The Ontario Hockey League received some welcome news from the province.
However, instead of the province announcing it has approved a start date for a spring season, the government decided to give the league a financial injection of $2.35 million in support of the Ontario Hockey League Scholarship Program.
Earlier today, Ontario Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Lisa MacLeod made the financial announcement.
“Minister MacLeod’s announcement today recognizes the importance of this program to our players and their families,” said OHL Commissioner David Branch in a release.
“It will help address the substantial cost of the Scholarship Program to OHL teams, who have not been on the ice since March 2020.
“Getting players back on the ice as quickly as possible continues to be our main priority and we will continue to work diligently with the Government to ensure a safe return to play this season. We look forward to Minister MacLeod’s announcement on the matter of returning to play along with details on further financial aid for the League.”
Adam Dennis, Battalion GM, was thrilled with that news.
"Certainly every little bit helps," said Dennis.
"The scholarship over the last decade has really taken a big step and it is the main compensation piece for our players so to have that taken care of is certainly a big step and we are grateful. It shows how committed we are from the education side and there are big numbers that are being thrown out every year for these kids and their scholarships and from the ownership perspective, they are happy to do so because that means we are creating a better person that comes out of our league."
During the 2019-20 academic year the league estimates there were 334 OHL graduates accessing their scholarship at a cost to OHL member teams of $3.125 million. Of these 334 graduates, 200 were included on U SPORTS men’s hockey rosters. In addition, current OHL players accessed a total of $475,000 in member team scholarship contributions.
Dennis believes this is a step in the right direction toward the start of a short spring OHL season.
"We have waited quite a long time now, and we are okay to wait another week or so if that is what it takes to get some answers but obviously the main focus of our staff and our players is to get back and playing safely and giving these players an outlet for more than anything to do what they have worked so hard to do to give them that opportunity but it is out of our hands," said Dennis.
"We are sitting here waiting patiently and preparing as best we can and when we get some news we will be ready. but until then we are sitting in a holding pattern."
