An NHLer from Chatham-Kent is checking in amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and postponement of the 2019–20 season.
Travis Konecny, forward for the Philadelphia Flyers, has been staying at his home in Port Stanley since the season was put on pause in mid-March.
Like most Canadians, Konecny said he's just trying to stay as preoccupied as he can while staying home and social distancing.
"I'm keeping pretty good. Just hanging out, trying to stay as active as possible," he said. "I can still do a little bit of fishing and the outdoorsy stuff that I like to do, so that's kind of keeping me busy as I can be."
Konecny said when NHL officials decided to postpone the season due to COVID-19, everything happened quickly and with little closure. Although hectic, he said he looked at it as a good opportunity to come back home and be closer to his family.
"It is weird because when you go home normally there's some sort of gettogether with the guys, there are meetings that take place and some sort of goodbyes," he explained. "It was crazy. All of us in our home locations in Philly, next thing you know guys are leaving as soon as we got the memo that we can get home and get safe. There were no formal goodbyes, that's for sure."
When it comes to when or if the NHL season will resume, Konecny said right now he doesn't know more than the average fan.
"Obviously we'd all like to be back together and finish out some sort of season together," he said. "Our team was rolling pretty good there so we felt like we were in a pretty good position. At the same time, we need to realize what's going on in real life and a lot of sad things have happened so that's the main focus for us, getting everyone healthy and safe."
He added that he also has no preference whether or not part of the regular season resumes or if the league jumps right into playoffs.
"It's up to them, what they think is best for us and a safer situation for us if we were to go back," he said. "Hockey's hockey, we'd be playing games either way."
Although the last few weeks haven't been what Konecny expected, there was one silver lining.
Earlier in the week, a video gained traction online showing a young fan overcome with joy after receiving a signed jersey from Konecny.
"It was pretty cool," he said. "The kid had mentioned he was a big fan. Philly was able to get a jersey out to him...it's just pretty cool having a young kid look up to you like that especially in a time like this."
https://twitter.com/NHLFlyers/status/1260592409773211650