Pause in external play impacts Windsor-Essex triple-A hockey players

Windsor, Ont. -

Dozens of Triple-A minor hockey players in Windsor-Essex are being told they will be unable to compete in external games for the next nine days.

The Minor Hockey Alliance of Ontario oversees more than 20 minor hockey associations across the province, including the Windsor AAA Zone and Sun County Panthers.

“We were pretty shocked to see this decision come down,” says head coach of the U16 Junior Spitfires team Matt Zuccato.

“We were supposed to play London tonight and Cambridge at home yesterday. We have some other teams in our organization that were going on the road to play a few games this weekend.”

Within the local association, there are eight teams, consisting of about 140 players, from younger kids to 17-year-olds. There are also dozens of players with the Sun County Panthers AAA Minor Hockey organization from Amherstburg, Tecumseh, Essex, Southpoint and Belle River.

“Our guys, it’s their draft year this year, so that extra excitement that we were able to start off our season on time? We played 19 games so far plus a couple of tournaments. We’re hoping that it is short term,” Zuccato explains.

Late Thursday evening, the alliance announced it is pausing all games until Dec. 26.

“External play applies to all Alliance Hockey scheduled rep and MD league games. With this said, teams may utilize scheduled ice times for internal practices. Every effort will be made to reschedule games where possible,” said a statement on the league’s website.

The league says some of the factors behind the decision include requests from families and coaches to pause the season and COVID-19 cases detected in some players throughout the league.

Officials with the Windsor AAA Zone tell CTV News there are no positive cases in its players.

In an email, the vice president of the Windsor AAA Zone says he does not believe parents wanted a pause on the season and this is “a tough pill to swallow especially after adhering to all of the guidelines and protocols.”

Zuccato says it’s disappointing after players and families followed all pandemic protocols and guidelines, noting practice is still possible. Zuccato says some parents have suggested waiting outside arenas if it allows players back on the ice.

“Maybe we don’t have fans in the stands if that helps, just to get our players back and playing,” he says.

Windsor Spitfires scout Andrew Sykes tells CTV News the decision to pause play is not ideal and will be even more disappointing if the upcoming Toronto Marlies tournament is canceled, but admits it’s still better than where they were at a year ago.

“We’ve been fortunate to see what we have so far,” says Sykes. “It’s a little bit of a speed bump right now but when things pick up again we’ll jump back into it.”

- With files from CTV Windsor's Chris Campbell