Lost OHL season difficult to accept
Admission of defeat tough to accept after comparable leagues managed to hit the ice
Tuesday's announcement by the Ontario Hockey League that there will be no 2020-21 season has to go in the loss column.
While there have been few winners during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the safety of all involved is paramount, the OHL'S admission of defeat in trying to get a season up and running comes after its counterparts in Canada, as well as leagues on par in the United States, Europe and Russia, found some way to hit the ice this season.
“It's very disappointing for us,” Windsor Spitfires co-owner and president John Savage said. “We were so close. We had approvals to get back, but the latest go around (with virus cases surging), it just went south. Health wise, public relations wise, it was just going to be a no go. We had to make a call and we did.
“The decision's made and now we move forward to the road ahead, and that's getting on with 2021-22 season. You feel a little empty, but you have to move forward.”
At this point, that seems the only course of action, but some still wonder how the OHL missed out on a season when the Canadian Hockey League's other two arms — the Western Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League — each found a way back on the ice this season.
“It's obviously very frustrating,” Spitfires defenceman Grayson Ladd said. “The W
(HL) and the Q (MJHL) being allowed to play, I think the OHL had a chance to start up, second-guessed it, and when the third wave hit, guys realized it wasn't going to happen.”
Originally, the OHL planned to hit the ice for the 2020-21 season in December with camps opening in November, but that was pushed back to a January report date ahead of a February start, a plan that was nixed in December.
Just a week ago, the OHL announced it had reached agreement on a plan to return to play in a bubble or hub centres. That came despite the province being placed into lockdown early in the month and with warnings that variants were fuelling a third wave of the virus across the province that could be the most severe to date. So, when Ontario extended its shutdown another two weeks, it shouldn't have been a surprise to the OHL.
“I've heard that before: `Did we miss our opportunity?' ” OHL commissioner David Branch said on a Zoom call with media on Tuesday. “Let me clearly state that, if the opportunity had presented itself, weeks, months ago, we would have seized it. It was never presented. Conditions were never such that we would receive approval.”
Still, even when things looked grim, Branch said league officials pushed on, hoping against hope to get something done, with the priority still being the safety of players and all others involved.
“We weren't going to stop competing until, you might say, the final buzzer,” Branch said. “That final buzzer came with the May 20 lockdown (extension of state of emergency and stay at home orders by the provincial government). It became impractical to think we could have any semblance of a shortened season after that time.
“I have no misgivings about how it was handled and I commend the fact our owners, general managers, they stayed with it, they supported it. No one said, `Hey, come on, we're not going to be able to do this.' We never thought that. So, that was the perspective clearly from my vantage point.”
But there will be repercussions from the OHL'S inability to hit the ice. Branch said there would still be a draft and dates would be announced in the coming weeks. However, the league will have a harder time selling itself to American-born players, and perhaps even some Ontario kids, when competitors like the National Collegiate Athletic Association and North American Hockey League both managed to play this season.
“The Ontario Hockey League is the leading league in developing players for the NHL, but with some of the things that have happened in the past 13 months, there's definitely going to be questions and concerns over the ability to conduct a season,” said player agent Ryan Barnes of Quartexx Management.
Branch agreed there might be challenges for the league, but also sounded confident in its ability to continue to secure talent.
“We have a responsibility, an obligation almost, to just even take our game to another level in terms player recruitment,” Branch said. “We're regarded as the No. 1 development league in the world, but you know what, we have some work to do here, and we have every confidence, given what our model's all about in terms of players development on and off the ice. The programs that we provide to our players, whether it's mental health programs, of course our scholarship program, no one does it better. But hey, we're going to have to work that much harder.”
Branch said player scholarships will be honoured for the year, even without a 2020-21 season, and has asked GMS to submit any ideas they might have, such as adding extra players for an overage season.
He hopes for a full 68-game season, with 100 per cent fans in attendance, to be ready to go in September, but much will be determined by how quickly vaccinations can be rolled out in order to get past the pandemic.
“We're all in this together as far as I'm concerned,” said Windsor's Rocco Tullio, who owns the Oshawa Generals. “It's very disappointing it had to come to this. There's a lot of disappointment. It's a sad day for our league, it's sad for our players and their families, but I know there are brighter days ahead.
“With this variant, until we can get shots in the arms, the variant is in control. Hopefully, we have a season fresh in September and I know our league will work tirelessly to make it happen.”