Lockdown life back home in Toronto sees Leeds Chiefs’ Andres Kopstals quick to adapt

But then no-one could have predicted the drastic way the world has been forced to change its ways in the last two to three months because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Although a few lockdown restrictions tentatively began to be lifted in some parts of Canada earlier this week – much like in parts of Western Europe – life is still months away from returning to any kind of normality, the kind of normality the Chiefs’ centre found himself flying away from in unexpected haste shortly before the curtain came down early on the first-ever NIHL National season in mid-March.

Kopstals didn’t leave the UK the way he had intended, the growing health crisis prompting him to miss what turned out to be the final weekend of action as he arranged a flight back home while it was still possible.

His departure – which saw him spend two weeks in quarantine on arrival in Ontario with Dundee Stars’ defenceman Reilly O’Connor – meant he also missed out on a planned holiday to Morocco and, while there is every chance he will return to these shores whenever hockey does start up again, he is just happy to be back home among familiar faces.

“It’s probably the same here as it is everywhere else,” explained the 26-year-old, who is living with his parents in a suburb known as The Beaches, 15 minutes east of downtown Toronto. “You can go outside for exercise and to get your groceries and other essential stuff, but you’re not really supposed to congregate in groups, nothing over five people.

“And you have to stay six feet away, or the length of a hockey stick as some of the signs say – only in Canada would you get that!”

Unlike the neighbouring USA, where there are calls for the lockdown restrictions to be lifted by those who see them as an infringement of civil liberties, Kopstals says Canada on the whole is understanding of the need for the new normal.

As of Tuesday, Canada - which has a population of around 37.5million, had 62,046 cases, with 4,043 total deaths, 1,361 of them being in Ontario, with neighbouring Quebec having the highest death toll with 2,398.

“Do I wish we could ease restrictions ASAP and open things up? Yes, of course, but I recognize that this can’t happen without an increased risk of more people dying,” he adds. “It’s for that reason that I’m understanding of the continued restrictions. The bottom line is myself and my family trust the medical professionals to recommend the best advice for our community and our country

“But we do recognize how lucky we are to be self-sustainable financially, and feel for those who aren’t as fortunate. For them it would be very, very difficult.”

This summer, having previously worked a variety of jobs in the off-season, Kopstals had intended to earn money through coaching at a local lacrosse camp as well as a hockey school at the Ted Reeve Arena, a rink which just happens to be a 300-yard walk from his parents’ front door and one which he often attended as a youngster.

But, as is the case for the thousands upon thousands who play Canada’s national sport, no such activities are possible with there seemingly no end in sight to the restrictions.

So, for the time being, Kopstals is spending time catching up with family and friends and regularly walking the family’s 11-year-old English bulldog, Rocky.

“I’ve done lots of different summer jobs over the last 10 years, factory line work, bartending, the local garden centre, as well as a desk job at an insurance company,” added Kopstals.

“But the hockey and lacrosse camps fitted in perfectly with my plans for training this summer.

“If the situation is still like this in July, August or September then I might have to go down the road of getting what I’d call a ‘big boy’ job, a proper job.

“But, as of right now, I intend to play next season, whether that be at the Chiefs or somewhere else, those are discussions that will need to be had.”