Hockey Withdraws From Tournament
This is a brutal way for Michigan's season to end:
BREAKING: Michigan positive COVID case - withdraws from tournament. Minnesota-Duluth advances.
— College Hockey News (@chnews) March 26, 2021
Notre Dame also withdrew from the tournament after being selected so you wonder if there was an outbreak at the Big Ten tournament.
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damn that sucks
I consider it as Michigan hockey remains undefeated in the 2021 ncaa tournament.
Fugg.......
And again, asking for another sport... WHY did we have conference tournaments this year. Made no damn sense.
I was just about to mention this. The Big Ten managed to decide to cancel the baseball and softball tournaments this season, but did not cancel any other conference tournaments. They could have used that last week to make up the handful of cancelled games instead.
I’m not sure how much of this we can blame on the BIG. Covid spreads like wildfire, you can’t 100% isolate everyone. If you think college kids are adhering 100% to all the protocols, you are wrong(no human can do this for the length of time they are asked to do it). Also, the majority of the new cases we are seeing are of the B117 variant, which ironically, the first Michigan case was brought here by our very own M student athlete. So, I’m not sure how much we can point the finger at others at this point. It is what it is.
Two words: TV Contracts.
Four more words: Teams wanted to play
So while it would have shown some real forethought, I assume the B1G Hockey ADs didn't have the stones to turn down some revenue and also deny a team (Minnesota, in this case) the accomplishment of a B1G Championship by saying, "We need to keep the big prize in mind. Everyone quarantine for two weeks before the NCAA Tourney."
They thought moving it up so it finished on March 16 was enough. Well, while COVID incubates typically for 5-6 days, it can take up to 14, so it was a gamble. Looks like UM and ND lost, though it's quite possible the teams caught it outside the tourney.
Hockey is probably the toughest sport to keep "clean" in the COVID era -- maximum exertion (and thus breathing) and you tend to sit in tight quarters while you recover your breath. Two teams dropping out is, unfortunately, not a surprise.
If they got Covid at the BTT, it probably wasn't during the games themselves (not enough time for exposure), but at the hotel, dining area, etc. That seems to have been the issue for the A-10 teams in basketball.
Quite possibly.
But you know what would be nice? If these schools / NCAA paid for sequencing of these small outbreaks. That way, they could know what's happening (or at least eliminate some possibilities) and also help provide useful stats to the world at large (e.g., see if it was caused by any variants).
Instead, it seems like they go, "Dammit, we tested positive!" and leave it at that. No real investigation into how it happened, just cursing the sky that it did.
Fuck me... This sucks ass.
I didn't even finish reading the preview yet.
Aw, raspberries!
Wow. Very disappointing. Heart breaks for the guys. Thanks to all the players and coaches who repped us well this year.
Wish there was more detail here. Was it just one player, or multiple, that tested positive? I suspect contract tracing would put an end to it, either way, so it really doesn't matter. I'll echo the sentiments about why the conference tournament?
Way to go, B1G...
Yes, big difference if it's just one case. Odds would be pretty long if it happened at the B1G tournament and only got one player.
So many people are asymptomatic in this age group, he could have got it from someone who didn't even know they had it (if it's just one).
"Michigan had multiple positive COVID-19 tests."
Doesn't say the exact number, nor if they were players, staff or what.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/2021/03/26/um-hockey-forced-out-ncaa-tournament-because-positive-tests/7014960002/
Yep, I saw that on the News and came right back here. Multiple makes it very possible. Also could be something else they all were at 7-10 days ago, which could be anything, even a team function.
Useless to speculate without more information, and they aren't obligated to give any more than they have.
I just finished reading the preview, got myself jazzed up, then refreshed the front page. What a swing of emotion.
Why didn't the NCAA do a bubble environment for 2 weeks and then play the tournament to ensure stuff like this didn't happen? What a stupid setup by the NCAA.
This would imply that the folks running NCAA hockey spend any time thinking about how to do anything well ever
/shakes fist at the sheer bloodymindedness of the universe
Well that fuckin' blows.
Well...Fuck...
I think I'd rather lose in overtime again than go out this way
Damn, I was planning my whole afternoon around the game. Bummer for the players.
It's been 11 days since they played, I'd think an outbreak at the conference tourney would've been detected before now.
FUCK. Please come back everyone!
Damn
Michigan should pull a Catholic Central and let the club team play.
^^^ serious, serious hockey fan ^^^
respect.
That was an amazing story.
A new, novel form of gut punch to end Michigan Hockey's season.
This is incredibly disappointing. Tons of talent on this team, really wanted to see what they could do in the postseason... and we don't even get to see them lose to a better team, if that was what it would come to.
Michigan Hockey, follow at your own risk.
:(
Luckiest college hockey team on the planet continues their run of amazing luck.
And then there's us.
Man that sucks. Definitely feels like a breakout happened at the BTT.
Really felt like this team was going to make a run.
I'd been thinking basketball conference tournaments should be skipped this year to hopefully improve chances of not getting many NCAA tournament games canceled. Maybe would have been good idea for hockey, not like Big ten hockey tournament generates a ton of revenue
So the statement attributed to Mel from Jashvina Shah on Twitter last night that "everyone at Michigan is there & has cleared COVID protocol" was...?
Meaning they tested negative yesterday and positive today, perhaps? If that's true then these guys got it within the last couple weeks. Watch out, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
was...99% likely to be truthful, as far as what they knew at the time.
I'd have to see the quote again, but I actually remember noticing at the time (and then dismissing) that the wording specifically said something to the effect of "everybody HERE has tested negative." Like, it's possible that someone had been left home.
And that would make a lot of sense given the rumor someone posted on the board about a player, then Mike McMahon saying he heard a team in Fargo had a positive case but they didn't think it would prevent them from playing (then later said it was false).
I didn't see the player in the practice video they posted and I think someone on the board said he didn't travel.
Seems like: Player tests positive early in the week (which would be like 7 days from the Big Ten Tournament), everyone else is negative so they travel, keep testing negative on the practice days, McMahon hears the same rumblings the poster on the board heard, Mel issues his carefully worded statement, then more positive tests come in today. It all works.
And we are cursed. I hate everything right now.
March 26th, 2021 at 11:32 PM ^
CHN's article on today pretty much confirmed the above. They said Mich left a player behind who had tested positive and thought they were OK with the group they brought.
"Ah, hon, ya got Arby's all over me."
- Marge Gunderson, Fargo
OT but this is the first time I've ever seen that sickly sweet purple horror show that I haven't wanted to barf.
crap.
Going to take me some time to categorize this in the context of other NCAA tournament departures.
A few years ago I tried to define three categories of playoff OT losses. Those categories are: 1. Heartbreaking - We lose, the season is over, boo. Examples: Cornell in 2012, BC in 2004. Gut-wrenching: We lose, the season is over, the team had the potential to win it all. Examples: Maine 93, LSSU 94, Soul-crushing: We lose, some horrifying combination of the game being stolen from us and a national title within our grasp, local bridges must be placed under guard to deter fans from flinging themselves into icy rivers. Examples: Maine 95, Minnesota 03, Miami 10, UMD 11.
The category starts breaking down with stuff like this (and losing to ND in the last second in the FF a couple years ago). But you get the idea.
It's not easy being a Michigan Hockey fan.
Was Maine 93 the game where they lost the satellite feed and showed the OT on a 10-15 minute delay? We were at Touchdown’s waiting, then people listening to the radio knew what happened and the place cleared out before it was shown on TV....that was a whole other type of way to lose
If it was easy to be a Michigan Hockey fan, anybody could do it.
Every now and then I read an obituary which highlights the departed's love of sports, exemplified by (for example) his love of the NY Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, and Duke basketball. Never a mention of Michigan Hockey.
I still have never had the heart to go back and watch the Duluth game to see how legit the waived off goal was. I was there and have no recollection of seeing a replay at the time.
18 years later and I can't get Ryznar's waived off goal vs Minnesota out of my head and I don't want to feel the same way.
Was it bad?
I have also not had the heart to look.
I was also at the game. I am confident that I was the first Duluth resident to return from St. Paul that night. Very confident.
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