Photo credit EverythingGP

By Jeff Henson

NPHL

North Peace Hockey League scrubs 2021-22 season

Nov 18, 2021 | 2:59 PM

The North Peace Hockey League will not be operating for the 2021-22 season.

League president Jack McAvoy says the decision was made during a conference call with team representatives on Wednesday evening.

“I am disappointed. It is a decent brand of hockey and it does create some good things in the communities,” he said. “Hopefully, we can get this back together pretty quick, or we will not get it back together.”

McAvoy adds outside of the Dawson Creek Canucks, no other teams seemed ready or interested in a possible January start of the season.

“A lot of it had to do with a lot of players not being double vaccinated. In B.C., you have to be double vaccinated in order to play over there. Also volunteers, and who is going to monitor all of this stuff when you go into the arenas. It is a lot of work,” he said.

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“And there was not a lot of interest from the players at this particular time.”

McAvoy is hopeful the league can return in October of 2022, however, he is also concerned.

“Every time you quit playing, more and more guys get older, and more and more guys quit. It is going to be tough, especially in the small towns , to find hockey players,” he said. “The minor hockey systems in small town Alberta just do not produce the players anymore.”

It is the second straight season that the league will not play any games.

The last NPHL game to be played was on March 11, 2020, when the Canucks beat the Grande Prairie Athletics 3-0 to take a three games to two lead in the league final.

Two days later, the rest of the final was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.