CRJHL still strong after second season

The Capital Region Junior Hockey League’s second season was just as successful as its inaugural one.

All five teams were competitive throughout the season with many of the games close on the scoreboard.

Scores were even tighter in the playoffs before Hockey Canada made the announcement of cancelling all games last month due to the coronavirus.

“Pretty much on any given night, any team could beat another,” said CRJHL vice president Cliff Malzensky last Thursday. 

It was an extremely unusual way to end a season.

“Before the Hockey Canada decision came down, St. Malo and Selkirk were going to start the finals, (but) they decided to take a two-week break and see how this works out,” Malzensky said. “Then the next day, Hockey Canada’s decision came down. We already made the decision to sit out a couple of weeks.”

It was a very tough way to end the season for the players, especially those in their final season of junior hockey.

“It’s tough but it was the right decision,” Malzensky said. “The players, especially the 21 year olds (on Selkirk and St. Malo), they may never get another chance to win a championship.”

The league was set to play its best-of-seven final series between the Selkirk Fishermen and St. Malo Warriors.

Both of those talented teams finished first and second, respectively, during the regular season (with just two points separating them). 

The final series would have been a doozy.

“They’re the two premier teams in this league, for sure, this year,” Malzensky said. “They both play clean and they both play hard. It would have been a good series.”

Meanwhile, the league is looking to expand the number of teams for next season. The deadline to apply to enter the league was this past Tuesday.

All franchise applications and presentations will be reviewed during the annual AGM meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for the middle of this month.

“There were some Junior ‘C’ teams looking, inquiring about joining us and another team from another league was thinking,” Malzensky noted. “But none of them have stepped up yet and with all of this coronavirus stuff it has put a hold on everything.

“We would like to eventually get to 10 (teams) but you need baby steps. You need to get the sixth before you get the seventh.”