COVID-19 claims its first pro hockey official victim, ECHL's Brampton Beast cease operations permanently

The ECHL's Brampton Beast are no more.

The Ottawa Senators affiliate announced today that they have ceased operations permanently. This follows their announcement earlier this year that they would not be participating in the 2020-21 ECHL season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today's announcement though confirms that they team won't be coming back... ever.

“Three seasons of Covid was just too much for our modest hockey team to sustain,” said Cary Kaplan, President and General Manager in a statement on the team's website.

“From the bottom of our hearts, we want to offer an enormous thank you to the City of Brampton, Mayor Patrick Brown and Brampton City Council for supporting us with open arms, to the hundreds of thousands of Fans and sponsors who we truly worked for and tried our best to exceed your expectations, to all the amazing players, staff and coaches who gave their blood, sweat and tears for the Beast, to our three owners who invested in our Vision, we are very proud of the lasting memories that we provided”

The Beast entered the hockey world in 2013 following the OHL's Brampton Battalion's departure to North Bay. The Beast entered the ECHL in 2014 and have acted as an affiliate for the Senators, Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning.

RIP Brampton Battalion.