In many ways, it felt symbolic.
Just two hours before opening faceoff on Thursday, there were the last-place Montreal Canadiens saying no fans would be allowed into the Bell Centre for their game vs. the Philadelphia Flyers. The announcement came after an urgent request from Quebec Public Health — with COVID-19 numbers skyrocketing thanks to the emergence of the omicron variant.
It was in stark contrast to the scene in late May, when Les Glorieux became the first NHL team in Canada to let fans in 2021 back into the building. With vaccines starting to roll out and a feeling of hope in the air, the Quebec government gave the green light for the Habs to host 2,500 fans for Game 6 of a first-round playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
It marked the start of a fairy-tale, feel-good story. The Habs — after their own COVID outbreak earlier in the year — won Game 6 in overtime, completed the huge upset of the arch-rival Maple Leafs on the road in Game 7 and then advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Final with Montreal coming alive like only that city can.
Now, mere months later, the Habs have gone from first to worst in the East. Two nights after the zero-fan game, the arena went dark after a string of NHL postponements.
Sports, in this case, resembled Canada at large — our thoughts of a return to happier times blasted away by thousands of COVID cases and provincial governments reintroducing restrictions many of us hoped were a thing of the past.
Likewise, previous restrictions also are returning for athletes in other leagues and sports.
Instead of focusing on the hockey, basketball or football scores, sports headlines have been about the countless athletes going into COVID protocol, the decisions on whether to play or postpone games, and the calls by some provinces to limit in-arena capacity. In Ontario, people have been questioning why, for example, thousands can go to a Raptors game and only 10 can gather for Christmas dinner.
Let’s also not forget the infuriating Kyrie Irving situation. With the virus decimating their roster, the Brooklyn Nets seemingly did a 180 by welcoming Irving back on Friday to be a part-time player after saying they wouldn’t do so at the start of the season (he can’t play in home games because of New York state rules for unvaccinated people). Irving entered COVID protocol on Saturday, so the Nets’ plan, for now, is on hold.
There also has been much focus on a broader question: Is this March 2020 all over again?
The comparisons are fair and natural.
Yet look closely, and past the screams from all corners on social media, to a wee glimmer of hope.
As the NHL’s biggest outbreak continued in Calgary, Flames head physician/medical director Dr. Ian Auld painted a very different picture than we saw in many previous team shutdowns.
“Overwhelmingly, our cases so far have been either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic,” Auld said on Friday with all but a handful of Flames in protocol.
“We do have a few people, somewhere between four and six, and a lot of cases are in evolution so it may change, that have had moderate symptoms. Chills, fevers, fatigue, but turning the corner quickly, in 36 to 48 hours.
“It’s very reassuring for, hopefully the world, but certainly us as a group.”
We heard similar comments from Tampa Bay Lightning star Steven Stamkos when discussing positive cases in his circle. Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas said Saturday two of the first four cases on his team this week were asymptomatic, one had mild symptoms that have since gone away and one had fever, chills and body aches.
Granted, it’s a small sample size — there isn’t enough evidence to say if the omicron variant is less severe than delta and, regardless, the rapid transmissibility remains a major concern for Canada’s health-care system. But even if you think it’s ridiculous that any of the pro leagues still are playing, some of the health reports in the sporting sphere give us at least cause for optimism.
Many can relate to what the Flames are going through, by virtue of having friends and family members who have contracted the virus over the past few weeks — many of whom are vaccinated, like all but one NHLer. And many of us have heard similar stories, people feeling anywhere from slightly to very ill but also thankful they are vaccinated, knowing the data shows that your odds of avoiding serious disease are much better with two jabs in the arm, and even better with three.
Make no mistake, this has been a hard pill to swallow. We thought vaccines were our way out, we didn’t see another winter of fear and restrictions coming our way, we figured we finally could live free of the anxiety that comes with evaluating COVID risk with every decision.
It’s certainly not the time to test our limits — with COVID in exponential growth. The NFL’s changing policy to not test asymptomatic, vaccinated players feels like one of those examples.
Here in Canada, the good news is children younger than 12 are finally being vaccinated, boosters are getting into arms and rapid tests are being distributed — albeit with plenty of hiccups.
For sports, the immediate future is foggy. You can make a very strong case that leagues don’t want to go on pause in large part because of financial considerations — which is really not much different than many other businesses desperately hoping to avoid a lockdown.
It’s never as simple as yelling “Shut it all down” or “Keep it all open.”
It’s a confusing, scary time, and the sporting situation reflects that — it’s hard to even contemplate an Olympics in February, never mind that the IOC has taken the moral low road by awarding the Winter Games to China, where there are serious human-rights issues.
When it comes to COVID, things easily could get worse before they get better — another reason there should be more discussion on whether the Olympics go ahead at all, as opposed to all the talk strictly about whether the NHL heads to Beijing.
Pro sports, of course, are no more than a distraction from everyday life for the great majority of people — though distractions sure aren’t a bad thing right now. But we must remember these athletes are human — and a circuit-breaker pause could make a lot of sense for the NHL and NBA, both in terms of public health and giving leagues a better chance of finishing seasons with more competitive integrity.
Pause or no pause, keep in mind that there will be a time — hopefully in the not-too-distant future — where we’ll have many reasons to be excited about what’s happening on the ice, fields and courts. We have legitimate Stanley Cup hopes in Canada (sorry, Habs and Senators fans, not you), a promising Toronto Blue Jays squad (get that lockout solved, baseball owners and players) and, in maybe the most captivating story of all, a Canadian men’s soccer team that has captured the imagination of a nation. Alphonso Davies — who represents all that is good about Canada in so many ways — and Co. appear to have a real shot at making the World Cup after the team was an international minnow for decades.
Let’s hope that some of the signs we have seen during anxious times at Calgary’s Saddledome and across much of the North American sports scene can hold true on a bigger scale and push us to better times in 2022.
