The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League finally pulled the plug on the 2020-2021 season Monday evening.
— SJHL (@theSJHL) March 23, 2021
After months of work with the government’s ‘Business Response Team’ on the inside, and wildly ranging speculation on the outside, a plan looked in place as early as two weeks ago to form a five-to-seven-team ‘Bubble’ in Weyburn, wherein a last-ditch effort to play would feature a 15-to-18-game schedule per-team.
So what went wrong? Why did the provincial government allow a Hub in Regina for the Western Hockey League, but disallow what is said to be a similar plan down the road in ‘The Opportunity City’?
The answer to that is actually pretty simple: the sweet spot between what the SJHL clubs involved felt they could pay for, with regards to all the little details and protocols on and off the ice such a thing required during a pandemic (and what they could ask their players to help pay), and what the government felt was acceptable and safe, especially in the midst of a rise in variant-related cases in Regina, could never be found.
For sure it sucks. I know for a fact a large number of players had been self-isolating for three weeks to a month in hopes they could get on the ice at the ‘Bubble’ immediately. Some of those players very earnestly were dying to play, some were going to play in a desire to not let their team down, and some were not going to show up at all; but whichever way it was, these young men patiently waited, often not looking for or accepting jobs, or moving on with their lives, in the hopes that this would happen, so especially for them I am very disappointed.
Disappointed, but not really surprised. Complain all you want over social media or wherever, but it is just a fact that Canadian governments have taken a drastically different approach to this pandemic, and to be honest the media voices I hear at government press conferences and in mainstream media are far more often wondering why Premier Moe and Dr. Shahab’s measures have not been more draconian than they already have been. As someone from, and with family in Toronto, Ontario, the measures here have actually been pretty measured; I know you don’t want to hear it.
So, as one SJHL wisely coach texted me last night, it’s time to move on, there’s nothing more we can do for this year. The government simply made the same offer they made two or three weeks ago: “let’s see how things are in two or three weeks”, and in the minds of those coaches and clubs, it is simply time to move on.
They tried to play, the resources were not there to duplicate what the WHL is doing, so we move on.
