The Pacific Junior Hockey League (PJHL) board recently held a meeting to discuss the current state of the Return to Play plan for the league. The purpose for the meeting was to evaluate the 2020-21 season so far and host discussion for the league partners about how to move forward. All PJHL teams have been operating in a Phase 2, skills-based setting since early November. During this meeting, teams were provided with a February 15, 2021 deadline to opt out of the remainder of the 2020-21 season.              

“All our teams are operating under different circumstances and we wanted to provide each team with the ability to make the best decision for their club. Therefore, we provided an option for teams to withdraw from the rest of the 2020-21 season,” said PJHL Commissioner Trevor Alto.

“There are many reasons teams may choose to opt out. The most important thing is teams’ ability to choose the option that will allow for them to return to action for the 2021-22 season as strong as possible.”

After careful discussions with players and staff, the Langley Trappers have made the decision to opt out of the rest of the 2020-21 season and shift their focus towards the 2021-22 season. The reasons for Langley’s decision did not involve any COVID-19 outbreak concerns.

“There are many factors that come into play going forward. In order to proceed, we would need the current health restrictions to be lifted to allow for game play to resume. Everyone involved with our teams –  players, staff, volunteers, and fans – have gone through a lot thus far and we felt it was important to provide our teams with options as we head towards March,” added Alto.

The PJHL continues to brainstorm possible ways for teams to Return to Play once the public health orders and restrictions are eased so that the 2020-21 season may resume. Stay tuned for further updates as more information is announced.