Friday’s news that the MJHL season will not continue was a dagger to the hearts of Manitoba’s hockey communities. So many stories will never be told, from players who will never get to play their last year of Junior A to teams losing a real chance at a Turnbull Cup.
For WHL teams, it means a valuable prospect development league is out, which could severely impact their future.
MJHL Season Cancellation: A Quick Look Back
The MJHL began its 40-game season back on October 9, 2020, and everything looked good.
All the teams were safe, fans could come support their team while maintaining physical distance, and the hockey was the fast, physical MJHL standard. The new divisions created the potential for strengthening old rivalries and building new ones. A brand-new expansion team, the Winnipeg Freeze, beginning their inaugural season under COVID, made for a potentially great story.
It was with the Freeze and cross-town rival Winnipeg Blues that the trouble began. On October 30, rising COVID cases in Winnipeg postponed the teams’ game that Friday night. The league tried to keep going, hoping the Blues and Freeze could catch up later. After all, the MJHL had plans in place to deal with postponements.
However, the rest of the teams soon followed. After that weekend only more three games were played, the last one on November 7. The MJHL hit pause on the season.
They hoped to come back in December – no luck. A plan released in late December outlined a path back to the ice in late January and puck drop in February. The conditions wouldn’t allow it. During this time, many leagues below the MJHL shut down for the year.
This week, after discussions with the Provincial Government, Public Health, and Facility Managers and Stakeholders, the MJHL Board of Governors knew there would be no way to complete a competitively balanced, safe, and financially viable season.
On February 12, the 2020-21 MJHL season ended not even a quarter of the way through.
Impact on the MJHL
Any time a league loses a year, it’s a huge loss in every area.
Financially, having no income from sponsorships, tickets, food, merchandise, or any other form, slams the bottom line worse than any knee-on-knee hit. For the teams, losing out on a season means losing a chance for a championship or having to elongate a rebuild. The players lose a year in their development and chances for life-changing scholarships. Some of the kids even spent all this time waiting away from home with billet families.
All that loss for nothing in return.
Now, the MJHL is not at fault for how this transpired. They did everything to convince the Provincial Government they could run a safe season.
The MJHL was willing to play with no fans. They had experience from their successful return-to-play that saw 24 prospect and training camps, over 60 games, and over 400 on and off ice practices completed without any outbreaks. They even procured hockey-specific masks that could have been worn on-ice.
The MJHL did everything in their power to return – they just didn’t control their own destiny.
There’s nothing to do now except prep for next season. It will likely be quiet on the news front for some time, as first-year commissioner Kevin Saurette works with his team on a third return-to-play plan. They’ve been dealt a rough hand, but they’ll have to play it how they can and hope for safe conditions in September.
WHL Prospects
For WHL teams and scouts (both team and media), their prospects and players lost a valuable season of growth.
The MJHL has always been a league for WHL draft picks to grow in a professional hockey environment. The MJHL’s best team when the season paused, the Virden Oil Capitals, rocked nine WHL prospects/players on their roster. This included significant players like Winnipeg ICE 2019 second overall pick Conor Geekie and Kelowna Rockets staple Jake Poole.
It wasn’t just going to be draft picks and tweener players either this year. Winnipeg ICE players Connor McClennon and Michael Ladyman would have played their first game with the Winnipeg Blues on October 30 had the season not been paused. Teams sent players there to warm up for the WHL season. WHL teams had a competitive hockey league in Canada to send their players to train for the upcoming season – until they didn’t.
A player like Swift Current’s Carter Halamandaris used his games with the Winnipeg Blues to show off the strength he gained over the summer as he prepared to fight for a permanent roster spot. He was extremely grateful for the opportunity to play in a high-intensity league at home with fast, talented players and build his personal skills inside and outside of the rink. It looked like the ideal place to grow his game safely to be prepped for WHL hockey.
Instead of having a place to perfect those skills, he and others will have to beat off a lot of rust to get ready.
The full impact of the MJHL season being cancelled won’t be known for years. The loss of an invaluable year of potential growth cannot be measured.
