ECHL Players Eyeing Help After Season Canceled

ECHL Players Eyeing Help After Season Canceled

Well many americans have seen their wallets take a hit during the co-vid 19 pandemic, and athletes are not exempt..

Locally, the virus has made a significant financial impact on the fort wayne komets' organization, and its players... petar hood has more on what the k's are going through, and what the e-c-h-l is doing to help..

Narr: komets captain a-j jenks hates not being able to play hockey..?nat pop- crowd cheers?

Aj jenks: "it's miserable.

Man... it's tough.

I miss it more and more every single day."narr: missing the game... ?nat pop- goal horn?narr: ... and the paychecks that comes with it.

When the e-c-h-l season was canceled on march 16th, jenks was just one of several hundred minor league hockey players who were left without a job...jenks: "for a lot of people, it really is paycheck to paycheck with very little saving.

You really count on that next paycheck, and when it's not coming, and you find that out, it's tough to swallow.

There's a little bit of a panic there for sure."

Narr: panic, because as aj alluded to, most of these dudes aren't rich.

In fact, the average e-c-h-l player only makes around $700 a week.

And that's cash these guys were counting on to be able to feed themsleves and their families throughout the spring..michael franke: "i would say for the guys who missed the playoffs and had a chance to go two or three rounds, it was going to be a substantial amount of money that they were not going to make."narr: but thanks in large part to the professional hockey players' association, help is on the way.

On wednesday, the p-h-p-a put up over 200 thousand dollars to help start a player relief fund in conjunction with the league.

Donations from fans and supporters have been rolling in ever since.

And guys like jenks are hopeful that will continue.jenks: "if anybody has the means, i would hope you'll consider it pretty strongly.

It's going to go directly to the players and their families and all those that are affected by it.

There's so many people around the league that could really benefit from the extra few bucks they missed out on."

Narr: the goal at the end of the day is to raise 750 thousand dollars.

You can do your part by going to e-c-h-l dot com, slash covid-19 relief fund.

In fort wayne, petar hood, fox 55 sports..