Week three of the Abbotsford-based Cohort Cup has been postponed after new provincial restrictions set on Saturday shut down the sport of hockey in the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Valley health regions.
The tournament hosted by the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds, which began on Oct. 2, has seen U18, U16 and U15 AAA hockey teams compete at the Abbotsford Centre.
Following the new restrictions announced by the PHO, all hockey games in the Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Valley Health regions are to be cancelled/postponed effective 10pm tonight until further notice.We’re working with @viaSportBC and will provide further updates when available
— BC Hockey (@BCHockey_Source) November 7, 2020
Teams participating in the first two weeks included: the Thunderbirds, the Valley West Giants, Cariboo Cougars, Greater Vancouver Canadians, Vancouver North West Hawks and the Vancouver North East Chiefs.
Weeks one and two have been completed at the event, but Thunderbirds general manager Darrin Ponak told The News that week three, which was scheduled to begin on Friday, has been paused due to the new restrictions. He also stated that the Cariboo Cougars, based in Prince George, can no longer travel to Abbotsford and will not be participating in the tournament anymore.
“We are hopeful that we can resume the schedule on the following weekend after the 23rd which would be Nov. 27 to 29 and this would be the U18,” he stated in an email. “We were also going to be bringing in the Okanagan Rockets and the Thompson Blazers which would provide two cohort groups of four. We would make up the missed U15 and U16 weekends in December as well utilize the Christmas holidays to conclude with playoffs.”
Round robin play for all three age groups was originally set to occur earlier in December.
For more, visit fvthunderbirds.com.