SYDNEY, N.S. -- The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League says it will not hold any games until early January because of COVID-19 issues.

The major junior league announced Monday it will suspend all activities from Tuesday through Jan. 3.

That means an extended Holiday break for players, and the billets hosting them in their communities.

20-year-old Nathan LaRose is in his final year of junior hockey with the Cape Breton Eagles.

“When we first came here, it was very weird,” says LaRose of this season. “It was all brand new to all of us. We’d be wearing masks at the rink, and we were very restricted.

With the Atlantic bubble bursting, junior hockey in the Maritimes has been put on ice, resulting in uncertainty on when, or if, LaRose will get to finish his final QMJHL season.

The QMJHL announced Monday that if COVID-19 cases remain high, the league will not return to play until Jan. 3 at the earliest.

The 18-team league league has been forced to postpone games regularly in Quebec and Atlantic Canada since starting the season in early October because of COVID-19 restrictions in the four provinces where it operates.

Several teams in Quebec relocated to Quebec City for multiple games because of restrictions earlier in November.

LaRose is from Mirabel, Quebec, and will soon be returning home for the holidays after not seeing his family for nearly five months.

“I’m going to have to be careful for sure,” says LaRose. “I mean we’re pretty lucky here with almost no cases, but back home is a little different. I will have to wear a mask and be careful.”

Under current guidelines from Nova Scotia public health, LaRose will have to self-isolate for 14 days when he returns to Nova Scotia in January.

His billets, Steve and Charlene Pertus, have been housing Eagles for eight years, and admit this is a year like never before.

“It’s been good, a little different this year. There’s some extra things we have to do to make it safe for everybody,” says Steve Pertus.

Not being able to play games and travel the team means LaRose has been spending more time at the Pertus’ house than ever expected.

“Oh, it’s fine, he’s excellent,” says Charlene Pertus. “He helps make supper, he’s no issue. We love having him.”

The QMJHL plans to introduce a protective playing environment if the pandemic still a problem when players return, with bubbles will set up in the Maritimes and in Quebec.

While LaRose admits that this has been a different year, he says he can’t imagine his life without playing hockey.

“You play hockey all your career, and now to see it end or shortened, I would be disappointed for sure,” says LaRose.

The QMJHL was the only one of three Canadian major junior leagues to open play around its normal start date.

The Western Hockey League has said it plans to start the season in January, while the Ontario Hockey League has targeted February.

"The current situation with the pandemic in the regions in which we operate makes it extremely difficult to play games," QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau said in a statement. "With the holidays just around the corner, the provinces in the Maritimes have restricted access and travel, while red zone restrictions in Quebec do not permit us to play."