Local DII Boys’ Hockey Paused for COVID
By Ben Kaufmann
County Courier
ST. ALBANS – Positive COVID-19 tests and the necessary caution around them has thrown a wrench into local high school hockey seasons. Games among many Division II boys’ hockey programs have been halted and some programs have chosen to suspend their campaigns, raising the possibility of a premature end to the entire season. Missisquoi, which last played on February 27th, and Milton, which last played on February 24th, both announced on Friday that their games on March 6th would not be played.
No Division II boys’ team in the northern part of Vermont has played a game since at least February 27th according to the Vermont Principals’ Association website. Three teams – Brattleboro, Burr & Burton, and Hartford – last played on March 3rd (Brattleboro faced Division I Stowe and the Bulldogs and Hurricanes played against each other). The end of the regular season is slated for this coming Wednesday, with playoff pairings to be announced the following day.
The Vermont Principals’ Association confirmed that they will not halt the season unless such guidance comes directly from the state. Barring that, game cancellations are determined on a school-by-school basis in conjunction with the Vermont Department of Health. As reported by the Caledonian Record, Lyndon Institute and St. Johnsbury have suspended their boys’ hockey programs.
The County Courier has received unconfirmed reports of multiple positive tests within the Missisquoi boys’ hockey program but has not yet learned if Milton’s cancellations are due to positive cases or simply the lack of an available opponent. We reached out to both Missisquoi and Milton on Friday morning and will update this story if either school responds to our request.
Proper utilization of protocols seems to be working appropriately. Other sports at Missisquoi and Milton have not been required to stop playing. Both boys’ basketball teams hosted games on Thursday evening, both girls’ basketball teams are expecting to play today and MVU girls’ hockey will play on Saturday.
For the Thunderbirds of Missisquoi, signs of trouble at opposing schools have been lurking for the last week. MVU was slated to play Lyndon Institute last Saturday but instead invited Essex to town when the Vikings had to cancel their participation. A Wednesday game against Mt. Mansfield was also nixed.
Both MVU and Milton play at Highgate Arena, but outbreaks do not appear to be connected to that venue. The teams have played three combined games since squaring off with each other there on February 20th. Missisquoi’s girls’ team has continued to safely play out of that same arena and is expected to play its scheduled game at BFA-St. Albans on Saturday.
The grim outlook is especially disheartening for Missisquoi, which had raced out to four straight wins and the top of the Division II table. The Thunderbirds dropped, but just a little bit, after taking a loss in what was likely its most impressive game of the season. That last-minute change which saw Essex replace Lyndon brought the Division I powerhouse Hornets to Highgate and MVU hung with them until a pair of third-period goals let Essex escape with the win. If the season doesn’t resume, Missisquoi will be left to wonder if a championship banner might have been lost in the process.
For now, teams are holding out hope that they’ll be able to continue the season.
UPDATE: Milton, which has continued to play its other sports and is hoping to see hockey return for the playoffs, offered the following statement via Superintendent of the Milton Town School District, Amy Rex. “The MTSD adheres to best practices in communicating health-related information to ensure that we are protecting the privacy rights of our staff and students. Naturally, Covid-19 falls into this category. When the school becomes aware of a staff, or student, who is Covid-19 positive and was infectious while at work/school, then we communicate to the school community and post it on our Covid-19 dashboard. We do not provide any other personally identifiable information.”
