The league announced Tuesday morning that the remainder of the 2020-21 campaign had been cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic, marking the second straight season that the Canalta Cup will go unrewarded.
League president Bill Chow said in a press release that submissions made to the government were rejected and with the ongoing COVID-19 situation in the province, a return to play would not be allowed in the near future.
The SJHL was granted approval to play on Oct. 16 with up to 150 fans in the building and things progressed smoothly in the early going, with the La Ronge Ice Wolves defeating the Flin Flon Bombers 3-2 in overtime on Oct. 22 to open the exhibition campaign.
The regular season opened on Friday, Nov. 6 with five games on the schedule, and league action continued through much of November with few difficulties.
It was around the end of the month that things began to take a turn for the worse.
The first situation arose as the second wave hit Manitoba, leading to a large-scale lockdown in the province and Flin Flon forced to suspend their season due to the wide range of restrictions on Nov. 23.
The same day that announcement was made, the league announced a COVID-19 exposure on the Melfort Mustangs had led to games being postponed and the team sidelined through Nov. 29.
They’d never get that far.
On Nov. 25, Sask Health announced that the new and currently ongoing restrictions were being put into place, leading to the SJHL officially postponing all games, a shutdown that held until Tuesday.
The league plans to return to play this fall for the 2021-22 campaign.
