With the NHL icing games due to mounting COVID-19 cases, the Vancouver Canucks have found something positive to do with the pause in play.
Canucks Sports and Entertainment donated the food from the already postponed games to the Salvation Army and Greater Vancouver Food Bank.
Thousands of already partially prepared meals from Rogers Arena were diverted to the charities on Monday.
“The bad news: no Canucks hockey. The good news: food from this weekend’s postponed games headed for families in need,” Vancouver Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini wrote on social media Saturday.
Typically the food bank doesn’t deal with fresh meals but is able to work with other organizations which do.
The donation was enough to feed 36,000 people, according to the organization.
With the postponement of games, #Canucks Sports & Entertainment have spent the past 24 hours packing 7 tonnes of food from @RogersArena.
The food is enough to feed 36,000 people and will be donated to the Salvation Army and Greater Vancouver Food Bank. pic.twitter.com/fKH9cn4sKD
— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) December 21, 2021
The Vancouver Canucks were supposed to play two games over the weekend, and two games early this week, but all four were called off.
The next Vancouver Canucks game will be on Dec. 27, and the NHL has stated all players will return to facilities for testing on Dec. 26 — one day earlier than scheduled
On Sunday, the NHL announced that cross-border games will be postponed through the holiday break, a decision made due to the concern about cross-border travel and “the fluid nature of federal travel restrictions.”
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The NHL announced early Tuesday that only two more games would be played before holiday break: The Washington Capitals will play at the Philadelphia Flyers and the Tampa Bay Lightning will play the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night.
“With no games scheduled Wednesday because of COVID-19 related postponements, the NHL and NHLPA agreed Monday to postpone the five games that remained scheduled for Thursday in order to begin the collectively-bargained holiday break effective with the conclusion of games Tuesday, bringing the total number of games postponed this season to 49,” the NHL wrote in a statement.
Games that featured the Boston Bruins, Nashville Predators, Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche, Calgary Flames and Detroit Red Wings — some of the clubs which have been hit hardest by the virus — had also previously been postponed.