CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Gabrielle Gray and Rachel Colle’s university hockey career came to an end, not with the final buzzer sounding but with a message from their coach.
The fifth-year UPEI Panthers attended Thursday’s second game of the U Sports Cavendish Farms women’s hockey championship at MacLauchlan Arena. Colle, the team captain, said she started to see news the tournament could be cancelled due to the coronavirus as she walked home.
Within 10 minutes, she said, head coach Bruce Donaldson’s name popped up on her phone and she knew it wasn’t good.
The tournament was cancelled, and her university hockey career had ended.
“It was so unexpected,” Gray said. “It was supposed to be after this weekend not before this weekend.”
Colle and Gray both understand the decision, but it doesn't make dealing with the outcome any easier.
“For it to just happen so sudden, it’s shocking, but it’s out of our control,” said Colle, noting it sucks to not be able to write the final chapter of her university career on the ice.
“It seems like everything is shutting down and, obviously, it's for the best because you don't want it to start spreading everywhere, but it’s hard to really focus on much more than this being taken away from us right now.”
U Sports made the announcement late Thursday night saying it came after Hockey Canada cancelled all sanctioned activities.
“It’s no one’s fault, and we know that, which almost makes it harder,” Gray said.
“We were more expecting maybe there weren’t going to be fans in the stands, but we’d still get to play, not that it would be cancelled entirely with everyone already here.”
Colle and Gray both had parents preparing to board flights Friday morning, so they had to let them know to cancel their flights.
Donaldson said he felt for all his players, particularly those who are graduating.
“To put in four and five years of varsity sport, with academic excellence, it’s really tough to do,” Donaldson said.
“You just have to have so much pride and respect for these individuals who do this. Rachel and Gabby, in particular, have just been amazing varsity student-athletes.”
The MacLauchlan Arena was eerily silent Friday morning as teams explored ways of returning home.
“It’s surreal, there’s no question about it,” Donaldson said.
“Unfortunately, we had to shut it down,” he added. “At the end of the day, you have to respect what Hockey Canada’s decision is, and it’s the right decision.
“There’s a lot of things going on out there right now, and you have to err on the side to make sure people are safe. We totally support the decision.”
The Panthers met Friday morning as a group. It was a sombre mood inside the dressing room.
Colle and Gray wanted to thank Donaldson publicly for all his work with the team and on the tournament the past two seasons.
“He has put in all this time and effort just to try and make it so great for everyone here,” Gray said.
Donaldson commended the community for its unwavering support for the tournaments.
“The community responded amazingly well,” he said. “We have to thank them because it was really unfortunate that we had to cut it short.”
The university is hosting the men’s nationals in 2021 while Montreal has the women’s competition.
Donaldson said a bid package for future events will come out at some point, and the university would have to determine if it is the right time to bid on hosting the women’s competition again.
“Would we like to do it again, absolutely,” he said.
