Central Plains Capitals take leave of absence from U18 AAA league

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This article was published 21/09/2021 (1832 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Central Plains Capitals, members of the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League since 1989-90, have pulled the plug on their season.

You can blame the pandemic and a declining number of eligible hockey players in the region for that.

“It was an extremely difficult decision, obviously,” said Capitals manager Nancy Funk by telephone from Portage la Prairie Tuesday. “We’ve been talking about it for a few days pretty intensely but we were hoping that there would be some kind of heroes come in at the 11th hour and hopefully it would be able to round out the roster. But it just didn’t happen this year.”

Head coach Len Dupasquier had as many as 16 players turned out for tryouts earlier this month. The process was supposed to wrap up Monday but the final on-ice session was cancelled.

Funk estimated the club needed six or seven more AAA-calibre players to ice a competitive team. Normally, late cuts from AAA tryouts in Winnipeg are asked to transfer.

“There’s not a whole lot of kids in those in those age groups (2005 and 2006 birth years),” said Funk. “I’m not even sure overall if they’re playing hockey but certainly not at the AAA level or that they are interested in playing at the AAA level.

“And so that obviously doesn’t help your numbers and maybe COVID played a part for some kids, I’m not sure. Typically we can round out a roster with some imports from the Winnipeg region and we just didn’t get enough this year to make that happen.”

With the Capitals taking a one-year leave of absence, the league will forge ahead with 12 teams including the Kenora (Ont.) Thistles. The regular season opens with three games Friday.

Commissioner Levi Taylor admitted his league wasn’t exempt from the effects of the lower hockey registration numbers across the province during the pandemic.

“I think it might be a combination of (mask guidelines and) the other side of the spectrum where, at least in part, families are uncomfortable attending facilities with large amounts of people,” aid Taylor. “Maybe that’s a combination of both sides… of the political spectrum.”

Taylor said the majority of the league’s players are vaccinated although the league does not require it.

“Since Day 1 of the pandemic have continued to follow public health guidelines,” he said. “So, public health has deemed it OK for unvaccinated players who are under 18 to attend recreation facilities. They’ve weighed the pros and cons of restricting sports to vaccinated players and they’ve deemed it such that unvaccinated children should be able to participate in the sports.”

Central Plains players still wanting to play at the AAA level will get their release to play for another association. Funk and Dupasquier have been trying to find those players alternate places to play.

The Caps hope to return next season but Funk suggested a more permanent solution to the supply of players is needed.

“Ultimately what needs to happen is that there needs to be a review of the (catchment) boundaries for Hockey Manitoba,” said Funk. “Central Plains and Interlake are in the same boat. We just don’t have the population. We need some changes made to boundaries in order to give us a little bit more population to draw from.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14