The puck will drop once again on Okotoks Oilers hockey with the AJHL getting provincial approval to return to the ice for a three-month season.
Alberta Health Services granted approval for the Alberta Junior Hockey League to resume its 2020-21 season after three months on pause with players, coaches and support staff currently self-isolating in preparation for training camp at the beginning of March with games getting underway exclusively on weekends until the end of May.
“We are grateful for the guidance provided by Alberta Health Services and our Chief Medical Officer in developing the protocols required to safely resume the season for our athletes,” said AJHL Commissioner Ryan Bartoshyk in a release. “Thank you to the Government of Alberta for the opportunity to allow our athletes to develop and excel here in Alberta, and to all 15 AJHL teams for the significant dedication to your players and communities across the province.”
The AJHL has been on pause since Nov. 24 provincial health regulations were put in place restricting team sports. The Oilers were able to get in three regular season games, posting a 3-0 record, prior to being sidelined in the middle of November due to a pair of positive COVID-19 cases on the team at that time.
With this return to play plan, the AJHL teams have committed to using private PCR testing through DynaLIFE, which was utilized in the NHL and World Junior bubble in Edmonton, on a weekly basis through the remainder of the season and twice before the beginning of training camp, the league release stated.
Players will need to have two negative COVID-19 tests and assurances that they are asymptomatic through the SureHire Risk Assessment Program before proceeding to training camp. If any member of the AJHL cohort tests positive at any point during the season the team will be required to self-isolate and suspend in person activity for a 14-day period.
It’s a welcome bit of news for Okotoks' 2000-born players – forwards Gibb Coady, Zane Kindrachuk, Brandon Machado, blueliners Coltan Wilkie, Tanner Sawka and netminder Brady Parker – in what’s their last season of junior eligibility.
“It’s nice to get to play hockey again and finish my 20-year-old year and play a little bit,” Coady said. “I’m sure all the other 20s feel like that too and I’m sure they were all worried that it wasn’t going to happen.
“But it’s nice to be where we are now.”
Coady, who has been staying in game shape using a home gym and skating on a pond near his home in Okotoks, said the players have been isolating in preparation for the announcement of a return to play.
“It should be great to get back in the rinks and start playing some games here,” Coady said. “I’m pretty excited and I know that probably the whole team is pumped for it.
“We were basically told to be ready and be patient. We were told that it was most likely going to happen so we’ve just been waiting for the official go. As soon as they found out the Alberta teams would be playing at least in the Dub (WHL) we were all thinking if they get to play, we’re probably going to get to play.”
Okotoks will have a different look in their return as star forwards Louis Jamernik and Jack Works both moved on to the NCAA with North Dakota and Denver, respectively, for the second half of the 2020-21 season.
Spectators are not allowed at AJHL games at this time with broadcasts of all games available on HockeyTV.
Both the AJHL and Western Hockey League have been granted approval by the Province to resume game play, with the WHL’s five teams in Alberta sticking within the provincial borders for a 24-game campaign beginning on Feb. 26.
Junior B, C and Senior league seasons were cancelled officially by Hockey Alberta earlier this month.
Schedule information for the AJHL has not yet been released. For the latest info go to ajhl.ca.
