Not to rub salt in the open wounds, but someone needs to look in the mirror and start answering that question in Canada.
All spring and summer long in 2020 all I heard from players was;
“My Coach said we will be fine”, “My team said we will play a full season”, “My league said not to worry we will be playing no problem”, “My adviser told me to just wait and we will be playing later in the fall”.
Then when August turned into September, and September turned into October I began hearing;
“We will play a full season starting after Thanksgiving”, “We will be ready to go in November”, “Everything looks good for December”, and so on and so on.
Now it is January 2021. Can anyone in Canada please tell me how well all the Coach and Team predictions have gone for you?
How many of you have wasted a full season sitting at home waiting for something that was never going to happen?
How many of you refused to accept the alternative options that were presented to you last summer?
How many of you are going to do the same thing this spring and summer?
If you think this is over, or that it will be back to normal by September, you are once again drinking the kool-aide that turned out to be sugar free, tasteless and nothing but a bad joke.
Don’t get me wrong. Canada has done a better job than most of the world with COVID. If you think though, that Canada will be back to normal this year, you really are ignoring the facts.
Sure the United States has been a disaster for COVID. Yes, man players have tested positive and games have been postponed or delayed. But more than half the games in every league are being played without changing the rules of the game. Yes. Real hockey is being played.
Europe has had full seasons in most cases as well. Not one time has my team had to cancel a game in Poland. No travel interruptions, no changes in game rules of play.
So I am baffled as to why so many players did not take advantage of legitimate opportunity when it was available.
You know players can be loaned to other programs around the world by the team that owns your rights? You know that any Junior A team could have loaned you to a team in Europe and you could have returned if they began play?
Same in the United States.
Why do you think so many Major Junior teams loaned players to Europe? Do you think only they get that option?
This is where honesty from teams, and leagues needs to be looked at. This is where the actual knowledge of advisers needs to be examined. Because if your adviser didn’t know this, then he or she should be fired.
But hey, nearing mid January 2021, everything is going to be ok. Right?
Joseph Kolodziej – Adviser
