Canada/USA extend agreement to close border, NHL season now in jeopardy

This just in, the federal governments for Canada and the United States of America have agreed to extend their border closure for an additional 30 days.

Check it out: 

Technically the border is still open to “essential” traffic, but all non-essential travel is prohibited. You have to imagine then, that if the NHL were to move on to “Phase 2” of its plan that the league will need to get an exemption from both Canada and the USA in order to travel for training and, eventually, to play games.

Anything is possible, I suppose, but it doesn’t seem likely that hockey players will be deemed “essential workers”.

In any case, this is a move that has been anticipated for awhile now. While Canada has begun “re-opening” in stages due to how the country has managed COVID-19, the USA is struggling to keep things under control. The United States has 1.5 million confirmed cases of the virus, compares to just 80,000 in Canada.

Stay tuned for more info and reaction from the NHL and NHLPA concerning this development.