The Moose Jaw Warriors would have seen no less than eight players on their current roster in action this weekend if things went according to plan with the COVID-19 pandemic.
But with bad news out of Manitoba, a whole lot of things changed.
With their provincial government putting the whole province in their highest state of alert due to the ongoing outbreak, the Manitoba Junior Hockey League was forced to shut down at least until the new year.
That means players like Daemon Hunt (Virden Oil Capitals), Calder Anderson (Neepawa Natives), Eric Alarie (Opaskwayak Cree Nation Blizzard) and Denton Mateychuk (Steinbach Pistons) all saw their renewed seasons once again come to a sudden halt.
The shutdown also affected a team not even part of the MJHL -- the Flin Flon Bombers announced Friday that, being from Manitoba, they too would follow the restrictions and close down their Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League season.
As a result, Warriors overage forward Brad Ginnell, grandson of Flin Flon coaching and playing legend Patty Ginnell, also found himself suddenly sidelined due to the pandemic.
The rest of the SJHL, meanwhile, continues to soldier on after dodging -- at least for now -- COVID-19 restrictions announced on Friday in Saskatchewan.
The Estevan Bruins made moves involving a pair of players with Moose Jaw connections, first assigning former AAA Warriors forward Lucius Schmidt to the Pilot Butte Storm of the Prairie Junior Hockey League.
Later, the Bruins announced that WHL Warriors goaltender Boston Bilous had been loaned to the squad, joining Warriors defenceman and Moose Jaw Minor Hockey product Nolan Jones in the Estevan line-up.
A pair of other local minor hockey WHL products are also in action in the SJHL -- Reece Newkirk of the Portland Winterhawks is currently second in scoring with two goals and four points in two games with the Melville Millionaires, while Jaxsen Wiebe of the Red Deer Rebels is on the roster of the Nipawin Hawks but has yet to play a game.
