Covid19 puts VIJHL in Mothballs as Panthers and Islanders split a pair of games

November 21, 2020
North Saanich, B.C.

The Panthers opened up their 14-game Cohort with the Kerry Park Islanders in a convincing 5-1 win on Tuesday evening in Mill Bay with the story of the night being the play of the 8, 9, 10 line and the solid netminding of Connor Svienson.  Josh Lingard, Tanner Wort and Riley Braun cashed in a combined 13 points on the evening and looked destructive each time out on the ice.  But on Friday night back in the friendly confines of the Panorama Recreation Centre, the Islanders turned the table.  Trailing 4-2 late in the final stanza the Panthers finally clicked for two quick markers to knot the contest at 4-4 and appeared to have all the momentum going into the final couple of minutes.  But the Islanders struck with only 2:01 left in the affair and then drained a 150 foot empty-netter with just 20 seconds left on the clock to get the last laugh with a 6-4 win.

The results now seem inconsequential.  Once the game was in the books, an announcement from viaSport regarding the BC Government Public Health Order seemed to shut down all games, an order that appears to fly in the face of the guidance issued by Dr. Bonnie Henry only 24 hours earlier.  Henry hand-directed that Teams would be allowed to play within their own Communities/Regions however viaSport has seemed to take a different track.  The following is put out by British Columbia Hockey Association:

Following an announcement from viaSport regarding the BC Government Public Health Order, it has been communicated that sport is permitted to operate under viaSport Phase 3 guidelines, with the exceptions of no spectators and no travel. Travel to, from and between communities for athletic activities like games, competitions, training and practices is prohibited under this order, unless it is within your local Minor Hockey Association (MHA) or your local BC Hockey member team or program. Therefore, all inter-association or inter-member games or activities that involve different communities should be paused until December 7, 2020. However, games scheduled between teams within the same MHA will be permitted to continue as scheduled, in accordance with cohort guidelines.
BC Hockey appreciates the monumental efforts of all our Members, volunteers, participants and parents in their continued commitment to delivering hockey safely within their communities, while contributing to the collective effort to reducing the impact of the second wave of COVID-19 in our province. With the focus of these guidelines emphasizing limiting non-essential travel it is important to embrace the ability to still deliver quality and safe Phase 3 programming to our athletes in their own communities. These guidelines will be in effect as of November 21 to December 7, 2020.

Panthers' General Manager Pete Zubersky had some pretty specific thoughts on the decision to shut down the game.  "I would love to see how decisions are made by the various Government Agencies.  I listened closely to Dr. Bonnie Henry on Thursday at 3:00 pm when she addressed the Province and once her address was over, I turned it off.  I have so much respect for Dr. Henry and her address was truly heartfelt and it made a significant impact on me.  I spoke to the Islanders' Owner/Coach Brandon Cox later that night and he let me know about some questions from reporters after the address.  I had turned it off and missed that part.  Apparently one reporter asked about Teams playing in their Communities/Regions and what that meant.  Cox said Dr. Henry responded that travelling for games from Powell River to Vancouver was not going to happen, and that games between North Island to South Island was not going to happen.  Overnight trips, that was not going to happen.  I could not agree more and this makes so much sense.  In fact, our League made this choice back in October when we split the VIJHL into two Divisions and decided to mitigate risk and the spreading of the virus by only playing in our respective regions.  And in hindsight, the decision was 100% correct and really was the right thing to do.  We all left Dr. Henry's address on Thursday happy that we would continue to play in our Communities/Regions.  And then on Friday we are told that viaSport has gone in a different direction and shut us all down.  It's important for the mental health of young adults - our players. Every single player in our League is hugely impacted by this decision, and that was clearly evident last night at the rink.  Archie Browning Arena (Victoria Cougars), and the George Pearkes Arena (Saanich Predators) are probably only 3-4 kilometers apart.  And so to ask the retorical question - Are these two locations really not in the same Community/Region?  This just does not make sense to me.  I know nothing about the science of the virus, however I do trust Dr. Henry and I believe she is at the top of the food chain for all of these decisions.  Why have her making these important decisions for the Government when other Government agencies simply go their own way.  It just makes no sense."

The Panthers will reset once again in practice until further direction from the Government.