Memorial Cup cancelled again

The Memorial Cup will not be awarded for a second straight season.

The Canadian Hockey League announced the inevitable on Tuesday afternoon, cancelling the championship tournament due to COVID-19. This year's edition was scheduled to take place June 17-27 - it's typically held in late May - in either Oshawa or Sault Ste. Marie.

From the CHL:

The Canadian Hockey League, in association with our three member leagues, the Western Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League, and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, has made the very difficult decision to cancel the 2021 Memorial Cup.

“The CHL is committed to the health and safety of our players, their families and billets, our teams, staff and officials, and the communities in which we play. That has driven all of our difficult decisions for the last year as we have dealt with this global pandemic,” said CHL President Dan MacKenzie. “The decision was made based on the limitations on travel, border restrictions, and quarantining requirements that would make it impossible to produce league champions.”

The Memorial Cup is steeped in tradition and is one of the most difficult trophies to win in all of sport. The CHL looks forward to presenting it next season to the championship club that has earned the right to hoist it.

Further decisions regarding the timing and location of the 2022 Memorial Cup will be announced at a later date.

Last year's tournament, which was supposed to be held in Kelowna, was also cancelled to COVID-19. The 2022 edition will be hosted by a QMJHL city if the league maintains its current rotation - which was not confirmed in the news release.

Notebook: Quiet week ahead in the Maritimes

There will not be any QMJHL games played in the Maritimes this weekend.

The three New Brunswick teams won't resume action until next week (again, fingers crossed) while the Halifax Mooseheads are out of action until late March due to COVID restrictions in the HRM. On Sunday, the Charlottetown Islanders joined the Mooseheads on the shutdown list.

From the league:

The Government of Prince Edward Island announced (Saturday) new COVID-19 measures to control the current outbreak. These include restrictions on hockey games that won’t be permitted until March 14th. 

Therefore, the Charlottetown Islanders will not be able to compete for the upcoming two weeks. With Charlottetown and Halifax on pause, the Cape Breton Eagles will also have to take a break from competition for the same period of time.

The Islanders, Mooseheads and Eagles had been playing each other for several weeks with no disruptions. If there's any positive out of this break it's that the three New Brunswick teams should be able to gain a bit of ground in terms of games played.

It's still unclear when - or even if - all six Maritimes Division teams will be able to travel freely around the three provinces.

CAJKOVIC DEBUTS

Maxim Cajkovic recorded an assist in his Val-d'Or Foreurs debut on Saturday.

The former Sea Dogs forward, who spent the first half of the season in his home country of Slovakia, appeared in his first QMJHL game since March 7 of last year. The Tampa Bay Lightning prospect added five shots in the Foreurs' 4-3 overtime win over the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada.

The Sea Dogs traded Cajkovic to the Foreurs during last summer's QMJHL Entry Draft. Entering play Monday, Val-d'Or had a record of 19-2-2-2 and had won eight straight.

OHL start pushed; four Q teams return

Ontario Hockey League teams will have to wait a few more months to begin their 2020-21 seasons (or... is it just 2021 season now?).

While the OHL has not confirmed the reports, both Sportsnet's Jeff Marek and TSN's Darren Dreger have reported that the start of the league's season has been pushed to Feb. 4.

- 1 or 2 exhibition games Jan 29 - 31 then right into the season.
- There was no talk about what happens with U.S teams.
- No details about how how games/schedule will be determined but it is believed teams may only play against 4 or 5 other squads.

— Jeff Marek (@JeffMarek) October 28, 2020

The league had been aiming for a Dec. 1 start, a date that was looking more and more unlikely by the day given the steady rise of COVID-19 cases in many parts of Ontario. Still, the Feb. 4 date is a bit of a surprise given the WHL's plan to start in early January.

Marek added that, under this format, the OHL's season would end May 14 - two weeks later than the league had announced in August.

The Memorial Cup host, meanwhile, still has not been announced. It is, for the time being, scheduled to be hosted by either Oshawa or Sault Ste. Marie from June 17-27.

Notes: Catching up on COVID

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The Portland Winterhawks situation may not exactly be a sign of things to come, but it's not great news, either.

The Western Hockey League club made news this week with a surprising announcement, confirming its ownership had filed for bankruptcy, meaning the club would be put up for sale. The news is concerning given that the Winterhawks are one of junior hockey's most successful franchises both on and off the ice. Portland averaged 5,540 fans per game this past season.

"This bankruptcy has more to do with owner Bill Gallacher’s issues in the gas and oil industry and having to file Chapter 11 for his parent company than anything to do with the Winterhawks," TSN's Bob McKenzie reported on Insider Trading this week. While this may be a rare situation for the time being, there are still concerns about what the COVID-19 pandemic may do to some junior franchises.

"Junior hockey needs to put people in the stands for people to see the games and for junior hockey to be successful," said McKenzie. "If there’s no fans in the stands for 2021, there may not be any junior hockey to speak of and that could dramatically financially impact a lot of owners then. But, for now, it’s a one off."

CHL president Dan MacKenzie did a Q&A with Sportsnet this week and was asked about the possibility of teams playing games with no fans in attendance.

"We normally would not contemplate playing games without fans in our buildings as it would make the economics very hard for our teams," said MacKenzie. "Having said that, these are extraordinary times and we are going to explore all options and will re-examine whether playing with a limited number of fans is feasible."

The idea of playing in empty buildings continues to look like a non-starter for CHL clubs. MacKenzie's wording would seem to indicate that the idea of playing games with limited capacities is not an impossible idea, though. There's still tons of challenges with this concept - how do people get in/out of the building, how will the concourse work, etc. - but it's an idea that may be able to get junior hockey started again in the fall/winter if the coronavirus remains a threat.