Carleton Place Canadians call off rest of season due to pandemic uncertainty

By Alex Goudge

The Carleton Place Canadians are calling off the rest of their 2020-2021 season due to uncertainty around COVID-19 restrictions in the region. 

The decision comes from the team directly, and not from the Central Canadian Hockey League (CCHL).

According to the team's Head Coach and Owner Jason Clarke, the decision to suspend the remainder of the season comes following the Leeds, Grenville, and the Lanark District Health Unit's move into the province's 'red-control' restrictions.

The move into red status limits the team's ability to practice and play games, and Clarke says he didn't want to leave the players with uncertainty at this point in the season.

“We just thought, as a staff, that another two-to-three weeks of the waiting game, whether we could play or not — I just didn't think that was good for the kids — so we just decided to send everybody home,” Clarke explains in an interview with CityNews.

In a typical non-pandemic season, the Canadians would be in the middle of the playoffs at this time. The coach says it's disappointing the players won't be able to experience that this year, but he thinks it's a feat that they made it as far into the season as they did.

“If you were to ask the players and ask the staff at the beginning of August, when everyone arrived into town, that we'd be able to play hockey almost to the middle of March during a pandemic, I think everyone would have thought we're crazy.”

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