A former NHL player and current hockey dad has started a petition asking the British Columbia government to allow the province’s top junior hockey leagues to resume playing games this season amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Garry Valk, who spent 13 years in the NHL, including stints in Vancouver and Toronto, now calls North Vancouver home and has an 18-year-old son, Garrett Valk, playing hockey with the BCHL’s Trail Smoke Eaters. Yesterday, Valk started an online petition asking for the province to allow the Major Junior WHL and the Junior A BCHL to resume game play. Both leagues have kept the hockey season going with physically distanced practices only since COVID-19 restrictions shut down all game action near the end of 2020.