Winnipeg high school hockey league cancels 2020-21 season

The Winnipeg High School Hockey League has cancelled its 2021 season due to code red COVID-19 restrictions.

"We do acknowledge how hard we tried to get a season off the ground; however, time is not on our side and we believe that this is themost responsible decision and the one that makes the most sense given the current and projected situations surrounding the pandemic," the league said in a news release.

Further explaining its rationale for the decision, the league said it expects the code red restrictions to be extended beyond the current expiry date of Jan. 8.

It's also unclear whether students will remain learning remotely beyond Jan. 18.

"If students cannot physically attend school to learn, our league will not run practices or any sort of game situations," the league said.

The Winnipeg High School Hockey Leaguesays it would not extend its season beyond spring break.

Many city school divisions had already cancelled their high school hockey seasons due to the pandemic, including theWinnipeg School Division,River East Transcona and Louis Riel.The St. James-Assiniboiaschool divisionsaid at the start of October that it wouldn't be fielding any sports teams until after mid-October at the earliest.

In August,Hockey Manitoba the governing body for amateur hockey in the province saidit wouldn'tallow any tournaments, events, or out-of-province travel to take place until Nov. 1at the earliest. That date was later extended to January.