NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN - Medicine Hat Hounds defenceman Cole Rath blocks a shot in front of goaltender Nate Hoffman during their South Central Alberta Hockey League midget AA South final matchup against the Wheatland Chiefs on Sunday, March 8 at Moose Recreation Centre. The SCAHL's best-of-three league final was canceled Thursday due to growing concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.
rmccracken@medicinehatnews.com@MHNMcCracken
When you lace up your skates to compete in a league championship series, it’s typically under the assumption that it will end with a win or a loss.
On Thursday evening, the Medicine Hat Hounds midget AA hockey team met a third outcome.
Much like the rest of the sporting world, the South Central Alberta Hockey League was forced to cancel the remainder of its best-of-three league championship due to growing concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.
“There were a lot of disappointed faces,” said Hounds head coach Randy Wong. “For Hockey players, we’re wired so bloody aggressively and we’re not ready to quit because we’re playing in a league final and hoping that we’ve got provincials in a couple weeks. That just basically got wiped out. It’s a huge disappointment but I think everybody understands the severity of what’s going on. It’s hard to argue that it shouldn’t be cancelled.”
The first whispers of cancellation came after both the Hounds and the Red Deer Elks had arrived at the Kinplex to kick off the series Thursday. The teams went ahead with Game 1 anyway, even under the growing assumption that no champion would be crowned. Red Deer cruised to a 5-0 win, though Wong says his players had a hard time rising to the occasion.
“It was a strange day,” said Wong. “We knew going into that game that this was probably going to be the last one. Our guys didn’t really take it that well.”
The day was a whirlwind experience for everyone, as leagues small and large began cancelling events and suspending seasons in a nearly all-encompassing domino effect, the likes of which the world had never seen before.
“All the spring camps that these guys got invites to, those are all cancelled,” said Wong. “Lethbridge had some AAA midget tryouts slated for early May and we were going to have ice for the guys to keep preparations for them so they would be in shape to go to that. We were going to continue all the way until the end of April to give those guys an opportunity to stay in shape.”
Wong added it was especially difficult for his eight veteran players, as their hopes of a second consecutive provincial championship were dashed through incredibly rare circumstances.
“Guys like Caleb Irvine, Cam Hall, Connor Miller, Nate Hoffman, Kyden Moore, those five were with us last year when we went all the way,” he said. “They were hugely disappointed last night after the game because they kind of knew it was the last one.”
The Hounds aren’t alone. The U Sports hockey championships – which featured former Medicine Hat Tigers captain Mark Rassell in the mix for a repeat title with the University of New Brunswick’s Varsity Reds – was also cancelled Thursday evening.
On Friday, the Medicine Hat Riptide had their trip to the Western Canadian Ringette Championships called off, with the WCRC governance committee opting to cancel the tournament in Prince George due to the spread of the virus. Ringette Alberta also made the decision to cancel all events Friday, reversing its announcement from Thursday that provincial tournaments would move forward without fans.
As for how long the varied postponements and suspensions will last, only time will tell. The Canadian Hockey League remains optimistic, announcing Friday they still hope to hold the Memorial Cup as scheduled.
Wong shares that optimism.
“I think there’s still hope that next week there’s a window opening, maybe Hockey Canada will lift something and something else can happen as far as maybe camps get reintroduced again,”said Wong. “But I think (Thursday) night was so weird because the hours that went by and the changes that happened within that time frame were so quick and fairly drastic, that we’re going ‘Holy cow, this is going to get worse before it gets better.'”
