OHL SEASON ENDS BEFORE IT STARTS
The other day I posted a Facebook memory from 2015 which stated that my hockey broadcast season had ended after 47 OHL and AHL games. That was fairly typical for a year, depending on how the IceDogs were doing and when I added McMaster sports on TSN1150 to my broadcasting resume combined with the Bulldogs switching from the AHL to the OHL. This year? A total of zero games broadcasted, a number that was confirmed when the OHL officially shelved their 2020-2021 season with the hopes of a full sleight of games in the Fall. If I had to wager, I'd bank on a late September/Early October start which would be about two weeks later than usual. There certainly is a TON of off season work that the OHL needs to do.
There's no need to cover old arguments or even attempt to play the blame game here. While we can quibble about the lack of communication between the OHL, the media and the general public I fully believe Commissioner David Branch's accounting of the timeline when he said that the OHL was close to a return to play announcement before COVID-19 variants took hold and launched us into the 3rd wave. That said there is a bottom line here and that is the fact that the Western Hockey League and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League got meaningful game action in. Does that put their prospects ahead of the Ontario Hockey League? Only time will tell. A handful of draft eligible prospects will ply their trade at the U18 in Texas, and some got game action over in Europe. The rest might be hanging their hopes and dreams on a CHL endorsed prospect tournament in Edmonton perhaps over the summer and before the NHL Draft scheduled for July 23rd-24th. The hope is to also include players who went undrafted but are chasing a professional contract or USports will be included as they have as much of a right to get their game in front of scouts than anyone is.
LOOKING AHEAD
The OHL also has a ton of legwork to do to get the 2021-2022 season off the ground starting with the marketing and promotions department. The OHL remains the elite of the elite in terms of being a developmental league but the NCAA, USHL, Europe and even transferring to the Q or WHL remain viable options. The OHL needs to keep their market share and make sure players still know that the OHL and it's schedule meant to replicate a professional schedule is the way to go. I think that part will take of itself. An OHL spot on a team is still cherished by players and scouts will continue to come to OHL games to scout elite level talent. Another thing the OHL will have to address is the prospect of fans in the stands, and more importantly how to get those fans back in the stands cheering on their teams. It's unknown at this point the capacity that the OHL will be operating at when the season starts, but they will have to get those fans back in the building and also ensure a safe and environmentally friendly environment. Lets give it up for hand sanitizer night at The Meridian Centre everyone! Attendance will be down but as word gets out and the virus hopefully peters out the fans will return. You know what means? And not to toot our own horns, but to quote Arn Anderson "TOOT, TOOT!", until the fans come back the TV and radio product becomes very important. Fans might be content to stay at home until they feel safe, but still want to follow the team so that means staying home at watching on TV. The OHL and it's TV partners will need to bring their A game. Speaking of TV and media.....
WILL IT BE SPORTSNET OR TSN?
Media blogger Toronto Sports Media put out a tweet a while back saying that Rogers was looking to opt out of the rest of the CHL deal which runs for the same amount of time that the Rogers NHL deal runs. He further reported that TSN was ready to make a commitment to the CHL. Nothing set in stone as of this writing, but a move to TSN should it come to fruition makes a ton of sense for the CHL given that TSN is the home for the World Juniors, the U18, and well, anything hockey Canada related. The partnership just seems like a natural fit when growing the game, and the players. This is not to cast aspersions on Sportsnet, who did a wonderful job covering the product. RJ Broadhead and Sam Consentino are outstanding game callers and Jeff Marek is fantastic host. Their game coverage was very, very good. If anything, they became a victim of their own schedule thanks to their NHL commitments, and could never find a consistent home. This was not for lack of lack of trying as they looked to Friday nights and Saturday afternoons as dedicated nights. Again, nothing set in stone, but it certainly is a story that bears watching and it makes a ton of sense to have one of the networks cover a CHL Prospects Tournament if that ends up on the summer schedule.
Oh, and if TSN does get the rights and is looking for talent, I'm just gonna leave this right here. No pressure, but click away.
WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS SHELVED
Very disappointing to read that the Women's World Championships set for Halifax are cancelled again due to the COVID-19 variants and ongoing pandemic. Nova Scotia essentially has shut down the province for four weeks, which is a damn shame. The province has subscribed to the mindset of an overabundance of caution when it comes to the pandemic and that approach has served them well, as cases have never been overly high. I'm still not sure why they cancelled the tournament, given the stringent protocols put in place by Hockey Canada and the IIHF and the fact that they had already staged a World Junior Tournament and it's all systems go for the Under 18's in Texas. The Canadian women had undergone exhaustive testing, the U.S. players were ready to board their flights to come to Canada, and the international teams had their protocol and structure in place, from what I've read. Would this happen if it was a Men's Tournament? Well, while it's a hypothetical worth exploring it still is a hypothetical question. It is worth pointing out that the World Junior Tournament in Edmonton was on the brink of cancellation it would seem at times given issues with positive cases. That said, they soldiered on and finished the tournament. Surely with a tournament behind them and a chance to learn from mistakes there was more a than a reasonable chance that the Women's tournament would have ran, while not problem free, but successfully.
Rumors of Texas, where the Under 18's are being held, stepping up are starting to gather momentum, and here is hoping that is the case, though I would think it's a logistical nightmare to change locations weeks before the tournament. Plus there are TV partners to consider as TSN was scheduled to be the main Canadian broadcaster. The betting is that the tournament will get played over the summer, but I think it's safe to say that Halifax, the local government, Hockey Canada and anyone else invested in the tournament should have found a way to get it done. Good luck to all the women hockey players, who are role models to any young player, in getting to fulfill their dream of wearing their countries colours.
QUICK HITS:
- A couple of weeks ago there are 40,000 people at Globe Life in Texas to watch the Rangers play the Blue Jays in the aforementioned team's hope opener. I'm not being a smart ass here, but was there a noticeable spike in cases from that event? Legitimately, I'm just curious
- My full bias is on display here because I don't like golf, nor am I good at it, but I just can't get behind the whole "golf courses should be open deal". I don't think its a risk, but I just can't advocate for a bunch of people who go on endlessly about the 18 holes they just played. BORING! I mean, we all know they should be open but it's not a hill, or bunker, or rough, or fairway, or driving range that I'm willing to die on. Go play tennis, oh wait. Try basketball. That's closed too? How about pickle ball? (What is pickle ball anyways?). Damn it. Just open the damn courses!
- Enjoying Hockey Night in Canada's coverage this year, especially the intermissions. Kevin Bieksa is both entertaining and informative, Kelly Hrudey seems to have blossomed even more, Jennifer Botterill has the makings of an outstanding analysis, and Anthony Stewart is growing in leaps and bounds. Also, Ellotte Friedman has gone from serious insider to really showing his personality
-Anyone else other than me a fan of Manifest? I don't watch much non-sports TV and I don't have the interest or attention span to binge watch a show, so I'm old school in enjoying weekly episodic TV
- So far I have zero interest in the Blue Jays. Maybe that will change, but they are out of sight and out of mind. Plus, I'm not a fan of starting pitchers only going 4 or 5 innings, or the dreaded bullpen game. The Jays are not playing that well. Maybe that's it.
-The CFL posted that they will start in August as opposed to June with the season ending with a Grey Cup in early December in Hamilton. The schedule will be truncated to 14 games and I'm hoping that the season gets played. As a league, you cannot go two years without playing. As for the XFL/CFL stuff? I'll reserve judgement on that until parameters are determined
- I'm not sure if I've recovered from seeing David Branch without a moustache. That was headline news to me!
Stay safe everyone! Steve Clark
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