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| The Rockets have had their season halted by COVID-19. |
On Tuesday, the WHL announced there was a positive COVID-19 test to a hockey staff member of the Kelowna Rockets’ team cohort. As a result of this positive test, all team activities were suspended.
On Wednesday, more test results came in and six more members of the Rockets tested positive for COVID-19 including two hockey staff members and four players. The WHL also announced there were no other positive tests coming from the four other teams in the B.C. Division that are playing in the hub centres of Kelowna and Kamloops.
All team activities for the Rockets have been suspended for 14 days through to April 14.
After the first positive test came up on Tuesday, the Rockets players and hockey staff were immediately isolated and tested. That testing resulted in the positive tests that came out on Wednesday.
All close contacts have been instructed to self-quarantine and monitor for COVID-19 symptoms for 14 days.
Due to the Rockets having team activities suspended, the WHL postponed nine contests involving the Rockets along with Wednesday’s game between the Vancouver Giants and Prince George Cougars in Kamloops.
The WHL said the clash between the Giants and Cougars was postponed due to an abundance of caution.
The Rockets last game was on Sunday, when they were blanked by the Giants 6-0 in Kamloops. At the moment, the Rockets are next slated to play on April 17 against the Prince George Cougars in Kamloops.
On Thursday, the WHL announced another couple of schedule changes due to the fallout of the positive tests for the Rockets.
The WHL postponed an originally scheduled game between the Victoria Royals and Kamloops Blazers to be played in Kelowna. Instead, a clash between the Blazers and Cougars originally scheduled for Easter Sunday was rescheduled to be played Thursday in Kamloops.
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| Kaedan Korczak in action for the Rockets in 2019. |
The Rockets had played the Royals last Friday in Kelowna posting a 5-0 victory.
Back on March 18, the WHL announced there was a positive COVID-19 test in the Rockets team cohort during the initial return to play testing phase before the Rockets began their shortened 24-game regular season that is being held for developmental purposes.
The individual who tested positive and a close contact in the Rockets cohort entered into self-isolation. Due to the fact that positive test was discovered in initial testing, the rest of the Rockets team cohort were allowed to continue on in following the team’s return to play schedule and no games had to be postponed.
With the world still stuck in the grips of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the fact the WHL couldn’t avoid a positive test at some point doesn’t come as a surprise.
The bubble the B.C. Division teams are playing in isn’t exactly like the bubble the WHL’s East Division clubs are competing in at the Brandt Centre in Regina.
The seven teams in Regina are cut off from the public rooming in dorms at the University of Regina and Luther College.
In the B.C. Division bubble, the Rockets and Blazers players are staying with billet families. The Royals are cut off from the public staying at a hotel in Kelowna, and the Cougars and Giants are also cut off from the public staying in a hotel in Kamloops.
Even just the fact the Rockets weren’t totally cut off from the public increased the odds of a positive COVID-19 test, especially with more transmissible COVID-19 variants becoming a problem in Canada.
Props have to be given to the WHL and the Rockets for being as transparent as they have been with the positive tests.
It is safe to assume everyone associated with the Rockets were doing their best to try and avoid COVID-19. The positive tests were just one of those unfortunate things that happened.
WHL places 10 on Canada’s under-18 team for
worlds
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| Nolan Allan in action for the Raiders in 2019. |
Nixed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the under-18 worlds are slated to run this year from April 26 to May 6 in Frisco and Plano, Texas.
On Thursday, Hockey Canada announced its 25-player roster for its under-18 team, which includes 10 players from the WHL.
Heading the list of WHL representatives is Regina Pats phenom centre Connor Bedard, who is the only player to be granted exceptional status to play in the WHL full-time at age 15. Bedard has points in all 11 regular season games he has played with the Pats posting eight goals, 12 assists and a plus-six rating in the plus-minus department.
Bedard had an assist on Thursday as the Pats fell 7-2 to the Brandon Wheat Kings playing in a bubble environment at the Brandt Centre in Regina. He will play his last game with the Pats on April 9 against the Wheat Kings.
Also cracking the Canadian roster is 17-year-old centre and Regina product Cole Sillinger. Sillinger is a member of the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers, but he was loaned to the Sioux Falls Stampede in the USHL.
That decision was made due to the uncertainty earlier in the 2020-21 campaign about the WHL playing a season. In 27 games with the Stampede, Sillinger has 21 goals, 20 assists and a plus-six rating. The Stampede is based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The Canadian roster also includes Prince Albert Raiders 17-year-old defenceman Nolan Allan, who is from Davidson, Sask.
Allan has played in all of the Raiders 10 games collecting one assist.
Prior to traveling to Frisco on April 17, players and staff will self-isolate at home starting on April 12 and will be tested for COVID-19 three times.
Upon arrival in Texas, all team personnel will quarantine for four days at a hotel before starting a pre-tournament camp on April 21. Canada will on take part in one pre-tournament contests slated for April 24 against Finland.
Canada opens its preliminary round schedule on April 27 taking on Sweden in Plano, Texas.
It should be noted that it probably doesn’t come as a surprise that this event is being played in Texas, because that state arguably operates with the loosest COVID-19 restrictions in the world.
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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