After a cluster of postponements this week, the NHL has mandated additional in-arena protocols to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, according to deputy commissioner Bill Daly.
Beginning with Thursday’s games, the glass will be removed behind the teams’ benches. The belief is this measure will help increase airflow in arenas.
In addition, players and coaches are no longer allowed to arrive to arenas until one hour, 45 minutes before puck drop — with an exception for players receiving medical treatment. All meetings must be virtual, and teams are being asked to use additional locker room space for themselves and opponents to help enforce better social distancing. The league also is considering asking teams to use portable air cleaners behind the benches “to improve indoor air quality and mitigate airborne viral transmission.”
Winnipeg Jets center Andrew Copp, who serves as the team’s NHLPA representative, was critical of the new arrival restrictions.
“Really, really unhappy with that part of it,” Copp told reporters. “Some of the protocols obviously in place, like virtual meetings, the spreading out guys in the room, I really understand that part. But not being allowed in the facility until an hour and 45 [minutes]? I mean, we got guys that show up here before 4 for 7 o’clock games. It’s getting your mind right, it’s getting your body right to put out the best possible product for the fans and trying to lower injury as much as possible. Really, really upset with that, and that will be fought for sure in the next few days.”
St. Louis Blues coach Craig Berube, on the other hand, said they will follow the new rules because “that’s our job.”
“You may not like every decision that the league makes, but they’re doing it for the safety of the players first and for trying to get a season done, trying to keep COVID down,” Berube said.
There had been some concern raised by teams about the lag time between daily PCR testing and puck drop. The NBA also began its season with daily PCR testing but switched to rapid tests to get results before tipoff.
In an email, Daly told ESPN that the NHL already uses rapid testing “where deemed helpful or necessary.”
“I would say we are committed to layering in more rapid testing as we go forward,” Daly said.
Since the season began Jan. 13, 22 games have been postponed and around 90 players have appeared on the league’s COVID protocol related absence list. A player’s status on the list doesn’t necessarily mean he tested positive for the coronavirus; often, a player can end up on the list if he is deemed a close contact or because of travel and quarantine restrictions.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
BRUSSELS – Canadian shot putter Sarah Mitton rebounded from a disappointing performance at the Paris Olympics by capturing Diamond League gold on Friday.
Mitton, of Brooklyn, N.S., won the competition, the final Diamond League event of the season, with a heave of 20.25 metres on her third throw.
Chase Jackson of the U.S. placed second with a throw of 19.90, while German’s Yemisi Ogunleye, the Olympic gold medallist, claimed bronze with a toss of 19.72.
Mitton, the runner-up of last year’s world championship, failed to qualify for the top eight in Paris.
Edmonton runner Marco Arop, who won silver for Canada in the men’s 800 metres at the Paris Games, was scheduled to race in the 800 on Saturday.
Olympic bronze-medallist Alysha Newman, of London, Ont., also competes Saturday in the women’s pole vault.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
