American players in many cases are sitting at home thinking they will be receiving some kind of special treatment to cross the border and head north to Canada and play. Those players are simply either delusional or receiving bad information from coaches or advisers.
The Canadian people want nothing to do with the explosive COVID-19 numbers being reported in the United States.
The leading epidemiologist at the University of Toronto Colin Furness in an inveriew with the CBC said;
“My guess is it’s going to have to stay closed for more than 12 months. It’s hard to imagine what’s going to happen in the United States until we have a vaccine or until the population has been sufficiently infected that you have herd immunity.” CBC News this week.
More than fifty percent of Canadians have said they do not want the border open with the United States before the New Year or before a vaccine is made available.
Meanwhile, for those Americans who have been able to cross the border, they have driven Canadian public opinion to a more negative sentiment by breaking quarantine rules. A Minnesota couple was recently caught breaking the two week quarantine rule and fined $1000 each plus a “victim surcharge” of $135.
Canada is now looking to close the loophole that allows Americans to travel through Canada to Alaska because Americans have been spotted and caught trying to sight see and in some cases caught trying to rent hotel rooms.
Still think its going to be ok and you of course will be given special permission to cross the border and play hockey? This is what Doug Ford the Premier of Ontario thinks;
In an interview with WBFO in Buffalo New York, Ford said his province has taken a very cautious approach to reopening. Ford referred to one day last week, when the United States posted 36,000 new cases. He said, by comparison, all of Canada had only 300 cases.
“Even if we multiplied that 300 by 10, that’s only 3,000 versus 36,000,” Ford said. “So I guess what I’m saying is, that’s the comparison…being cautious…..versus reckless approach, in my opinion, south of the border, where everyone just goes hog wild and don’t worry about anything. Well, that’s come back to bite ‘em.”
The U.S. numbers also prompted Ford to reinforce his support for keeping the U.S.-Canada border closed beyond July 21. Ford said that date is far too early, adding he does not believe Canada is ready to welcome people from south of the border.
That is the Canadian view of the United States. Reckless.
Anyone who thinks Canadian families will want to house or billet American players this year is simply out of their minds.
British Columbia Premier John Horgan is calling for the international border to stay closed until the U.S. gets control of COVID-19.
These are arguably to two most powerful and influential Premier’s in Canada who are helping to create Canadian policy with Prime Minister Trudeau.
Now I am sure there are many of you who still don’t want to believe the truths that are right in front of your faces. Some of you who simply think because hockey is so important to Canada that they will make special exceptions for American players to go up and play.
Canada will play hockey because it is part of their culture. They just wont play with Americans, and in the end Canadian people don’t care.
Those of you who think that its just got to happen, will likely not be playing hockey any time soon. With less than 60 days to go before the traditional start to training camps, there is simply no way that Canada is opening to Americans in that time frame. If you think October is possible, you are equally delusional.
Why would I be saying this? Because teams in the United States are filling rosters pretty quickly. More Canadian and American players are signing to play junior hockey in Europe than ever before as well.
What happens when those rosters are full and you don’t have a position secured? Exactly what is happening now. You’re not playing hockey.
For those of you who are ready to create an alternative plan, my email is below. For those of you still waiting for Canada to open its doors, I hope you have a comfortable chair and plenty of snacks because its going to be a while.
Joseph Kolodziej – Adviser
