GOJHL rescinds penalties, fines to Canucks
The Niagara Falls Canucks are moving up in the standings without setting foot on the ice.
Just a few days shy of a month after the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League penalized the Canucks for utilizing ineligible players/staff who did not meet the requirements of the GOJHL vaccination policy, the league has done an about-face.
“Our members got together and made a decision to overturn part of the league’s decision,” GOJHL commissioner Brett Garbutt said. “Niagara Falls will have all their points returned and their fines rescinded from Sept. 24 until Nov. 22.
“The membership, that was something they voted on and felt they should have their points returned from when they were first made aware that certain vaccinations did not meet requirements that the league had in place.”
Garbutt said 21 of the 25 GOJHL teams voted with a simply majority needed to carry the motion and that some teams did not attend the meeting while others were not in good standing with the league and unable to vote.
The Canucks were not notified until Nov. 22 they did not meet eligibility requirements, Garbutt said.
“By the time we got through all 700-plus vaccinations in November and had our director of hockey operations combing through them multiple times that’s when we had to check with our doctor to make sure whether they were acceptable or not,” Garbutt said.
Garbutt said one member of the Canucks organization and two players did not originally meet the exemption status. One player has since been double vaccinated but the other player and member of the organization have not been double vaccinated or met exemption status and therefore are still ineligible to return.
“Either until they get vaccinated or until they get approval from the league’s medical officer,” Garbutt said when asked what the individuals in question need in order to return.
The Canucks were one of five organizations penalized at the time and took the biggest hit with the forfeiture of 13 victories and three overtime losses in games from Sept. 24 through Dec. 3. In addition, a member of the Canucks organization was suspended indefinitely and the team fined $4,400.
The original penalties also had Thorold, Hamilton, St. Catharines and Welland lose games in the standings and have coaches suspended and fined, albeit to a significantly lesser degree.
Garbutt said those rulings go unchanged.
“I don’t know why they only made that decision for Niagara Falls. Everything else is remaining in place as of right now,” he said. “Their (other teams) players played within the 14-day window of being fully vaccinated and our policy was two doses plus 14 days before they were eligible to play. Those players hadn’t met that criteria.”
Garbutt said the points will officially be added in the next couple of days once a glitch in the scoring system is fixed. The Canucks currently sit in last place with a 2-23-1 record.
As well, with a new announcement from the provincial government regarding lockdowns, the GOJHL is expected to resume play Monday, Jan. 31, the first day games will be permitted.
Garbutt said an official announcement on that would be forthcoming early next week.
This story is still in development. Check back for further updates.
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