U.S. College Hockey Season Postponements

[JMCx4]

Ivy League schools the first domino to fall ... SBNation-The Ice Garden: Ivy League schools to postpone beginning of hockey season

The Ivy League cancelled its fall sports season on Wednesday, and, more relevant to women’s hockey, said that no sports at its schools will be played before Jan. 1, 2021, due the coronavirus pandemic. They are the first NCAA Division 1 group to make such a decision.

This will impact six women’s hockey programs: Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, who make up half of the ECAC. ...

Click to read more...

 

[Dakota Sioux]

So much for UND playing Cornell

 

[JMCx4]

Gotta think there is a lot of scrambling in college athletic departments going on this weekend across the nation.

 

[AUS Fan]

This is just the beginning.

 

[alko]

Is it possible, they will cancel the season 20/21?

 

[JMCx4]

Is it possible, they will cancel the season 20/21?

The popular American idiom: "All bets are off." has officially become: "All bets are ON." in the grips of this pandemic.

ETA: Sorry, translation = "Yes, it is possible."

 

[JMCx4]

This blog entry is almost 2 months old, but I imagine that many if not all of the conditions & scenarios presented still prevail in the decision-making process for NCAA Div I women's conferences/leagues to shape their plans for 2020-21 seasons ... A way-too-early look at possible scenarios for the 2020-21 NCAA women’s hockey season

 

[JMCx4]

DIII UCHC postpones men's & women's seasons until at least January 1, 2021 ... UCHC Postpones Competition Timeline for 2020-21 Season

 

[JMCx4]

Early season DI hockey event cancellations ...

• 2020 Men's Ice Breaker Tournament in Duluth, MN
• 2020 Men's Friendship Four Tournament in Belfast, Northern Ireland

 

[JMCx4]

Not an official postponement ... yet ... but a related change in strategy for 2020-21 ...

From: USCHO.com > News

Hockey East announces ’20-21 season will consist of men’s, women’s league games, conference tournaments

By USCHO Staff - July 29, 2020


Hockey East announced Wednesday its intent to play the 2020-21 men’s and women’s college hockey season while focusing on games between league members and the completion of a regular-season schedule.

Details regarding the new schedules, including a new start date and specifics of regular-season competition, will be released at a later date. ...

“By emphasizing competition between Hockey East member institutions, the league allows itself to make significant and often difficult decisions in real time that will protect the health and safety of all parties involved in the administration of the conference schedule. Further, Hockey East’s geography allows the league to conduct conference competition, including the men’s and women’s championships, while mitigating non-essential travel and allowing maximum flexibility to adjust its schedule based on ever-changing developments and best medical practices surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Specifically, the league plans to construct multiple balanced schedule models for both the men’s and women’s leagues for the 2020-21 season. These models will include added safety measures and allow for maximum scheduling flexibility.” ...

Read more at: https://www.uscho.com/2020/07/29/ho...s-womens-league-games-conference-tournaments/

 

[JMCx4]

Back to postponements ...

From: USCHO.com

NCHA moves men’s, women’s conference games to 2021 calendar year due to COVID-19 pandemic

... “NCHA member institutions remain focused on providing meaningful experiences for their student-athletes in the fall of 2020 which could include opportunities for practice, small group training, skill development, strength and conditioning, and leadership programming.”

Teams playing nonconference games in the fall remains at the discretion of individual NCHA schools and will not be governed by the conference.

The conference schedule will be adjusted for a January start, based on state and local public health officials, NCAA and institutional guidance and any adjustment to national championship dates. ...

 

[mk80]

I expect a January start at the earliest for all levels of college hockey.

Edit: A lot of ACHA programs/conferences are postponing till then today

 

[JMCx4]

I expect a January start at the earliest for all levels of college hockey.

Edit: A lot of ACHA programs/conferences are postponing till then today

SECHC made that decision in late July ... M3 SOUTH EASTERN COLLEGIATE HOCKEY CONFERENCE TO POSTPONE SEASON | ACHA

 

[mk80]

SECHC made that decision in late July ... M3 SOUTH EASTERN COLLEGIATE HOCKEY CONFERENCE TO POSTPONE SEASON | ACHA

So far to my knowledge that's been the largest group of ACHA teams to postpone. Some individual programs such as UNLV, MO State and Ohio all made individual announcements as well.



missouristatehockey.com

 

[Hockeyfan44]

.

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

ACHA division 2 and 3 are both done for the entire season, still no word yet from ACHA D1 or either NCAA divisions. No idea about the women's divisions but I'd assume that they're on the same page as well.

As a current coach at this level, they are not. The current plan is to play starting Spring/Winter Semester.

 

[mk80]

ACHA division 2 and 3 are both done for the entire season, still no word yet from ACHA D1 or either NCAA divisions. No idea about the women's divisions but I'd assume that they're on the same page as well.

Where have you heard that? I certainly haven't. There may be some teams, or conferences individually that don't end up playing this year. But as far as I'm aware ACHA is planning to start in January.

Hopefully in January we'll all be in a much better place regarding the virus, so that we can start seeing games played again.

 

[JMCx4]

If you skip over the first half of this CHN article (where the author takes the opportunity to defend his previous publications on the topic), there are some thoughtful observations on what might become of the 2020-21 college hockey season. Here are a couple of excerpts that I found worthy of consideration by fans ...

... The NCAA says that, in order to play high-contact sports (hockey being one of them) testing procedures must be in place, with results that come back within 72 hours. So far, this is not feasible.
New testing advancements are coming, but are they coming fast enough for this college hockey season? That is unlikely according to numerous experts.

“It doesn't seem like it's realistic in the next several months,” Dr. Rajesh Prabhu, an infectious disease physician at Essentia Health in Duluth, told Matt Wellens of The Rink Live in a recent article. “I mean, they haven't even rolled it (the rapid-testing solution) out to health care systems for nursing homes — which is the priority group — or doctor's offices.”

College basketball conferences have discussed "bubbles" for sets of games while students are doing remote learning. But this is unrealistic for most sports. It's expensive, and outside of basketball, what sport makes enough revenue to justify this? ...

It seems like we won't see much college hockey, if any, until Jan. 1. When we do, it will be a league schedule only, a compressed calendar of games, that take us into March. I think the odds of those games being played in front of fans, even after Jan. 1, is still slim.

There is some thought that games could be played between Thanksgiving and New Year's break, since students would not be around. It will be easier to isolate athletes. This might work, it's something to explore for sure. Hopefully this buys time. ...

 

[BOS358]

The one thing I can contribute is that despite proclamations that there will be a season, my alma mater (in Hockey East) has not charged anybody for their season tickets as of yet. For this school to not take money means it looks less likely by the day.

 

[JMCx4]

This could be a precursor to bigger decisions/announcements regarding U.S. college hockey for 2020-21 ...

USCHO News: NCAA announces rule changes due to COVID-19, including allowing players to stay enrolled in college and play junior hockey

 

[JMCx4]

Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference hockey postponement ...

USCHO.com: MIAC men’s, women’s hockey postponed until January 2021 due to ongoing pandemic

 

[JMCx4]

From: College Hockey News > The Latest Headlines

Hockey East Return to Play Taskforce Prepping For 2020-21 Season

by Mike McMahon/Staff Writer


Hockey East is moving towards a 2020-21 season.

While nothing has been decided officially, the league's Return to Play Taskforce has been meeting for much of the past month, coming up with various suggestions and recommendations for the league and its member schools as it plans to launch the 2020-21 season. At the moment, many campuses are still locked down because of the coronavirus pandemic. ...

While Hockey East teams are largely at the mercy of what the schools decide in general, as it relates to handling the pandemic, the close proximity of member schools to each other provides some hope that games could be played.

The return to play could happen as early as November. Some officials believe that an early-January return is more likely, but there is a growing hope among league coaches that a start date around Thanksgiving is doable. Some schools are planning to close after Thanksgiving break, administering final exams online and then returning to class after the holidays in late-January or early-February, which gives the league a window of almost three months with no other students on campus, essentially creating a "bubble"-like scenario. ...

Read more at: Hockey East Return to Play Taskforce Prepping For 2020-21 Season

 

[JMCx4]

... Hopefully in January we'll all be in a much better place regarding the virus, so that we can start seeing games played again.

A belated ...

 

[mk80]

A belated ...

Dilly Dilly! And appropriate as we are in the pit of misery when it comes to having college hockey season right now!

 

[JMCx4]

Dilly Dilly! And appropriate as we are in the pit of misery when it comes to having college hockey season right now!

That's "mih-ZOO-ree" to you 'n' me.