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Lockdown puts Orillia Terriers' hockey season on ice — again

'Nobody wants to be the league to pull the pin and say it’s over, but at the same time, to continue to set dates seems silly,' concedes Terriers GM
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The Jr. C Orillia Terriers wore masks last month when they visited the Alliston Hornets for exhibition action. This photo also provides a sneak peek at the Terriers' new uniforms they plan to unveil in the future.

Officials with the Orillia Terriers Jr. C hockey club are remaining hopeful that there will be a 2020/21 season, but optimism continues to fade as the Provincial Junior Hockey League (PJHL) has delayed the start of the season for the third time.

Due to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases across the province, the PJHL has yet to announce a new target date since delaying the previous goal of dropping the puck on the season Feb. 1.

“Nobody wants to be the league to pull the pin and say it’s over, but at the same time, to continue to set dates seems silly,” said Terriers general manager Andrew McDonald.

“We are supportive of all this, we know that health needs to take precedence over hockey, it’s a horrible situation, but we have to protect our players, our fans, and ourselves," the GM told OrilliaMatters.

Before the lockdown put a halt to hockey operations on Dec 26, the Terriers played a six-game exhibition series with the Alliston Hornets under the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit’s COVID-19 regulations and were also practising twice a week.

McDonald says the small sample size of what they saw from their group was as promising as an Orillia Terriers team has ever looked.

“We have a young team who was going against the Alliston Hornets, who are a perennial top eight team in Ontario. There were no blowouts, and they were all one-goal games,” McDonald explained.

“I would say we are a good, fast, skilled hockey team. This is the best team the Terriers have ever had, and this would be our year," he said.

The Terriers remain optimistic that they will be able to compete for the Schmalz Cup later this year, but time is certainly not on their side.

“I don’t know if we will play for a Schmalz this year, but you never know. If, by late February, things start to improve, I don’t see why we couldn’t have at least a division championship and make the best of a really bad situation,” McDonald said.  

“I would say if we can be underway by mid-March at the latest, we could play all our opponents at least twice, in order to set up some sort of playoff.”

But for now, while the province remains under a lockdown, the Terriers and everyone else in the PJHL will have to play the wait-and-see game, which is a difficult pill for players to swallow.

“It’s tough for these young guys, there is way more going on in their minds than hockey right now, but I think they used hockey as their passion and safe place,” McDonald said.

“Being in contact with my players since the lockdown, the only question from them is, when are we coming back?”

McDonald says during Terriers practices the players were having a blast. It was a way for them to escape the mental stresses brought on by the pandemic.

“There was a lot of smiling faces, a lot of hooting and hollering, they were way too happy to just be at practice,” he said.

“They want to get back, they want to skate, they don’t care if it’s games or not ... they just want to get back to the rink.”

McDonald says the moment restrictions are eased and the health unit gives them the nod to do so, the Terriers will be back on the ice practising and preparing for a season.

“We want our fans to stay safe and stay patient, the Terriers and the PJHL will be back, it’s just a matter of time and safety,” McDonald said.


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Tyler Evans

About the Author: Tyler Evans

Tyler Evans got his start in the news business when he was just 15-years-old and now serves as a video producer and reporter with OrilliaMatters
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