GOJHL penalizes five teams for COVID infractions
The long arm of the law caught up with five teams in the Golden Horseshoe Conference of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.
The league announced Friday that despite GOJHL teams being responsible for ensuring the vaccination and accommodation status of their player access personnel, 30 GOJHL games have been affected by five organizations utilizing ineligible players/staff who did not meet the requirements of the GOJHL vaccination policy.
The sanctions are issued in accordance with the GOJHL’s regulations for ineligible players along with Ontario Hockey Federation (OHF) regulations. All games will revert to a 5-0 loss. In the cases where both teams had ineligible participants, no points will be awarded.
The Niagara Falls Canucks took the biggest hit with the forfeiture of 13 victories and three overtime losses in games from Sept. 24 through Dec. 3, while Niagara Falls’ Sept. 25 result versus Caledonia was not affected since the game was never played due to an earlier forfeiture by the Corvairs.
In addition, a member of the Niagara Falls Canucks organization has been suspended indefinitely and the team fined $4,400.
Thorold will forfeit two victories for one ineligible player participating (Oct. 1 vs. Niagara Falls, Oct. 2 vs. Hamilton, Oct. 9 vs. Caledonia and Oct. 10 vs. Pelham) and one ineligible staff member participating (Sept. 24 vs. Niagara Falls, Sept. 27 vs. St. Catharines, Oct. 1 vs. Niagara Falls and Oct. 2 vs. Hamilton).
The Blackhawks were also fined $800 and coach/general manager Scott Barnes suspended six games.
Hamilton will forfeit two victories for one ineligible player participating on Oct. 2 vs. Thorold and Oct. 4 vs. Niagara Falls.
The Kilty B’s were fined $600 while head coach C.J. Morrison was suspended for two games.
St. Catharines will forfeit one victory for one ineligible player participating on Sept. 25 vs. Fort Erie.
The Falcons were fined $500 while head coach Tyler Bielby was suspended for one game.
Welland will also forfeit one victory for one ineligible player participating on Sept. 26 vs. Pelham.
The Junior Canadians were fined $500 while head coach Dave Burkholder was suspended for one game.
Caledonia, Pelham and Fort Erie were not penalized.
The GOJHL enforced these regulations in order to maintain the safety of all its participants as well as protect the integrity of the league but will not be releasing details of the individuals for privacy reasons.
As a result of the forfeits, the standings have changed substantially.
1. Hamilton 23-2-46
2. St. Catharines 19-5-38
3. Caledonia 17-6-1-1-36
4. Fort Erie 10-12-0-1-21
5. Welland 10-13-1-21
6. Pelham 9-15-18
7. Thorold 7-15-14
8. Niagara Falls 1-23-1-3
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