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âHe kind of went over voluntarily,â Clarke said. âI went over out of desperation.â
Clarke and other 2021 draft-eligible prospects were forced to different paths this season when their leagues couldnât stage a season because of the pandemic. Clarke was supposed to play for Barrie in the Ontario Hockey League, which on Tuesday abandoned plans to play this season, a move that plunged countless young players into uncertainty during a year that has put a dent in hockeyâs developmental pipeline.
âThereâs a lot of my friends in my age group that didnât play this season, and, yeah, that sucks,â said Clarke, who is 18. âSome of them have grown a lot as players and could have taken huge steps in their draft years and whatnot. Itâs hard to base your draft off a 16-year-oldâs season, and now thatâs what a lot of them are getting based off of.â
Five players from league were among first 10 picks in 2020 NHL.com @NHLdotcom
The Ontario Hockey League, one of the top suppliers of talent for the NHL Draft, will not play this season due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. We have worked tirelessly with the province and the chief medical officer of health (Dr. David Williams) for the past year on different scenarios and different windows of opportunity, but the reality is the conditions in Ontario have never been right to start and complete an uninterrupted, safe opportunity for players to showcase their skills, OHL commissioner David Branch said. We owe it to our players and their families to be definitive. We were committed to return and play this season, but our hopes and desires have been dashed by the cruel realities of COVID-19.
OHL cancels 2020-21 season
While many leagues around North America had shortened regular seasons or just played exhibition games during the 2020-21 campaign, the Ontario Hockey League was left standing on the sidelines.
The OHL announced on Tuesday that they were ending their return to play plans as a result of the extended stay at home order in Ontario and the rise of COVID-19 cases in the province.
“We have worked tirelessly with the Province and the Chief Medical Officer of Health for the past year on different scenarios and different windows of opportunity but the reality is the conditions in Ontario have never been right to start and complete an uninterrupted, safe opportunity for players to showcase their skills,” OHL commissioner David Branch said in a prepared statement.