Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Cougars making plans for 24-game season

Mark Lamb was home watching the NFL playoffs Saturday, still wondering when he can go back to his junior hockey job coaching the Prince George Cougars.
lamb.jpg
Mark Lamb has waited a full year to get back behind the bench of the Prince George Cougars and he'll get that chance in a couple weeks when his WHL team begins playing an abbreviated 24-game season.

Mark Lamb was home watching the NFL playoffs Saturday, still wondering when he can go back to his junior hockey job coaching the Prince George Cougars.

That’s not going to happen anytime soon despite Friday’s announcement that the Western Hockey League is making plans for a 24-game season. While Lamb and the league’s 22 teams are ready to reconvene the players on a moment’s notice to get back to playing again, that decision is in the hands of the health authorities.

The pandemic has already scuttled four months of WHL hockey. Had this been a normal 68-game season Lamb would probably be in scramble mode right now trying to finalize the roster before the league’s trade deadline which always happens on Jan. 10. That day arrives Sunday.

Although he has yet to see his players gathered together on the same ice surface, Lamb is convinced there will be a season and the Cougars will get back to playing games at CN Centre.

“I don’t know anything more than what was put out in the press release, I know there’s no date (but) it’s going to happen for sure,” said Lamb, the Cougars’ head coach and general manager.

Provincial health officer Bonnie Henry announced Thursday an extension of the travel ban on sports teams from region to region until Feb. 5 and that will keep hockey teams in the province grounded until at least that date. The WHL originally targeted Oct. 2 for the start of the new season and that was postponed to Dec. 4 and most recently, Jan. 8.

“Everything’s been pushed back,” said Lamb, who hopes to learn more details about the league plans in a conference call with the other GMS on Tuesday. “The only thing I’ve told the players is I don’t know the dates but we will be playing a 24-game season. The dates that went by already, when you go by a date people think it’s not going to happen but it is going to happen, the owners are committed to making it happen.

“Prince George should be so happy they’ve got owners dedicated to the team and Prince George. The owners committing to play knowing they’re not making any money is really special, I think. They are about the kids and their development, and that says a lot about these guys. The owners here have been unbelievable, I can’t say enough about them.”

If and when the Cougars get back to playing games again, all 24 games this season will be against B.C. Division opponents in Kamloops, Vancouver, Victoria and Kelowna. Likewise, teams in the U.S., Central and Eastern divisions will keep to their respective regions to minimize travel.

The WHL hasn’t played since last March, when the pandemic began. With the exception of WHL and Ontario Hockey League, most other junior leagues and U.S. colleges have made attempts to play games this season. The OHL targeted Feb. 4 but the provincial lockdown now in place puts that return-to-play date in jeopardy.

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League started in October but was plagued with cancelations due to positive COVID-19 tests and when the pandemic worsened it announced on Nov. 30 it was pausing all league activity. The QMJHL hopes to resume games for its 12 Quebec-based teams in late January but no date has been set for its six teams in the Atlantic provinces.

Similar shutdowns occurred in the Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta junior A leagues, which all suspended regular season play in November.

The B.C. Hockey League played an abbreviated preseason in October and November but was forced to postpone games and practices Nov. 20 after the province imposed a ban on 19- and 20-year-old players participating in team activities. The restriction on older players has been lifted and the league announced Friday it will try to begin its regular season on Feb. 8. The Prince George Spruce Kings resume practices on Monday.

The 14-team U.S. (Tier 1 junior) Hockey League played a full schedule in November and December and teams will remain in their regions to complete a 54-game season that ends April 24. The U.S.-based North American (Tier 2 junior) Hockey League has been playing since Oct. 6 and has games scheduled through May 15. Fans in the USHL and NAHL are allowed in the arenas, subject to local and state restrictions.

In October, U Sports cancelled its men’s and women’s national championships, which effectively ended the season before it even began. The NCAA delayed the start of the season until mid-November and most teams played through December and resumed play last week.

The USHL is an option for WHL players still in standby mode and the Dubuque Fighting Saints have signed 16-year-old Winnipeg Ice forward Matt Savoie, 16, the first-overall pick of the Ice in 2019. Kamloops Blazers 17-year-old forward Logan Stankoven has had an offer to join the Fargo Force. Sunday is the deadline for signing Canadian players who have applied for their releases from Hockey Canada.

Lamb said several Cougars were considering jumping to the USHL but none have done that so far.

“I would be thinking the same thing,” he said. “These kids just want to play hockey.”

The Cougars could have difficulty bringing back their U.S. and European imports this season.  Forward Filip Koffer, 19, who played for the Czech Republic in the world junior championship in Edmonton, signed earlier this week with HC Dymano Pardubice of the Czech Extraliga. He won’t be available to Cougars until after his Czech team’s season ends.