The 2021 Memorial Cup has been cancelled because of coronavirus according to The Canadian Press on Tuesday. The event was supposed to take place in either Oshawa or Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The major reasons for the cancellation were due to border restrictions between Canada and the United States, limitations on travel, and strict quarantining requirements.
In the Western Hockey League at the current time, only teams from within the same region are playing against each other. For example, the Alberta and British Columbia-based teams are not travelling out of their province, while the teams in Saskatchewan and Manitoba are playing among themselves. Furthermore, the American-based teams are unable to play any of the Canadian clubs because they cannot cross the border.
Meanwhile, in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the Quebec-based teams are only playing against each other, while the Atlantic Canada teams are only playing against each other. In Ontario, there is doubt that the Ontario Hockey League will play at all.
This is the second straight year that the Memorial Cup has been cancelled because of coronavirus. Last year it was to take place in Kelowna, British Columbia. There have been 1,078,562 cases of coronavirus in Canada, and 23,392 deaths.
