Hi, this is Fred Wallace with ” Off the Wire “, proudly sponsored by Pete’s Auto Body.
Pete’s Auto Body; because we care about our community.
The Owen Sound Attack had their return-from-Christmas game postponed on Tuesday night when the Barrie Colts were unable to compete due to COVID-19 protocol.
Furthermore, the game scheduled for this Wednesday in Owen Sound with the Colts scheduled to visit again has also been postponed.
And now we enter the tricky phase of what’s postponed and what’s cancelled ?
What’s the difference ?
Well, according to reports the previous Attack games that were wiped out before the Christmas Break against Kitchener, London and Sarnia respectively have mostly been rescheduled for dates in the future.
There’s been no such announcement for the games against Barrie, which may end up being cancelled.
And keep in mind, we’re just talking about Owen Sound. By my rudimentary count, 12 of the 20 OHL teams have been shutdown at one point directly by the protocol, and every OHL team, excepting Hamilton and Windsor, have missed a scheduled contest as a result.
So what do you do ?
Do you try and ram 40+ games into basically a 3 month window, all the while hoping that the scenario gets better not worse ?
Do you cancel games outright when a team can’t field a squad ?
Do you award points to teams that can play against those who are mandated not to ?
And do you determine your final standings based on winning percentage knowing that some teams may play more, or fewer, games than their counterparts.
It’s a mess and one that reared it’s head very quickly in the OHL…..( & elsewhere ).
For Pete’s Auto Body, I’m Fred Wallace.