NAHL – The North American Hockey League (NAHL) has announced that the Corpus Christi IceRays have suspended operations for the 2020-21 season. The IceRays will not play during the 2020-21 season but have set a return date for the 2021-22 season.
Corpus Christi IceRays Fiasco
So, for those of you that did not hear, the Corpus Christi IceRays will not be playing in the 2020-21 season. I don’t believe this is the last time we will hear about this happening with an NAHL organization this season. Days after this announcement, we saw the Kansas City Scouts also suspended operations for the 2020-21 season. So potentially more to come.
We get why they are suspending their operations. Coronavirus rules and regulations are really hurting the Junior Hockey world as a whole. We are not the least bit surprised to see some teams make this difficult decision. What caught my eye with this entire thing was that the IceRays decided to make this announcement just 7 days after the commencement of their 2020 Main Camp. Where players from all around the country came to tryout. Attempting their shot at making the NAHL. These players are paying hundreds of dollars to attend this camp, not to mention the travel and lodging cost.
It’s Just Wrong
The fact that Corpus held this camp, in my opinion, is really screwed up. They are going to act like this decision was made just 7 days after their camp? They were confident enough in having a season to hold a main camp and charge players money to come out. Then all of a sudden a few days later they change their tune completely and cancel the season? Really?
Something doesn’t sit right with this, the Junior Hockey community has discussed this for years how NAHL teams hold these camps to bring money into the organization. That is how they can survive a tuition free system. It gives players opportunities and they do in fact need to make money off these camps to endure the costs of having a season, we get that. But, the fact that Corpus Christi made the decision to hold a main camp, take money, and have players travel in during a pandemic. Just to cancel the season 7 days after they make a few bucks is insane to me. There was no change in COVID-19 regulations during these 7 days, or at least nothing big enough to really make that decision. So why the sudden change in their thought process of whether a season can happen or not? Was it the money? Who knows, all I know is that this looks suspicious and if true it’s not what Junior Hockey players and families needed from a top notch organization.
Let’s break down the numbers…
As you can see in the graphic above of the Main Camp Allstar Roster and what color team the players came from, Corpus had around 8 teams at the camp(Yellow, Black, Red, Grey, White, Blue, Green, Orange). Let’s say on average each team had 15 players on the roster, thats a total of 120 players.
With the above graphic, that is from Corpus Christi’s website, the Main Camp cost for each player was $420. So with some basic math here, that would make the total amount of money coming in around $50,000. That’s a big chunk of money to accept when ultimately cancelling your season just 7 days later. Right?
Who Knows?
At the end of the day who knows the intentions of Corpus Christi, they obviously could have done this with the full expectations of having a season in 2020-21, however, it is kinda weird that they hold a main camp, collect all this money and then ultimately 7 days later cancel the season. Potential money grab? You make that decision.
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