The provincial government is giving the Ontario Hockey League $2.35 million for its post-secondary education scholarships.
The league's 17 Ontario-based teams including the Sarnia Sting will each get about $138,000 to help them meet their player scholarship commitments.
The announcement Wednesday by Lisa MacLeod, Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries, was part of a $15.3 million investment in support of grassroots activities, sport and recreation organizations and high-performance athletes.
OHL Commissioner David Branch said the league's member teams continue to honour scholarship commitments to all players throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
"Minister MacLeod's announcement today recognizes the importance of this program to our players and their families," said Branch. "It will help address the substantial cost of the Scholarship Program to OHL teams, who have not been on the ice since March 2020.
The league said that during the 2019-20 academic year there were 334 OHL graduates accessing their scholarship at a cost to OHL member teams of $3.125 million. Of those 334 graduates, 200 were included on U SPORTS men's hockey rosters. As well, current OHL players accessed a total of $475,000 in member team scholarship contributions.
Branch said getting their players back on the ice as quickly as possible remains their main priority.
"We will continue to work diligently with the government to ensure a safe return to play this season. We look forward to Minister MacLeod's announcement on the matter of returning to play along with details on further financial aid for the league."
MacLeod said Monday she was more confident than ever about a shortened OHL season coming together, but a couple of sticking points still had to be sorted out.
