Postponed Saturday’s game between the Canucks and Senators

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The Vancouver Canucks, eager to get back on the ice and have at least one game under their belt before an overwhelming five-game road trip against some of the best teams in the National Hockey League, saw those hopes dashed on Friday.

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Saturday’s game against the Ottawa Senators, who are ranked 30th overall, has been canceled.

For the Canucks, on a nine-game unbeaten streak in regulation time with new head coach Bruce Boudreau, it means they will have gone 10 days without playing a game when they open that trip in Sunrise, Fla., On Tuesday against the Florida Panthers of high-flying, a club in the top three overall.

Both the Canucks and Senators are healthy enough to play, but the league cites financial reasons (public health officials have restricted capacity at Rogers Arena to 50 percent) as the reason another game is postponed.

Canucks winger Tanner Pearson said the decision to postpone another game was frustrating. A game against the New York Islanders scheduled for Wednesday was previously postponed, meaning the club’s last game was last Saturday in a 5-2 win over host Seattle Kraken.

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“Sucks, to be honest. Practice all week and then try to prepare for a game again and then that one is postponed. And now… another five days until next time, ”he said.

“It’s a business, I think we all understand that part. But yeah, when you have a whole, healthy team here, it gets frustrating. “

Captain Bo Horvat agreed with Pearson, but said the players weren’t angry, just frustrated.

“At the end of the day, we just want to play,” Horvat said. “Obviously we want to make sure everyone is healthy and safe and feeling well enough to come play. We just come to the track and do our work. Trying to improve every day. It does not depend on us if we play or not ”.

Saturday’s game at Rogers Arena was supposed to be played before a 50 percent capacity crowd, in accordance with current BC restrictions.

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“COVID-19 cases continue to increase at an accelerating rate, and we must all adapt and be flexible as the pandemic evolves,” said Michael Doyle, president of business operations for Canucks Sports and Entertainment, in a statement.

“We expected to play (on Saturday), but we are at an important point in the pandemic, and given the size of the event, everyone involved believes that this is the right decision. We thank everyone for their patience and understanding ”.

NEXT GAME

Tuesday

Vancouver Canucks in Florida Panthers

4 pm Pacific Time. FLA Live Arena. TV: Sportsnet Pacific. Radio: Sportsnet 650.

A Canucks spokesperson told Postmedia that the team consulted with the league and Dr. Bonnie Henry, a provincial health official, about the state of the pandemic in the province as part of the decision to postpone Saturday’s game: “Originally We explore rescheduling this game when January 1st. Game 5 (against the Islanders) was postponed, but was not possible at the time due to the complexity of the NHL schedule, ”he said. “In the end, everyone felt it was the right decision for the NHL to postpone the game (on Saturday).”

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The Vancouver Warriors, the National Lacrosse League team owned by Canucks Sports and Entertainment, still play a home game Friday night.

Boudreau said he shared his players’ frustrations.

“We are not happy with that,” he said. “It is what it is, but we want to play.”

This is the seventh postponement since Dec. 18 for the Canucks, who have played just three games in the past 21 days.

NHL players will no longer participate in next month’s Winter Olympics, so the 15-day hiatus in the schedule that was originally set to allow selected players to go to Beijing will now be used to reschedule most of it. of the games that were postponed by COVID. -19 protocol pressures and public capacity restrictions.

“Somewhere, in some way, everything is going to catch up with you,” Boudreau said, referring to the pressure of the schedule his team will likely be under.

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“We are always worried. We are all impatient and would like to know what the calendar will be like in February and beyond. Hopefully it’s not too difficult. A lot of the games we’re going to miss are home games, so at least we’ll be home to them. “

The Senators were also scheduled to play in Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg next week, but the NHL also postponed next week’s game in Winnipeg, citing crowd capacity restrictions. The Manitoba government does not allow fans in the stands of the Canada Life Center, the home stadium of the Jets.

Both Alberta games are played with a 50 percent restricted capacity.

The NHL said the games will be rescheduled for a future day “when such restrictions can be relieved or lifted.”

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The Senators were supposed to begin their road trip Thursday in Seattle, but that game was postponed earlier this week because Ottawa suddenly had nine players on the COVID-19 protocol list. Since then, most of those players have been removed from the list.

From a scheduling perspective, having games in Vancouver and Seattle postponed makes the logistics around another western road trip for the Senators easier to swallow.

The Canucks are scheduled to head to the US for their five-game road trip that includes games against the Panthers, the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Carolina Hurricanes, the Washington Capitals and the Nashville Predators.

The Senators have already postponed 11 games this season, making Saturday the 12th. Only one of their games so far has been rescheduled.

Before the series of postponements, Saturday’s game was slated to be Ottawa’s 40th of the season, and the Canucks’ 41st of the year.

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