The provincial government has approved the American Hockey League to play in Ontario.
The decision was made Friday morning, which means the Belleville Senators will be allowed home games in the province. The club will begin play in Ottawa.
MPP Todd Smith tells Quinte News the AHL will have COVID restrictions similar to the National Hockey League.
Minister of Sport Lisa MacLeod tells Quinte News she expects the B-Sens to spend the season in the nation’s capital.
“For this season you are going to see them play out of Ottawa, that would be the plan that is approved by the Chief Medical Officer of Health, given the guidelines and the stringent requests. The NHL proposal was 600 pages long, it was fairly detailed, including who can drive in which cars, and that sort of thing. We continue to work with the Senators and MLSE (Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment) to make sure their players are safe.”
Belleville Head Coach Troy Mann discussed the situation.
“From a logistics perspective obviously Belleville is fantastic, it is a great rink. We would welcome that. We want to play hockey, and we want to play games, and if they make the decision it is Ottawa, we will make it work.”
We are awaiting a comment from the Senators on Friday’s announcement, and whether or not they will make an application to look to Belleville.
A further statement from Minister MacLeod can be seen below.
