When I saw the news from Nathan Fournier of the Lewiston Sun Journal that the Maryland Black Bears and Maine Nordiques series this weekend has been postponed, it started to make the gears turn for me and what it would mean for the Black Bears. There’s been no reason given for the postponements of the last two weekend, but you have to wonder how much of it is COVID restrictions related. Maine has a mandatory 14-day quarantine for people coming from out-of-state, visitors and residents alike.
Plus, will the games be played this coming weekend that are supposed to be in New Jersey?? New Jersey has travel restrictions and quarantine precautions in affect for people traveling from 43 states– Maryland being one of them. There’s also a question of Maryland’s numbers themselves and what that will do to home games for the Black Bears, who have a three-weekend homestand coming up here soon.
As an aside, the protocol for the NAHL has been described by the Aberdeen (SD) News when it pertained to the Aberdeen Wings postponing games for COVID reasons. If the postponements weren’t for travel, this is the timeline for teams to come back after a positive test.
More over, the team has not practiced during the break, per the Black Bears’ front office. That brings about the question of when the team plays again, what kind of hop will they have. A break like this is not unusual in the college setting, so I’m thinking it shouldn’t be too much of a drag overall. The hope is that they do come back with solid conditioning in tact and ready to go as needed.
I’m sure the feeling from the start is that it was doing to be a very start/stop season as conditions yielded. The coaching staff and all probably told the players to account for that, as well. Only time will tell the next time we see the Black Bears on the ice.
Clutch And Crab Hockey 