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NHL Should Suspend Games amid COVID-19 Concerns

By John Manzo

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - FEBRUARY 20: An empty net is shown from above before a game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on February 20, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Lightning 5-3. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - FEBRUARY 20: An empty net is shown from above before a game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on February 20, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Lightning 5-3. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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NHL commissioner Gary Bettman needs to follow the NBA’s lead and suspend games immediately due to COVID-19 concerns.COVID-19 really puts sports into perspective, huh?

The Detroit Red Wings season has felt like a pandemic of sports proportions many times this year. The team is 17-49-5 and secured last place in the NHL after their 5-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes Tuesday night.

But the key words here are “of sports proportions.”

Yesterday was a day in United States history – and even more specifically U.S. sports history – that many of us will never forget.

It started with NCAA president Mark Emmert announcing (as of Wednesday) that the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments will be played without fans.

Hours later in the NBA, moments before the Oklahoma City Thunder and Utah Jazz tipped off, the game was postponed because Jazz center Rudy Gobert had tested positive for COVID-19.

The NBA has suspended games indefinitely and you have to think the NHL will soon follow because it’s the smart and safe way to go about this. Or at least they should.

For now, the games play on. The Red Wings are slated to take on the Washington Captials in D.C. at 7 p.m. ET tonight. This despite the DC Department of Health “recommending large, non-essential events be cancelled for the time being due to the Coronavirus,” per an article written by Maria Leaf of WMAL.com.

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Whether your team is atop the standings or bottom feeders like the Red Wings, the NHL needs to indefinitely cancel games like the NBA.

Pandemic “of sports proportions” is minuscule on the scale of global pandemic of health proportions.

Even if it’s being labeled by some as a new strain of the flu, we need to take this seriously and nip it in the butt now. Nobody is invincible and I’d rather be without hockey for a few weeks than have players  on edge in June as they sip out the Stanley Cup.

Go on hiatus, get this under control and resume with ease.

Until then, I’m going to watch The Russian Five documentary on repeat.

For more information about COVID-19, visit the CDC’s website or the website for your state’s Department of Health.

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