Disappointing Decision

With leagues across the country starting to find their ways back to arenas, it looked like we may have a winter where kids of all ages - from ages 6 to 96 - would be on the ice and playing hockey. Granted, there are some areas of concern where COVID-19 is still thriving and surviving among the populace, but with Canadian vaccination rates breaking through the 80% mark this week for double doses in all eligible Canadians, it really looked like we were going to approach this season safely. That is, until the news hit today that Hockey Canada was cancelling some major events once more as they exercise what appears to be extreme caution regarding the pandemic.

In rather shocking news, Hockey Canada went ahead and cancelled the 2021 National Women's Under-18 Championship, 2021 Canadian Tire Para Hockey Cup, and 2021 World Junior A Challenge. These three events are landmark events for Hockey Canada whereby lots of scouting is done and players get exposure on a national level when it comes to following their hockey dreams. Having these three tournaments cancelled is pretty devastating for the athletes and teams who were set to compete at these events.

"Despite a strong desire to work with three great communities to host the top players at various levels across the country this season," Hockey Canada CEO Tom Renney made in a statement, "the health and safety of all participants and the communities at large continues to be of the utmost importance to Hockey Canada. The ongoing pandemic, in addition to the vaccination status of some international teams, has left us with no other option. We believe the decision to cancel these fall events is the safest decision given the ongoing uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic at a local level, as well as the uncertainty around countries and regions being able to safely compete."

I know I've been preaching this for what seems like forever now, but Tom Renney pointed out that the health and safety of the communities at large comes into play in these decisions, and that means that people within those communities should have already been vaccinated in anticipation of having the world come to play in their backyards. While Hockey Canada certainly can't mandate that, these events put communities like Dawson Creek, BC and Bridgewater, Nova Scotia on the map as future destinations for other tournaments, so it should have been stressed that those communities should be in the upper percentiles of cities near 100% vaccination.

The other side of the coin, as Renney pointed out, is that there are international teams who would be visiting that have different vaccination standards compared to Canada. Because of this, there's a greater risk of them potentially bringing the virus into those communities, and that's the last thing those communities need right now after having battled the pandemic here in Canada for so long. As a corporate neighbour, Hockey Canada has to look out for the communities in which it plays, and by cancelling the tournaments they have reduced the risk of international persons bringing the virus into Canada.

Why this is disappointing is this is the second-straight year where the National Women's Under-18 Championship has been cancelled. Having seen Team Manitoba play against the Bisons, there were lots of reasons to be excited for Manitoba's squad who were set to travel to Dawson Creek at the end of October, but that's not on the table any longer as a number of U18 players will miss the chance to be scouted by teams or seen by the school to which they committed while playing against the rest of the country's best U18 players. That sucks.

It would appear that the western Canadian hockey governing bodies aren't quite content with this decision, though. According to a Hockey Manitoba statement on the cancellations, "Hockey Manitoba, along with the other three Western Branches (Hockey Saskatchewan, Hockey Alberta, and BC Hockey), are in the process of exploring all potential options to operate an event that can fill the gap left by the cancellation of the National Women's Under-18 Championship."

If these four governing bodies can come up with a solution based on the growing number of cases of COVID-19 in BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, I'm all for it, but let's not rush to do anything just to say we did it. If those three provinces can get their pandemic numbers in order with significant reductions in cases, I'd be more inclined to have them put a tournament together. Whatever the case may be, these four provinces should follow Hockey Canada's lead in ensuring whatever community hosts the tournament has public health concerns put at the top of the priority list.

If the ladies from western Canada do get to play, it will be a huge benefit for all involved as a number of these girls missed last year's tournament due to the pandemic, and it appeared they would miss it again this year. My hope is that the four hockey governing bodies come up with something because Hockey Canada, while erring on the side of caution, really is doing the players it represents a serious disservice by cancelling these tournaments outright.

I'm not one to complain about being safe, but how do we make up the months and years lost to these players? That's the question Hockey Canada must now answer because they're truly making it impossible for kids to follow their dreams.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!