Veterans have endured tough two years

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This article was published 20/01/2022 (1521 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In November 2019, nobody could have imagined the wild ride the Brandon Wheat Kings were about to take.

Seven players of the team, which is currently shut down as the Wheat Kings deal with a COVID outbreak, were around on March 12, 2020 when the 2019-2020 Western Hockey League season was paused, then played in the Regina hub last spring and are still skating with the club.

It’s been quite an experience for the players, who include overagers Ethan Kruger and Chad Nychuk, plus Ridly Greig, Vincent Iorio, Nolan Ritchie and Riley Ginnell  in their 19-year-old seasons and Jake Chiasson in his 18-year-old campaign.

Kruger said it was tough to have no control over the situation, but he never lost sight of the fact that it was a problem that stretched well beyond just the arena.

“It’s not just affecting us, it’s affecting everybody,” Kruger said. “Everyone is being put in tough situations, people don’t have a job. We’re still pretty lucky to be playing in the WHL and have lots of things paid for us. We’re still at the top of the spectrum so there were a lot of people suffering way worse than we did.”

COVID first began to creep into the public consciousness in late 2019. Ginnell remembers watching the news on a TV at the rink and the virus making its first impression.

“I remember Wuhan, China shutting down,” Ginnell said. “That’s when I thought it was somewhat serious. We couldn’t get any gear, sticks and stuff, but we never really thought we could get shut down. The cases started to come over, and once the major pro leagues started shutting down, it was the domino effect when we got canned too.”

Ritchie recalls NBA player Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz making a joke of touching all the microphones as he left a post-game media availability, and then being the first guy in the NBA to test positive days later.

Kruger started to see COVID on social media in late 2019, early 2020.

“I didn’t think much of it at the time,” Kruger said. “I didn’t really know what it was and then as it got closer to everything shutting down, it wasn’t anything yet. I remember joking around with a couple of guys that they would shut the season down and probably a week later the NBA player got it and then that’s when everything spiralled down.”

The WHL sent out an email on March 10 saying it was monitoring the situation closely and had instituted safety practices with its teams and staff. A day later, gatherings were banned in Washington state, affecting home games for the Seattle Thunderbirds and Everett Silvertips, and that evening the National Basketball Association paused play.

On March 12, Canadian Hockey League president Dan MacKenzie met with the three league commissioners David Branch, Gilles Courteau and Ron Robison in the morning, and then the WHL board met remotely.

That afternoon, it was announced that the WHL was pausing play — like the National Hockey League had just done — and players would be heading home.

Ritchie hadn’t thought much about the season being shut down until he was preparing to come to the Keystone Centre on March 12.

“Everyone was saying there was a meeting and it didn’t sound good,” Ritchie said. “I just went to the rink and it was cancelled just like that.”

At the time, nobody was quite sure what was next.

“It was weird,” Ginnell said. “You didn’t know what was going on. I remember they sent us home and cancelled all the practices and games. We just thought we would go home for a week or stay at your billet house for a week and then we’ll all be back to normal.

“Now two years later we’re still going through the same thing.”

Kruger agreed with Ginnell’s assessment.

“Our team was being pretty optimistic about it,” Kruger said. “They said ‘You guys can go home and probably in two or three weeks you’ll come back.’ I don’t anyone really knew how serious it was.”

On March 18, the WHL announced the regular season was over — Brandon had five games remaining — and on March 23 the playoffs were also scrapped.

“I remember going home for those two weeks and staying positive, hoping we were going to be back to finish the season,” Nychuk said. “I was on my family farm when I saw the thing that they shut down the Memorial Cup and that our season was done. It was pretty disappointing obviously. Two years later we’re still living through it.”

To make things even worse, Brandon was one of the hottest teams in the league after Christmas following a slow start. They were a point back of the Winnipeg Ice with a couple of games remaining between the clubs, and seemed destined to meet their new provincial rivals in the first round of the divisional playoffs.

“It always leaves up in the air what we could have done,” Kruger said. “I think especially after we went on a 10-game winning streak — that doesn’t happen too often — but you can’t really look at it and ‘What if? What if?’ You have no control over it.”

Ritchie was in a unique position. He broke his femur in November, and was unlikely to return in the 2019-20 season.

Still, he remained a part of the team and was a familiar sight at practices and games.

“It hurt a lot,” Ritchie said. “It was fun to watch and I wanted to be a part of it. They were rolling and to have it come to an end like that, it really sucked.”

 

MORE TO COME

It’s not like the bad times ended with the cancellation of the 2019-20 season.

In a rapidly developing situation, on June 17, the league set an Oct. 2 start for the 2020-21 season. On Aug. 6, it was moved to Dec. 4, and on Oct. 14, it was changed again to Jan. 8.

“Obviously it sucked every time we got closer to the date and it pushed back but we still had hope,” Kruger said. “Obviously we trained pretty hard through that year off-season and we got to play in the bubble so that was special.”

Ritchie was rehabbing his injury, so the ebbs and flows of the evolving WHL schedule didn’t hit him as hard as some guys.

“Every time something would pop up you’d get excited for it but then it wouldn’t happen and it wouldn’t be that big of a deal,” Ritchie said. “You just go right back to working out and skating and trying to get back into shape.”

Ginnell was fortunate to be living in Alberta, where the lockdown wasn’t quite as restrictive and he could at least skate.

In the meantime, he said the Wheat Kings tried to remain united.

“We tried to do a Zoom call or something here and there,” Ginnell said. “You’re always Snapchatting or playing video games with the guys all the time too. We always stayed connected.”

At the same time, all four players were acutely aware that time was passing, and with it, so was opportunity.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” Nychuk said. “Playing hockey, I’m trying to move on and get to the next level, and if you’re not playing, it’s pretty hard to do. Everyone goes through different things with COVID and different problems. You just have to learn to deal with it: There’s nothing you can really do about it. Those months when we were sitting waiting to play were definitely very frustrating.”

 

THE HUB

On Jan. 8, the league announced each team would play an abbreviated 24-game schedule within its division. On Feb. 14, the league said the East Division would play in a contained hub in Regina.

“I enjoyed it,” Nychuk said. “You went from months sitting in your house not being able to do anything to at least going to play hockey and being around your teammates. It was a long time but just the way the world was at that time, I was just pretty happy to be there and doing what we’re usually doing.

“As far as that goes, you’re around people again, you’re around your friends. I was happy the whole time.”

The players lived in four-bedroom apartments with a common kitchen and living room, but couldn’t leave the building. They were in complete lockdown, and always surrounded by people, which can take its toll.

“I think it really depended on the day,” Kruger said. “Some days you really had enough of each other and you went separately into your rooms. Overall, it was an unreal experience. We had such a good group of guys. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience and we made the most of it.”

Ginnell agreed.

“It got tough,” Ginnell said. “You’re doing the same thing every day, almost like Groundhog Day, but there were so many positives outweighing the negatives. You still get to play every day. The Ontario Hockey League didn’t get to play at all so we were pretty fortunate.”

It certainly didn’t hurt that Brandon ended up posting a record of 18-4-2-0 and winning the East Division banner. It might have been a different experience if they had 4-18-2-0 and finished last.

“We were a good team in the bubble,” Nychuk said. “We had a lot of good pieces and were shaping up for another year of contending and going deep in the playoffs. If we were losing, the experience would have been a little bit worse of sure. When you’re winning all those games and having fun with your teammates, sitting in your house wasn’t necessarily at the top of your priority list.”

 

THIS SEASON

The 2021-22 season launched a little later than normal on Oct. 1 after adopting a compulsory vaccination policy in August, and ended up with 100 per cent compliance by players and staff.

“You try to be cautious,” Ginnell said. “We have some rules about what you can do in public. We’ve been as cautious as possible but you never know. If you play a team and you don’t know a guy has it, it can be transmitted. There’s not much you can do. I’m glad they’re just not shutting us down. They’re just letting it run through and run its course, and then we’ll get back on track, which I think is the right thing to do. We’re all healthy young athletes.”

After an encouraging start, the bad news began six weeks into the season.

On Nov. 10, the league postponed a game between the Everett Silvertips and Spokane Chiefs due to a pair of COVID tests, which foreshadowed what lay ahead. The Chiefs then paused all team activities, and were cleared to return on Nov. 15.

On Dec. 27, the league announced 36 players and staff had tested positive during the Christmas break, and on Dec. 30, the Swift Current Broncos were mothballed, with the Lethbridge Hurricanes joining them on Jan. 1. By Jan. 7, 15 clubs put everything on pause.

“I don’t think we worried about it, we all knew it was coming, especially because the cases are pretty crazy around Canada,” Kruger said. “We were almost just waiting for it to happen but we weren’t worried. We just practising and playing our games, and if something came up like it did, we just dealt with it. That’s how you have to deal with it nowadays. You never know what’s going to happen. Don’t get your hopes too high and be ready for anything to change.”

Since the team went on its Christmas break on Dec. 18, they have played just six games, going 4-1-0-1. After a tough start to the season due to a rash of injuries, the Wheat Kings currently sit in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Eastern Conference, with the top eight clubs making the post-season.

“I think we can go deep in the playoffs,” Nychuk said. “I think have a really good group and mix of everyone who knows their roles. We’re just really starting to find our game. I’m really looking forward to having a good finish to my 20-year-old season and hopefully we can go deep.”

In a sign of the times, the Wheat Kings hosted the Edmonton Oil Kings with an empty building on Dec. 30 after the provincial government restricted attendance to a maximum of 250 fans. All their home games in January have been postponed while they wait for the rule to be amended in a league that relies heavily on attendance revenue to stay afloat.

“I remember when we were playing with our fans, it was awesome to have them in the building,” Kruger said. “Then we played against Edmonton and it kind of opened up our eyes again, how quickly it can get shut down.”

 

COVID HITS

Brandon returned from its Alberta road trip early Monday morning, and the players came to the rink to be tested on Tuesday. They were promptly sent home, and the league announced on Wednesday the Wheat Kings and the Kelowna Rockets had paused all team activities.

“I think we just need to get through this little hiccup here in the next two weeks and hopefully we can start making a push for the playoffs and everyone can get through this,” Nychuk said.

The team’s testing results were expected on Thursday evening.

“I think this more of a temporary setback, especially with the quarantine rules changing to five days,” Kruger said. “It’s definitely not a full two-week protocol so that’s pretty huge, especially seeing how the other teams have already dealt with it and moved on and been allowed to play. It’s just our turn.”

The timing couldn’t have been worse, however, because Brandon was set to appear in a game on national television on TSN against the Regina Pats on Friday. That’s gone for good.

“There were some big games this weekend,” Ginnell said. “We were playing really well and trying to climb up the standings, which we’ve been able to do … It’s frustrating. We had that big TSN game that’s not going to happen anymore.”

Even in quarantine, the team has stayed in close contact via group texts and other methods.

They intend to use the time the best way they can.

“We just have to recharge, get our energy back up, and if you have any bumps or bruises, just heal those up during this time,” Ritchie said. “It’s obviously going to be a really busy stretch in the next little bit here so you’ll want to have as much energy as you can.”

The spectre of another league-wide shutdown is always possible, but not as likely as it was two years ago.

And that’s a relief to the players.

“We don’t want to think about that too much,” Ritchie said. “It’s obviously in the back of your mind because it hurt us a couple of years ago so we don’t really want it to happen again.”

“I don’t think they would shut us down again unless it gets insanely bad,” Ginnell added. “We’re all double vaccinated and did what we were told to do. You would hope that we get some leverage but you never know. It’s all about provincial health and what Canada is doing. It’s out of the actual league’s control. Hopefully we can make it to playoffs and have a good run from there.”

 

GRATITUDE

While it’s been an eventful two years, the common refrain among the players continues to be thankfulness. They’re happy they’re back in whatever shape the new normal entails.

“It sucked there two years ago but having it back now, everybody loves it,” Ritchie said. “Everybody loves to play. You can’t take it for granted now. You just have to go day by day. Everyone is really excited.”

Ginnell admits that it can be tough when negative thoughts creep in, which makes it more important to stay in the present.

“It makes you cherish it a little bit more,” Ginnell said. “You can never really take it for granted. Everyone has some bad days and some really good days. It’s when you’re in those bad days you think it’s not possible, that this could get shut down like they shut it down the other time. You cherish every moment and play the best you can and have the most fun you can. You have to enjoy the moment.”

And Nychuk never forgets that it could all be a whole lot worse, and it is for some people.

“Every single player in our situation is just really grateful to be playing again,” Nychuk said. “It can be taken away at any given minute again so we just have to be grateful and keep taking advantage of the opportunity. It’s frustrating but there’s nothing you can really do about it.

“At the end of the day, there’s a lot of other problems in the world right now and you have to suck it up.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson