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| QB Mason Nyhus won’t get to throw the ball in 2020 for the Huskies. |
These are
the types of realities that play out in the face of the coronavirus (COVID-19)
pandemic.
Last
Thursday, Hockey Canada resumed its national sanctioning of all events
conducted under its umbrella. The sport body has suspended sanctioning events
back on March 13 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With Hockey
Canada giving its stamp of approval for hockey events, it was expected many
other sports bodies would follow suit. Due to the resources Hockey Canada has
at its disposal to make decisions, most other minor sports bodies in Canada
look to the national hockey body for cues on how to move forward on unexpected
difficulties like a pandemic.
On Monday,
U Sports ventured down a different path cancelling all of its 2020 fall
national championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The championships included
women’s field hockey, men’s and women’s cross-country running, men’s and women’s
soccer, women’s rugby and football.
The
football cancellation includes the Vanier Cup national title game and the
semifinal contests in the Mitchell Bowl and Uteck Bowl. The Vanier Cup had been
contested in every year starting with 1965.
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| Adam Machart won’t get to run the ball for the Huskies in 2020. |
“Although
the Canadian sport system is working together to create evidence-based return
to training, practice and competition protocols, it is not currently feasible
or safe due to the COVID-19 pandemic for U Sports to be able to offer fall
championships given the academic realities of student-sport,” said U Sports
chief medical officer and representative on the Own the Podium Return to Sport
Task Force Dr. Taryn Taylor in a release.
“We continue
to work with public health officials across the country to examine
possibilities for return to play for the winter 2021 term.”
On top of
those announcements, the conferences of Atlantic University Sport and Ontario
University Athletics announced all varsity sports will shut down for the
remainder of 2020.
The Canada
West Conference cancelled play in all team sports through to the end of 2020.
Canada West will determine the fates of conference championships in
men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s cross-country running and men’s and
women’s swimming to be held in fall by July 15.
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| Nicholas Dheilly (#99) won’t be in action for the Huskies in 2020. |
Student-athletes
without U Sports national championships this season will not be charged
eligibility and will remain eligible for athletic scholarships.
The Reseau
du sport etudiant du Quebec (RSEQ) is the only U Sports conference still
contemplating plans for the 2020-21 campaign.
The
University of Saskatchewan Huskies teams and the University of Regina athletics
programs play out of Canada West.
With the U
Sports release raising safety concerns, it will put pressure on other leagues
and sports bodies to follow suit.
For a lot
of people involved in the minor sports world, a lot of confusion has been created.
While the cancellations
have occurred in U Sports, you have gyms and elite sports training centres
opening in Saskatchewan to clients on Monday. Ice has been installed in some
hockey rinks that have fitness centres attached to them and players have been
taking part in on-ice skill sessions.
It does
create questions about how you can have different messages coming from various
sports bodies.
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| Nelson Lokombo won’t make interceptions for the Huskies in 2020. |
Back in
April, University of Alberta athletics director Ian Reade put out a letter to
coaches, sponsors, donors, volunteers and alumni that his athletics program could
be short $2,500,000 for the 2020-21 fiscal year because of the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Most
university programs have major revenue shortfalls in not being able to hold
summer sports camps or dinner or breakfast type fundraisers due to restrictions
against mass gatherings. Sponsorships have dried up due to the economic
uncertainty created by the pandemic.
A lot of
institutions will have students studying online for the fall semester, which
means the recreation fees that are collected to help fund the varsity athletic
teams will be cut.
It should
be noted that most sports teams and sports organizations in Canada are dealing
with challenges presented by dried up revenue streams causing major fiscal
shortfalls. A lot of sports teams and organizations will face major “play or
not to play” decisions, and those decisions will revolve around funding.
 |
| There won’t be Huskies TD celebrations in 2020. |
It has been
bantered about in Saskatchewan sports circles that pandemic travel protocols
medical health officials want to see from teams includes each player, coach and
team staffer having their own hotel room on the road and only 15 people allowed
per bus.
It is likely
sports leagues and teams that play regionally inside a province will return to
action.
As the
COVID-19 pandemic has no end in sight, sports teams, leagues and minor sports
organizations will be focused to just try and stay alive until the decisions
makers in the medical fields and governments say an unrestricted return to play
is OK.
Time to rethink U Sports football age rule,
other notes
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| Colton Klassen was set to go into his fifth year with the Huskies. |
On Monday, U Sports cancelled its Vanier Cup national
championship game and its two semifinal bowls. Play has been nixed in three
conferences including the Canada West Conference, Atlantic University Sport and Ontario
University Athletics.
The Reseau
du sport etudiant du Quebec (RSEQ) is the only U Sports conference still
contemplating plans for the 2020-21 campaign.
U Sports
said student-athletes without U Sports national championships this season will
not be charged eligibility and will remain eligible for athletic scholarships.
Football is
the only athletic pursuit under the U Sports umbrella that has an age cap.
Players in football have seven years upon graduating from high school to
complete their five-year eligibility.
The rule is
designed to limit the age of athletes in football to under age 25.
The age cap rule resulted from a period of time in the late
1990s to the early to mid 2000s that saw players play five years in the
Canadian Junior Football League and then proceed to play five seasons in U
Sports. That created a situation where teams that won the Canada West
Conference were often veteran heavy in their starting ranks with players aged
26 to 27.
Teams in Atlantic University Sport had some older powerhouse
squads too due to recruiting hard from the CJFL.
Some of these older squads looked like semi-professional
teams.
 |
| QB Darryl Leason (#8) played for the U of Regina Rams at age 27. |
There were cries of foul from Ontario and Quebec over teams
stocking up with older veterans from the CJFL. That resulted the first change
in the eligibility rules for U Sports football, which saw players playing in
another post-secondary league in Canada charged with a year of U Sports
eligibility for every season playing in that other league beyond year two.
That meant a player going into his third season in the CJFL
would burn a year of U Sports eligibility. The current age cap rule was
introduced in 2014.
Due to the fact the COVID-19 pandemic has eliminated the
2020 U Sports football season for three conferences and the Vanier Cup
championship game, it might be time to eliminate the age cap rule. It might be
time to allow players in football the freedom to use up their eligibility like
any other sport in U Sports.
There is total uncertainty how sports in Canada will look
like after the COVID-19 pandemic including football.
Depending how long health officials and governments in Canada limit mass gatherings, it is entirely possible the CFL could fold.
Depending how long health officials and governments in Canada limit mass gatherings, it is entirely possible the CFL could fold.
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| Clovis Lumeka (#18) is set to enter his fifth year with the Huskies. |
In other words, the CFL is looking for $150-million in
financial assistance if its nine teams are unable to play the 2020 regular
season and playoffs.
The earliest the CFL is expected to kickoff is September,
and that scenario is entirely in doubt.
If that circuit can’t play in 2020 and ceases to exist, it
is a real possibility that it could fold.
If that occurs, Canada’s top level of football would be U
Sports football.
At the moment, the nixed football season at the U Sports
level will make some players hang up the cleats. Eliminating the age rule might
keep a few more of them in the game, which will be looking for a big rebound
when the COVID-19 pandemic ends.
- On Monday, Dustin Wolf of the WHL’s Everett Silvertips was announced as the winner of the CHL’s goaltender of the year award. Wolf, who played in his 18-year-old season with the Silvertips, posted a 34-10-2 record, a 1.88 goals against average, a .935 save percentage and nine shutouts in 46 regular season games in the 2019-20 campaign.
- On Tuesday, Prairieland Park announced the 2020 thoroughbred horse racing season at Marquis Downs has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Marquis Downs is the only live thoroughbred track in Saskatchewan.
- On Wednesday, the Saskatchewan Health Authority posted an online story that said the field hospital at Merlis Belsher Place will include 125 beds for COVID-19 patients if needed. Original plans for the field hospital announced in early April said it would have 250 beds.
- Time to pass on good luck wishes to Ken Wiebe, who was one of 46 people laid off by The Athletic last Friday. Wiebe had been with The Athletic for nine months and was previously with the Winnipeg Sun for 19 years. He had been a beat writer who covered the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets since the franchise relocated to the Manitoba capital from Atlanta, Georgia, in 2011. Wiebe is one of the great guys in the media industry, and he took time to write personal direct messages to a large number of people that wished him well. Now that is an example of pure class from my former University of Regina School of Journalism and Communications classmate.
If you have any
comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
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