BCHL calls off two games after positive COVID test involving Surrey player
The B.C. Hockey League postponed a pair of exhibition games on Saturday after a Surrey Eagles player tested positive for COVID-19.
The Junior A league shelved matchups at the Chilliwack Coliseum featuring the Eagles taking on the Langley Rivermen and the Coquitlam Express facing the Chilliwack Chiefs, after getting word from the Eagles earlier in the day about the player in question.
The player has not been named. According to a league news release, he's been placed in a 14-day quarantine and all other players and team personnel have been tested and are awaiting word on results.
Surrey and Chilliwack had played Friday, their sixth straight game against each other to start the league's extended pre-season.
The BCHL's plan remains to begin its regular season in early December. It is yet to announce a schedule for that.
Chilliwack and Coquitlam are slated to continue the pre-season on Friday in Coquitlam. Langley and Surrey are set to meet again on Nov. 7 in Surrey.
There's no word on when those Saturday games might be made up.
“We have our COVID-19 safety plan that was accepted by the health authorities. Our plan has a very clear path if this sort of thing happens,” BCHL commissioner Chris Hebb said Sunday morning. “We were hoping that it wouldn't happen, but it did and we needed to be sure the kids were safe and the team officials were safe. The one player is now isolated. We're testing the other players. We'll see if we have a bigger problem.
“We've talked to the health authorities. Fraser Health will provide us with direction.”
The BCHL is playing without fans in the stands due to mass gathering restrictions brought on by COVID-19 and the league is charging its players a fee to help pay its bills.
The league is hoping that come the regular season health authorities will allow them to play in buildings filled to 25 per cent capacity or give them some level of provincial government financial assistance. If either occurs, Hebb says that the BCHL teams will scale back the player fees.
The BCHL is also waiting to hear on border restrictions. The Wenatchee Wild, who are based in north-central Washington State, are the lone U.S. entry in the 18team loop and they've been left out of the exhibition scheduling so far.
The Wild announced recently that they're having a series of scrimmages in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho through Nov. 16 and between 10 and 16 Western Hockey League players based in the area would be taking part.
The WHL is set to open its regular season on Jan. 8.
In line with that, the WHL announced on Friday that it would be granting temporary transfers for its roster players to the Junior A, Junior B or Under-18 levels through mid-December. WHL training camps are slated to begin following the Christmas break and players would report to their WHL clubs at that point.
Among the players to take advantage of the temporary transfers is Gianni Fairbrother, 20, an Everett Silvertips rearguard originally from North Vancouver who has signed on with the Nanaimo Clippers for the time being.
Fairbrother was a 2019 thirdround draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens. The six-foot-one, 200-pound left-shot defenceman has yet to sign a contract with Montreal.
His 2019-20 season was shut down in January due to a shoulder injury but he still wound up with five goals and 25 points in 37 games. He had 10 goals and 36 points in 64 regular season games with Everett in 2018-19.
Fairbrother played Friday for Nanaimo against the visiting Cowichan Valley Capitals and then again for the Clippers on Saturday on the road against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.
He didn't register a point, but Nanaimo coach Darren Naylor explained Sunday, “he was solid considering he hasn't played for some time … he was really good in the second game.”