Trouble in the (sort of) bubble

Andre Emond/QMJHL

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's "protected environments" hit their first major problem this week.

On Tuesday the league announced that a Victoriaville Tigres player had tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the team to leave the Chicoutimi environment and enter into a 14-day isolation period.

On Wednesday, the league delivered more bad news: a total of four Tigres players have tested positive and the Chicoutimi Sagueneens, who played Victoriaville twice last weekend, have been placed into a 14-day isolation period as a precaution.

The announcements mean the Chicoutimi environment will end with Wednesday's Val-d'Or/Gatineau game.

It's the first significant hiccup for these "protected environments," which had been very successful up until this point. The isolation periods will impact the next round of these mini-hubs as well, which are scheduled to begin Feb. 12 in Quebec City, Shawinigan and Victoriaville.

Also on Wednesday, the National Women's Hockey League, which was holding a protected environment event in Lake Placid, ended its season due to COVID outbreaks. This news, along with the QMJHL's, further goes to show that true bubbles seem to be the best method for getting games played safely without interruptions.

The QMJHL has wisely never referred to its protected environments as bubbles.

NWHL commissioner Ty Tumminia preferring "restrictive access environment" over "bubble" in reference to Lake Placid setup.

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) February 3, 2021

All of this comes as COVID cases continue to pile up in the NHL.

There are five new #mnwild players, three new #njdevils players and two new #letsgobuffalo players on the #NHL’s Covid-19 list today. pic.twitter.com/2afxBNcM3B

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) February 3, 2021

Things could certainly be a lot better right now.

It's still unclear when the three New Brunswick based QMJHL teams could resume playing. There's no doubt that the league and the province are trying to figure something out for games to get going again, especially with the Moncton area seemingly getting close to joining Saint John and Bathurst in the orange.

The Maritime Junior Hockey League's Fredericton Red Wings said in a email Wednesday morning that they "cannot play any games while in the orange phase so we have to wait until that is complete to restart. But the boys are still in the gym and practicing every day. We will be ready to go."