has the Ontario Junior Hockey League for the junior season.

The provincewide stay-athome order was extended Friday to six weeks by the provincial government.

There was no word Friday on what it will mean for the Peterborough Petes but the Ontario Hockey League plans to make an announcement soon following the decision earlier this week to cancel the Memorial Cup for this season.

“I think that a definitive decision was a brave one to make by the league,” said Alexander Guiney, general manager of the OJHL’s Cobourg Cougars. “We just ran out of runway to play a traditional season.”

Although no official games were played, six OJHL teams were able to participate in 58 exhibition games in low-risk regions, including the Cougars who played seven games against the Whitby Fury before the December lockdown as well as practising three times a week.

The PJHL, which has 63 teams across Ontario including the Lakefield Chiefs and the North Kawartha Knights, did play some modified five-on-five games with no contact in a bubble format before officially announcing the season’s end on Friday.

As a result of the OJHL’s exhibition games, Cougars forward Matthew Falls was able to commit to playing NCAA Division III hockey for the Wisconsin — Stevens Point Pointers, Guiney said. Falls was drafted by the Peterborough Petes in the 2016 OHL Priority Selection.

“Him being able to play games and our players being able to put games on tape so we can send them to schools and scouts has been a real advantage for our players,” Guiney said.

The exhibition games followed the OJHL’s return-toplay plan that saw constant revisions and updates to keep it aligned with the state of COVID-19 in Ontario and they were also compliant with any orders from the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit and the Town of Coburg to get their approval to play. Guiney noted that his team received “rave reviews” for their compliance with the regulations.

According to the OJHL, there was no reported spread of COVID-19 connected to any teams that played exhibition games.

“We were very lucky to play the games that we did, a lot of organizations weren’t as fortunate,” Guiney said.

Despite the cancelled season, Guiney says his players were “fantastic” and “appreciative” throughout the year.

“They really understood and embraced that it’s these protocols that are allowing our players to be on the ice and participate,” Guiney said. “I have nothing but good things to say about the seriousness of which our players took those regulations.”

Teams will still be allowed to schedule exhibition games after the current stay-at-home order ends, but Guiney says they’ll be turning their focus to next season, developing their players’ character and finding their players who hope to move to higher levels of hockey an opportunity to do so.

“I’m an optimistic guy, our hope is that we’ll be able to resume a somewhat normal and traditional season for the upcoming 2021-22 season,” Guiney said.

NOTES: Former Peterborough Petes forward Nick Robertson registered his first NHL regular season point with an assist on a goal by John Tavares for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night … Former Petes winger Brady Hinz has committed to play for the Windsor Lancers men’s hockey program for the 2021-22 season.