Sudbury Wolves ready to get back to business after COVID-19 pause

Sudbury -

It's been a busy two days for the Sudbury Wolves, who have been practising after several weeks of downtime.

The team will play the Soo Greyhounds on Wednesday night. It'll be more than a month since their last game; the Wolves were the first Canadian Hockey League team to be sidelined as a result of COVID-19.

"I think the fact that we earned the dubious honour of becoming the first team in the CHL to have a breakout is a credit to our trainer Dan Buckland" said head coach Craig Duncanson.

"He tests the guys regularly, monitors them regularly, he's very stringent about monitoring the room and he picked it up early and he found it so we didn't infect anyone outside our group. Society's learning no one is immune here."

Fourteen players caught the disease during the outbreak. Duncanson said cases ranged from asymptomatic to mild -- something similar to the flu -- for a day or two.

While it left them with a lot of downtime, they did what they could to keep busy.

"We got to do our mid-season checkup with each of the coaching staff with each of the players and spend a little one-on-one time that would be on Zoom," said Duncanson.

"I think we created as positive an atmosphere as we could. Derek MacKenzie joined the boys one day for a Q and A and so did Randy Carlyle, so that was a treat for all of us."

"Yeah, it's tough, we all want to be playing hockey, that's why we're here, no one wants to sit in their house and on the couch," said Wolves captain Jack Thompson

"So it's obviously tough in that sense, but we made that most of it. It was fun."

Thompson said they had Zoom calls three times a day so they were still getting that team environment. For the captain though, it was also bittersweet. The outbreak forced the 19-year-old to miss his final year of trying out for the World Juniors.

"Yeah it's tough," he said. "I mean I got some buddies on that team still so I'm obviously going to support them. You know I wish I could be there, it was a tough situation that happened, but I understand"

"We are a little disappointed that Jack isn't there, but we are Canadians and he's a pro," said Duncanson. "It's a bit of a knock but it won't keep him down. He's a strong man."

Besides cheering for Team Canada, the focus now turns to the remaining 40-plus games the Sudbury Wolves have left in the schedule.

Both men said they will be ready come game time. If the experience has taught them anything, Duncanson said it's they can't predict how the rest of the season will turn out, much less what will happen tomorrow.

"We were really hoping we'd get a game in before Christmas, but that didn't materialize," he said.

"So now there'll be a little rust, it'll be a little nerve-wracking but I'm sure it'll go away in real short order."

"I skated a couple of times during the Christmas break, but it's nice to be back here with the team and in the room, trying to build something again," Thompson said.

"I know 'cause taking a month off, it feels like it's been a year since we were last together. So it's a little different but I think we're ready to play games now."

The puck drops at Wednesday night's game in Sault Ste. Marie at 7:07 at the GFL Memorial Gardens.