More travel issues for the QMJHL

Two more Maritimes Division teams are officially on a break from game play.

The Charlottetown Islanders and Halifax Mooseheads will both be unable to play home or away games due to travel restrictions that were confirmed on Tuesday. They join the Moncton Wildcats and Saint John Sea Dogs as Maritime clubs currently on the sidelines due to restrictions.

The restrictions for Prince Edward Island and the Halifax area will last for at least two weeks and then be reevaluated. The Moncton and Saint John regions are both in the orange phase for an undetermined amount of time.

The Mooseheads did not play this past Saturday and postponed Wednesday's scheduled game after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19.

Due to the temporary restrictions on gatherings by @nsgov due to COVID-19, @HFXMooseheads games from now until at least Dec 9 will be postponed to a future date. We will share updates as soon as we have more information. For ticketing inquiries, contact @TicketAtlantic

— Scotiabank Centre (@ScotiabankCtr) November 24, 2020

The Islanders, meanwhile, appeared poised to play this Wednesday on home ice, announcing Monday they had received an exemption from the provincial government to continue playing. The province said in a since deleted social media post Monday night that the Islanders had in fact not been granted any kind of exemption. On Tuesday morning, the Isles confirmed that they would not be playing any games while PEI remains outside the Atlantic Bubble.

Positive case numbers continue to creep up in the Saint John and Moncton areas - although at a slower pace than what we saw a few days ago. At a news conference on Tuesday, provincial health officials said there would be more positive cases in the coming days, which doesn't bode well for a quick return to the yellow phase.

The Cape Breton Eagles and Acadie-Bathurst Titan are the only Maritimes Division clubs with no sort of travel restrictions currently in place. The two are separated by a quick 670 km, making frequent head-to-head contests a challenge.

It appears we've reached the point - yet again - where the question needs to be asked: is it time to just shut this thing down for a while?

Once the Quebec City bubble ends on Friday (and assuming local restrictions for the seven teams inside have not changed), only the Titan, Eagles, Val-d'Or Foreurs, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, Baie-Comeau Drakkar and Rimouski Oceanic will be permitted to play QMJHL games. That's six of 18 teams.

You have to respect the QMJHL for continuing to push this season forward despite a lot of obstacles. But we all know that things are heading in the wrong direction and will continue to head that way for, at best, a few more weeks. This might be the point where hitting the brakes and trying again in January is the best option.