IT’S WAIT AND SEE FOR CHL TEAMS
Junior hockey squads expect to return in September, but safety will drive decision
Dan Mackenzie is hopeful.
The president of the Canadian Hockey League is trying to keep a positive outlook with an eye to the start of the 2020-21 regular season, but he knows some answers remain out of his grasp, and will for a while.
With the COVID-19 pandemic causing upheaval around the globe, professional and amateur sports organizations are in the midst of trying to determine how they’ll eventually be able to return to play.
The CHL, which includes a total of 60 teams in the Ontario Hockey League, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and the Western Hockey League, came under Mackenzie’s guidance last September when he was hired as the CHL’S first fulltime president.
Needless to say, what’s happening now wasn’t something Mackenzie could have foreseen when he took the job.
“Our plan is to start as we normally do, to drop the puck in September,” Mackenzie said during a phone interview on Wednesday from his home in Guelph. “But there is so much that can change, so we have to be careful that we’re not completely locked in.
“Ultimately, much of the decision making we’re going to do is going to be driven by public health authorities. We have been in constant contact with public health, and we’re going to be taking our direction in terms of when it’s safe to come back.
“That’s going to be driven by making sure the environment for our teams and our players and our fans is going to be safe.”
The CHL’S leagues cancelled their seasons and playoffs. The Memorial Cup tournament was cancelled in March.
In the ensuing weeks, Mackenzie has been in close contact (remotely, of course) with OHL commissioner David Branch, WHL commissioner Ron Robison and QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau.
Unlike, for example, the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association, which are still trying to come up with ways to finish their 201920 seasons, the CHL has the luxury of looking a little farther down the road.
Branch, who was president of the CHL from 1996 until Mackenzie took over, sees time as an advantage for the respective junior hockey leagues.
“I would say yes,” Branch said. “The other thing in our favour is that, by having to cancel the balance of our regular season, cancel our playoffs, cancel our Memorial Cup, it has put us in a position, when working with our owners, that they have a deeper appreciation and understanding of the changing world.
“Working with our teams and owners, the whole theme that we’re in this together rings very true.”
For Mackenzie, who boasts an extensive background in sports administration and marketing and most recently was managing director of NBA Canada, communication with the various pro sports leagues is vital, even if concrete answers are elusive.
“There are some nuances and financial realities that are different, but the sports community in Canada is fairly small,” Mackenzie said.
“It’s not just the NHL. I talk to my former colleagues in the NBA fairly regularly, and whether it be the CFL or Major League Baseball, the sports community in Canada is fairly small. There’s a lot of sharing of information, a lot of support for each other.”
One conundrum for junior hockey, not unlike their pro sports cousins, is the idea of playing without fans in seats.
“We are gate-driven, without question,” Branch said.
“We haven’t broached that with our owners yet. At the right time, if there is that need, we have to address it. There are a lot of things that have come at us and we have to be prepared for.”
The issue is a difficult one, but Mackenzie remains optimistic.
“You have to be,” Mackenzie said.
“It doesn’t do anyone any good to think too far out. Right now we’re working through plans to start in September. But as we go forward, and as circumstances change and as more information becomes available, we will adjust.
“When it’s safe to return, we’re going to be ready.”