There are roughly two dozen teams in the United States at the Tier III level who are not playing. Full rosters, and not playing. They wont be playing any time soon either.
There are entire leagues in Canada with full rosters who are not playing. In Ontario there is not likely to be hockey before the 2021 season that we would call normal.
So, seven months into this pandemic, do you still think its going to be “OK”?
Anyone believing its going to be ok at this point who signed a contract with any organization who isn’t playing at this point, especially one that you have to pay to play, needs their head examined.
With teams testing positive already, games being rescheduled, and some leagues switching to a winning percentage formula for playoff seeding, you need to open your eyes and start making some better decisions.
Still think the Canadian border will open for American players? It is not going to happen.
Believe the rumors about American players being allowed into Canada? Why haven’t those player signings been reported on the transactions? Simple. It is illegal, and if teams are caught, they will be in serious trouble for helping Americans cross into Canada illegally.
So what’s the point of this article? The point is, that when it comes to hockey this year, you need to look out for yourself. Time to start making common sense decisions to solve a common sense pandemic problem.
Here is an example of someone thinking they don’t need to pay attention.
A player who has previously played for free in Canada, who can not get to Canada. He was offered a great opportunity on a pay to play team that is currently playing. The parent turned down the opportunity because his son is “too good” to pay to play. When in fact his son was a third line role player at the Tier II level.
This parent said he will wait for the border to open. Oh yes, and his son is twenty years old. So I wonder how that will work out for him?
Another player recently turned down an opportunity to play for a Tier III team that is currently playing games in order to stay on a Tier III team roster that is not playing games. Because the coach said there would be better scouting when they started playing games.
Meanwhile the team he is rostered on in New York has already been told they wont be playing any time soon, and scouts cant go to games now even if they were playing. I wonder how that will work out for him?
So, for those of you sitting at home and waiting. I strongly suggest you rethink your way of looking at things and take the opportunities that are presented to you before they no longer exist.
Joseph Kolodziej – Adviser
