The state of the Western Hockey League season and whether it will resume hinges on what the NHL plans to do in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A conference call Tuesday morning which involved all 22 WHL teams did not determine if or when the league will finish the last two weeks of the regular season and the playoffs.
Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb says he has no idea what lies in store for the 22-team league, but the possibility exists that the balance of the WHL regular season and the playoffs will be canceled permanently.
"We follow the National Hockey League and if the NHL decides to get going I'm sure we'll get going," said Lamb, on Monday.
"They might say it's done. They might say it starts in May."
The league announced last Thursday it has paused its schedule until further notice with 10 days still left in the regular season due to the coronovirus outbreak.
The Prince George Cougars were on their way to Victoria the previous day and had traveled as far as Cache Creek when the bus was forced to turn around and return to Prince George. All the league's players, including the Cougars, have since been sent home.
The Cougars had six games remaining in the regular season, all on the road. They were on a three-game winning streak and had closed to within seven points of the Seattle Thunderbirds for the second wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference when the decision was made to put the season on hold.
The Cats gave up their home rink at CN Centre for the final two weeks of the season to allow for the World Women's Curling Championship. That nine-day event was canceled Thursday, two days before it was to begin.
Gregg Drinnan of Kamloops, in his Taking Notes blog, reported the following Tweet that Tri-City Americans general manager Bob Tory posted on Monday: “To all our players. Have a good off season. Be safe and we will c u in August.”
The Americans still had five games left in the season and have already been eliminagted from playoff contention and Tory’s message fuels speculation the regular season games will not be played even if the league resumes its schedule.
Organizers of the Memorial Cup in Kelowna still don't know if that May tournament to determine the major junior hockey national champions will go ahead.
The B.C. Hockey League decided last week it will not continue its playoffs and there will be no more league, regional or national junior A hockey championships be played this year.
Hockey Canada has cancelled all sanctioned activities, including the provincial and national championships, until further notice. That affects three Prince George midget teams - the Cariboo Cougars (Major Midget) Cariboo Cougars (minor midget) and Northern Capitals (female midget triple-A), as well as local bantam and peewee teams.
The ECHL professional league announced Saturday it has chosen to end its season before playoffs began.
The WHL was scheduled to hold its inaugural U.S. prospects draft on Wednesday, March 25 and each team was eligible to draft two players. The draft order was chosen by lottery and Red Deer Rebels, Tri-City Americans and Edmonton Oil Kings have the first three picks. The Cougars own the 19th and 26th picks in the draft.
Also on the horizon is the WHL bantam draft, May 7 in Red Deer.
In previous bantam drafts, the six non-playoff teams are eligible for the first-overall pick through a lottery and the 16 playoff teams then choose in inverse order of their regular-season finishes. Lamb has not heard anything from the league about either draft and whether they will be delayed or rescheduled.
