The province’s Chief Medical Health Officer hinted this week there could be some delays getting team sports started this spring and summer in Newfoundland and Labrador.
That’s even if they open at all.
Why?
If there is evidence linking any COVID-19 cases to team sports played last summer, it has not been shared.
Large-scale 2020 events such as the provincial Summer Games and Royal St. John’s Regatta were rightfully postponed because of COVID-19 (and there’s a very good possibility there will be no Regatta again this summer). By all accounts, provincial leagues such as Challenge Cup and Jubilee Trophy men’s and women’s soccer were not the cause of any COVID outbreaks. Likewise, local operations such as St. John’s men’s softball and baseball circuits.
The mental health of young adults and teens depends on being active. Merely venturing outside one’s “bubble” is not enough.
If we are able to have large cohorts of 30-plus students in K-9 schools with safety protocols allegedly in place, surely we can come up with innovative ways to allow for team sports to proceed with stringent safety measures in place, in the same fashion as the 2020 sports season.
Nobody asked me, but …
Never before in the history of the sport in Newfoundland and Labrador has curling enjoyed the profile it receives thanks to Brad Gushue’s team. So maybe the time is right for the Newfoundland and Labrador Curling Association to discuss with the owners of a proposed new development in the Galway section of St. John’s, about including a sheet of curling ice in a four-pad ice complex for hockey and figure skating … If you’re Ken Holland, the Edmonton Oilers’ general manager, do you trade Connor McDavid for anyone, or even two players (like, for example, Auston Matthews and Morgan Rielly)? Or is McDavid untouchable, regardless who’s dangled?… A handful of Newfoundland Growlers from last season are getting playing time with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies this year. Among them are defencemen Joe Duszak and Mac Hollowell, forwards Justin Brazeau and Colt Conrad and goalie Angus Redmond ...
Robin Short is The Telegram’s Sports Editor.
