Ontario loosens restrictions, sports leagues including OHL can now resume practices

Yesterday Ontario's health minister Lisa MacLeod unveiled the province's "accelerated return to play" plan, which would enable OHL teams and other high level professional and amateur sports leagues to resume non-contact practices.

"The idea today was really to accelerate a return to play for those leagues so that they could have some certainty in their planning," said MacLeod in aa prepared statement. "I'm very mindful of the fact that we want to host the Grey Cup in Ontario and the Ticats in Hamilton are getting ready for that so this provides a lot more certainty and clarity for them.

"It allows us to have a lot of hope after we moved into Step 1 last Friday that there will be a broader return to play on the horizon and hopefully that includes spectators at a ticketed event."

The OHL also said that thanks to Ontario's return-to-play plan that it intended to have a regular season involving all of its teams, including three franchises located in the United States.

"The Ontario Hockey League continues to prepare for the 2021-22 season and is thankful for the continued support of the Premier, Minister MacLeod and the Government of Ontario as we return to play," said a spokesman. "We look forward to dropping the puck on Oct. 7 with all 20 OHL member teams in action."

Finally, some sense of normalcy in Ontario. Let's hope these kids are able to put in a normal season in 2021-22. The OHL ultimately had the rug pulled from underneath it mid-season when restrictions were tightened in the country's most populated province. And that's saying nothing for lower-level junior leagues at the Junior A and Junior B levels. These kids haven't hit the ice in over a calendar year in some cases. 

At this point, I'm hopeful that these leagues can run normal training camps in September and October but I'm also not convinced that restrictions will change between now and then. No matter your political leanings, it's fair to say that the province under Premier Doug Ford has been inconsistent with how it has reacted to the pandemic.