This month marks the Renfrew Wolves’ return to the ice after a month-long hiatus due to the most recent pandemic shutdown.
Before the lockdown, the junior-A Wolves played against the Carleton Place Canadians on Jan. 4, winning in 6-5 in overtime.
Owner and head coach Ryan Leonard says both the players and staff are ecstatic to be back.
“The players and the organization have worked so hard to keep COVID out of our team as much as possible and keeping a strong team is key,” he said. “Moving forward, we have a goal to achieve and that is to try and win a championship in our first real season of the CCHL.”
Leonard adds it will be a tough two months with 30 games to play in that short period.
“We are hoping the fans come out and cheer these young men, as they all have been through a lot the last two years and all have worked so hard while they are still chasing their dreams of playing college hockey,” he said.
According to a Canadian Central Hockey League (CCHL) release, the schedule of games will continue until April 3, with all member teams playing a full 55-game schedule.
“While this compresses the schedule, the CCHL has the least amount of travel of any league at the Junior A level in North America and many road trips are under an hour in length,” the release said. “That, combined with the absence of game play for the past 20 months for its players, helped make the decision to continue on with the 55-game slate followed by the usual playoffs of three rounds of best of seven series.”
The games originally slated for December and January have since been rescheduled throughout the next couple of months. Season pass holders are asked to use their old dated tickets in their booklets for the following home games:
• Jan. 29 against the Cornwall Colts is now Feb. 6 at 6:30 p.m.
