Flexibility key for high school hockey league

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

Adaptivity has become a major trait to have in one’s arsenal over the last two years.

That’s especially true for the 18 teams involved in the Westman High School Hockey League this season, as they’ve had to change the schedule on the fly due to COVID-19 issues — along with the usual mayhem brought by Manitoba winters.

“Everyone’s been very understanding,” said Dauphin Clippers head coach Jason Alf, who is also a co-president for the league along with Glenboro’s Corey Forbes. 

“There’s no question and no debate if we have to cancel a game due to COVID. We were halfway to a game when we found out that we had a positive test and we decided to turn around. As we all go through this, we’ve been helped out by a great group of people with all of the teams and they’ve been a huge help in going through these challenges.”

While their schedule was thrown into a state of flux lately, the WHSHL has easily surpassed their 2020-21 campaign. 

An eight-team circuit got a handful of games in before COVID-19 regulations led to its eventual cancellation.

“I know for us in Dauphin, there’s still a little bit of a bitter taste in our mouths from 2020 when we had the final (against the Killarney-Wawanesa Raiders) cancelled, so just to be able to have more than just a game in under our belts is a bonus right now,” Alf said.

“I think we all understand that the COVID-19 situation can happen to anyone at any time and we just have to deal with it. There’s a hope that we can get back to some sort of normal here, but we’re just happy to be playing again after the last two years.”

From an on-ice perspective, the biggest challenge for coaches in the first half of the season was just getting their players back up to speed after a year away.

“I took a little bit of time for everyone to get back into game shape and for teams to have a little more fluid puck movement,” Crocus Plainsmen head coach Jeremy Byczkowski said. “There’s been a lot less individualism and a lot more system play as the year has gone on. Our new players are starting to get a handle on things and our veterans are starting to remember what those systems look like after a year away.”

“I think it was our game last Sunday against Sandy Bay where were finally saw all of the things that we put into place back in September,” Vincent Massey Vikings bench boss Brent Blaine added. “It’s taken that three or four months of extra time for everything to get back to where it was after so much time off.”

The 18-3-1-0 Vikings have shown little rust during the season as they hold a two-point advantage over Killarney-Wawanesa, though the 17-0-1-0 Raiders do have four games in hand. 

“I don’t want to say that we had doubts that we would be in the mix, but we certainly didn’t expect to have the record we have at this point of the year,” Blaine said. “That’s been a pleasant surprise.

“There’s a great mix of new guys from Grade 10 and a number of Grade 12 guys that have come back to play for us, which has been a key to our success. We do have a tough second half coming up though against a lot of strong teams, so the biggest thing we’ve been telling our team is to get ready for a big push here before we get to the playoffs.”

There’s also a close battle behind the league’s pace-setters as third through eighth in the standings — which consists of Glenboro-Carberry-Baldur, Major Pratt in Russell, Swan Valley, Neepawa, Reston-Elkhorn-Melita-Pierson and Dauphin — are separated by just seven points.

“There’s been a lot of conversations around the league about the parity we’ve seen this year,” said Byczkowski. “On any given day, anyone can win a game. 

“There hasn’t been the huge blowouts that we’ve normally seen from the league’s powerhouse teams and there’s been more of a level playing field. I think the time off has had a lot to do with that as we’ve seen more of a levelling-out process for teams like ours that have a lot of rookies and teams that have more Grade 12 players.”

As teams work around their new schedules for the second half, the one big question mark surrounds the high school provincial hockey championships.

The WHSHL has plans in place to determine the representatives for the provincials — which will be held in March — but those won’t be officially implemented until they find out if those tournaments take place.

“It’s all kind of a trickle-down effect when we find out from above as to what the protocols are surrounding tournaments and things like that,” Alf said. “I’m sure there will be some people that won’t be happy with whatever ends up being decided, but at the end of the day, we’re going to make the best out of the situation.

“Our main goal is to finish the league and have playoffs so that we can crown a champion. We’re prepared to extend the season into March so that we can get a full season in. Hopefully, everybody will be able to have ice available to them if that’s the case, but our plan is to have everything done by spring break.”

Major Pratt has been selected to host the A/AA provincial championship from March 10 to 12, with the AAA/AAAA tournament taking place in Selkirk from March 11 to 14. 

 

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