Balmas copes with cancellation of winter games in Switzerland

Mitchell Balmas tried to take the cancellation of the 2021 FISU Winter Universiade in stride.

The Saint Mary’s Huskies sophomore forward from Sydney was the lone Nova Scotian named to the U Sports men’s hockey all-star team for the Winter University Games, which were scheduled to begin Dec. 11 in Lucerne, Switzerland.

But on Monday, the Lucerne Organizing Committee axed the 11-day event due to increased cases of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus and travel restrictions imposed by the Swiss government. The Universiade was originally scheduled for last January but was pushed back to December in response to pandemic concerns at that time.

“I was obviously shocked but not totally shocked,” said the 23-year-old Balmas. “But there was a lot of talk about the new variant of COVID over there. Switzerland is a hot spot right now.

“I had tried not to think about it too much. But it was in the back of my mind, although a little bit of doubt crept in.”

Without an overseas trip, Balmas will have more time to spend at home during the holidays. SMU has two games remaining this week before the Atlantic university conference takes a month-long Christmas break.

“Obviously being away, I would’ve had less time at home with family and friends,” Balmas said. “The positive side of things is I’ll be home for Christmas longer and will be able to spend most of the holidays with family and friends.”

U Sports, the national governing body of university sports, had announced earlier this month a delegation of 144 Canadians that would travel to Switzerland. Nine teams would have represented the country in seven sports: men’s and women’s hockey, men’s and women’s curling, alpine skiing, crosscountry skiing, biathlon, snowboarding and short track speed skating.

A dozen AUS players – including Acadia goalie Logan Flodell, forwards Matthew Struthers and Liam Hawel of the St. Francis Xavier X-men and Axemen defenceman Garrett Mcfadden – were selected to the men’s hockey roster. UNB’S Gardiner Macdougall was the head coach.

The women’s hockey team included two AUS players in its lineup: St. F.X. forward Tyra Meropoulis and UNB goalie Kendra Woodland.

The next Winter University Games is scheduled for Lake Placid, N.Y., in January 2023.

“Any time you get a chance to put the Team Canada jersey on and represent the country, it’s always a huge honour,” Balmas said. “It was a huge accomplishment for me to be named to that team. It had been a goal I had set coming into this year. I was really looking forward to it.”

The Huskies, losers of two straight, host St. F.X. on Wednesday and play Dalhousie at the Halifax Forum on Friday before heading into the holiday break.

SMU (7-8-1) is tied for third place with the Tigers and the UPEI Panthers, eight points back of the secondplace X-men.

“They are probably the two most important games of our season,” said Balmas, who leads Saint Mary’s – and is fourth overall in the conference – in goals (11) and points (22). “We’re trying to catch St. F.X., and we’re currently tied with Dalhousie. Those are four crucial points.

“We’re still looking to hit our stride. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs and we’re trying to find a consistency to our game. We’re confident that we can. If we play a full 60 minutes, we are one of the better teams in the league.”