PYETTE: Let’s figure out how to safely get OHL players on the ice, then decide on rules – Mitchell Advocate

Jason Willms and Billy Moskal of the London Knights fight for the puck behind the Oshawa Generals net against Dawson McKinney of the Generals in a game on March 8 at Budweiser Gardens in London. Mike Hensen/The London Free Press

Banning body contact will not save the Ontario Hockey Leagues 2020-21 season.

There are a variety of hurdles that have to be cleared long before the first check is thrown, so it was strange provincial sport minister Lisa MacLeod made that a headline-grabbing condition this week for a re-start of the junior game in early December.

Its clear the league isnt giving an immediate thumbs up on that point, either.

The OHL has been working with and continues to be in communication with various government ministries and public health agencies on our return-to-play plans, it said in a statement Thursday. Conversations are ongoing and a decision has not yet been made in terms of a finalized return to play model.

It makes more sense to get the teenagers on the ice first before bartering about the rules.

For that to happen, the OHL still has to figure out how to get its players to their respective cities, put them safely into billet homes, navigate a COVID-19 testing policy, develop an economic structure that will prevent franchises from losing hundreds of thousands of dollars, sort out travel for road games, find out if fans can attend games and pray the Canada-U.S. border allows interaction with the three American-based teams.

Those boxes need to be checked in the shadow of the Quebec leagues recent start-up, which already has yielded a startling number of positive COVID-19 tests.

Hopefully, something breaks so that everybodys happy and feels safe, London Knights GM Mark Hunter said. We want to be in a position where the players can play because theyre anxious to start and the clubs want to get going, too.

But its got to be safe and thats the bottom line. Maybe something can break that will allow us to have body checking.

Anybody who has watched an OHL game in the past decade knows fighting rates have fallen off a cliff and hitting has become much more controlled.

One of commissioner David Branchs most celebrated innovations to the game in the past handful of years has been penalizing hits to the head and banning the most dangerous forms of contact.

You can legislate punch-ups out of the sport, but you cant remove contact from it in the name of safety.

The best example comes from the minor hockey ranks, which currently is trying to operate under the conditions MacLeod and the government have set forth in recent months.

You can have three-on-three or four-on-four, but no matter what, theres incidental contact out there, Kevin Gardner, the Jr. Knights vice-president of hockey operations, said. You cant avoid it. One guy is looking north and another is looking south and they run into each other. You can have a kid skating backward and accidentally run into the goalie, so I dont know where they draw the line.

Its a fast game and its about read and react. Theres a loose puck, two guys think they can get it first and theyre both wrong and theres a collision.

Thats a lot of undue pressure on the kids, coaches and refs. They know if there is one false move, the season could be lost.

So, go back up the ladder to the OHL and there is an entertainment component to consider. If a good chunk of fans dont like whats being offered, then the 20 franchises are in a difficult situation.

Its not the same game with no contact, Gardner said. Were just fooling ourselves to say it is. Call it what it is; its like recreational four-on-four play. Its not minor midget AAA or OHL hockey.

Checking is a fundamental part of the elite game. The NHL playoffs again proved it during the past few months.

It doesnt make any sense to jump through all the hoops that need to be passed just to get on the ice and have body contact be the final barrier.

MacLeod could have provided players and fans a small sense of hope this week.

Instead, she only stirred up more frustration and discouragement that this season wont happen for a long time, if at all.

rpyette@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/RyanatLFPress

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PYETTE: Let's figure out how to safely get OHL players on the ice, then decide on rules - Mitchell Advocate