Just days after Hockey East released its schedule for 2020-21, the University of Vermont has put a pause on all hockey-related activities until Dec. 18, the university said on Sunday. Vermont, which has seen relatively low numbers of COVID-19 cases throughout the pandemic, has seen a bit of a spike in the past seven days...
Just days after Hockey East released its schedule for 2020-21, the University of Vermont has put a pause on all hockey-related activities until Dec. 18, the university said on Sunday.
Vermont, which has seen relatively low numbers of COVID-19 cases throughout the pandemic, has seen a bit of a spike in the past seven days with nearly 500 new positives arising in the Green Mountain State, according to the CDC Data Tracker.
“After discussions with President Garimella and the Vermont Department of Health, it became clear that delaying the start of our seasons was the most responsible course of action,” said UVM director of athletics Jeff Schulman.
“Our state is obviously seeing a significant increase in COVID-19 cases and it's important that our programs are operating in a manner that is consistent with guidance from state officials. I certainly feel for our student-athletes, coaches and staff who have been following strict protocols in preparing for a return to competition. Moving forward, we will make every effort to play out our competitive schedules while always prioritizing the health and wellbeing of our student-athletes, as well as that of our campus and community.”
The postponement comes just days before the Catamounts were set to kick off their newly released campaign with a series against Connecticut on Friday and Saturday.
Vermont is entering its first season under the direction of head coach Todd Woodcroft.
In total, UVM will miss eight conference games as a result of the decision to delay, putting it four weeks behind the rest of the league. In addition to UConn, Vermont will miss out on series with Massachusetts, Boston University and UMass Lowell.
In creating its schedule for the unique 2020-21 campaign, Hockey East scheduled in flex weekends for this very reason, when games inevitably get postponed due to the pandemic. Except, with eight games to make up, it becomes a tricky ordeal.
Hockey East has yet to comment on the delay or how it will manage the make-ups.
The season officially gets under way for the rest of the league on Friday, with Boston College hosting New Hampshire and UMass making the trip to Maine.
Liam Flaherty can be reached at liam.flaherty@hockeyjournal.com and on Twitter @_LiamFlaherty.
