Photo: EverythingGP stock photo

By Shane Clausing

jda kings

County of Grande Prairie JDA Kings disappointed with season cancellation

Apr 3, 2021 | 7:00 AM

The County of Grande Prairie JDA Kings are looking ahead to next season after the Northwest Junior Hockey League (NWJHL) announced they will not be able to return to the ice for the 2020-21 season.

In October, the league and its teams were able to operate a small exhibition season, however, new COVID-19 restrictions were implemented in late November and the league and its teams haven’t been able to get on the ice since.

Given there was too much uncertainty regarding the COVID-19 restrictions in place, JDA Kings General Manager and Head Coach Kyle Chapple says the league and most of its teams were left with no other option.

“The biggest thing was every year we book our ice schedule for the team and the latest we can play is at the end of March. So, we had ice scheduled until the end of March and unfortunately, we never got the go-ahead before our ice bookings ran out for us.”

“That put us in a tough spot to book some more ice with the County based on if we were going to able to use it,” said Chapple. “There are other programs out there that have had approval to get back out on the ice and we didn’t want to take ice away from that.”

Meaningful Mementos

Remembering Someone You've Lost at Christmas

Dec 03, 2024

Seasonal Sorrow

How Do You Get Through The Holidays When You're Grieving?

Nov 01, 2024

Upcoming Events at Oliver's

Grief & Loss and Estate Planning Seminars

Oct 02, 2024

Chapple tells EverythingGP another obstacle the league and its players faced had to do with the age of players. At the time in Alberta, youth sports for kids under the age of 18 were still able to operate at a limited capacity.

While the JDA Kings have some players that are under 18, most of their players are 19 or 20, which made it impossible for them to organize any sort of practice.

If some restrictions do get loosened by the summer, Chapple is hopeful his players could get some ice time.

“We may be able to get them skating a little bit maybe mid-summer and run some minicamp stuff. Right now, I think we’re building to be back in full mode here in the fall.”

Chapple says the league is hopeful they’ll be able to begin a full season by early September, assuming everything with the COVID-19 vaccine rollout goes well.

“I would hope by September, we’ve got some normalcy back and the boys are able to play some hockey again.”

While the season is cancelled for 2020-21, Chapple wanted to thank all of the club’s supporters and sponsors for sticking with the team through what has been a difficult and challenging season.