The Ivy League’s announcement Wednesday that it was cancelling fall sports and not allowing any sports prior to January due to the coronavirus wasn’t much of a surprise.
However, it is certainly disappointing for the six hockey-playing institutions in the Ivy League that compete in ECAC Hockey. Cornell and Harvard were both set to be among the top teams in Division 1 college hockey.
There are several current players and recruits at both schools who could now leave early for professional hockey, or return or stay in junior hockey longer. NTDP U-18 center Matt Beniers almost certainly will not matriculate to Harvard as expected. The Hingham, Mass., native could go to the Chicago Steel in the USHL or go to a Hockey East school that would be more likely to play.
Other notable players to watch closely are Morgan Barron of the Big Red, and Harvard’s Jack Drury, John Farinacci, Sean Farrell, Jack Bar and Ryan Siedem.
The hockey players and coaches at Brown, Dartmouth, Princeton and Yale also will lose at least a portion of their season. It’s a hard pill to swallow for both players and coaches.
While not in ECAC Hockey or the Ivy League, Merrimack College coach Scott Borek was the first college hockey coach that I know of to publicly voice his displeasure. He did so Thursday on Twitter, saying, in part, “I both hope and believe that we will see college hockey this fall....we all need to think positively, and then find constructive ways to make our hopes a reality.. just not buying into the cancel culture.”
Several college hockey assistants, speaking Wednesday and Thursday on the condition of anonymity, voiced their displeasure with the announcement. They are worried about their job security and potential for a lack of professional growth during this time period.
One said it’s above the pay grade of the coaching staff and even the athletic department, alluding to the fact that higher-ups in college administration are behind these cancellations.
Another commented that college coaches are increasingly disappointed by the lack of support from those who are supposed to be staunch supporters of the sport and college athletics as a whole.
“It’s crazy to me how many in media seem to be giddy over these cancellations. It’s as if they are rooting for college kids to lose the best years of their life and for college coaches to be out of a job. It’s hard to fathom,” said one college coach in ECAC Hockey.
“All we want is for hockey to be played, if we can do it safely,” said a Hockey East coach. “There is too much negativity. A lot of people who live easy, comfortable lives have no problem shutting everything down. Not everyone has that luxury, which is why we need solutions. We can’t just push toward shutting everything down automatically.”
