Hope for high school hockey fades

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This article was published 30/09/2020 (1811 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you were hoping for clarity on the future of the varsity boys high school hockey season in Winnipeg, you would have been disappointed Wednesday.

With Hockey Manitoba poised Thursday to enter Phase 3 of its return-to-play protocol during the COVID-19 pandemic, indecision at the school division level has thrown the season into turmoil.

“I’ve given them until (Friday) to either rescind their participation, if they’ve already agreed to do so, or to get on board,” said Winnipeg High School Hockey League commissioner Dana Gordon. “So, I still have nothing. No response for the Winnipeg 1 schools and from Pembina Trails, I’ve only heard of from some of their schools. There’s still a bunch of outliers.”

As of last week, representatives of 12 schools had declared their intention to play in 2020-21: Oak Park, Fort Richmond, St. John’s-Ravenscourt, Garden City, West Kildonan, Sturgeon Heights, Westwood, John Taylor, Lord Selkirk, Steinbach Regional, Lorette and Linden Christian. 

Gordon would not say how many teams remained committed.

The WHSHL had 37 teams in 2019-20 but those numbers were trimmed by 12 when the River East Transcona and Louis Riel school divisions opted out last week. In addition, St. James Assiniboia has put its schools on pause for sports until Oct. 15.

“The one thing I can say is that I’ve told the teams that by committing to this league, you are understanding that our league has the biggest risk of not completing a season,” said Gordon. “Because we’re the mercy of the schools and if the schools just cancel their sporting programs halfway through the season, then your kids will have nowhere to play because it’s too late to go anywhere else.”

Gordon would not commit to a minimum number of teams needed to play a season. At the earliest, she said league play would begin in early November.

“We’re not folding our league,” she said. “It would be up to the school divisions to pull out and the coaching teams to make that decision once they see what’s left. For right now, we will probably end up with fewer than half of our teams.”

Meanwhile, the Zone 4 varsity boys league is likely to be mothballed with Portage, Morris, Pembina, Mountain and Carman opting out and W.C. Miller (Altona) on pause until January. Northlands Parkway (Winkler) is short players and unlikely to ice a team, leaving Garden Valley (Winkler) and Morden as the only remaining undeclared schools.

In the Westman High School Hockey League, varsity boys teams from Crocus Plains, Vincent Massey (Brandon), Dauphin, Boissevain, Souris, Killarney-Wawanesa, Reston-Elkhorn-Melita-Pierson, McCreary-Alonsa and Deloraine-Hartney are the only committed teams from the original 20.

The Glenboro-Carberry-Baldur combined squad and Neepawa withdrew Wednesday while Swan Valley has delayed a decision until next week. Organizers hope to schedule regular-season games from Nov. 1 to Dec. 18 with a post-Christmas plan to be unveiled at a later date.

Elsewhere, the Winnipeg Women’s High School Hockey League is considering a plan to forge ahead with league play with a reduced number of teams.

So far, five of the 28 teams have committed to play and WWHSHL president Lynne Syrenne-Habeck said she would meet with the executive next week to make a decision about league play.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14