Small & Crepinsek moved from COVID protocol to active roster
The Philadelphia Wings have moved Corey Small and Alex Crepinsek from the COVID-19 protocol list back to their active roster, as per the National Lacrosse League’s official transaction page.
While not the first players placed into protocol, Small and Crepinsek are the first two to be moved back to their team’s active roster, having both missed just a single game while sidelined.
The league presently has five players in COVID-19 protocol: Jeff Teat (Dec. 10), Cory Highfield (Dec. 12), Mitch Wilde (Dec. 17), Tom Schreiber (Dec. 18) and Carter McKenzie (Dec. 29). San Diego Seals General Manager & Head Coach, Pat Merrill, was also moved into protocol last week.
It’s believed that other players have contracted the fast-spreading Omicron variant over the holidays, but with the league on a Christmas-week break and then postponing their Week 5 games, many of those players will have passed the ten days of isolation as mandated in the NLL’s COVID-19 policy & protocol document (see it here) prior to their next expected regular season game.
Tom Schreiber (Photo: Ryan McCullough)
Players The Lax Mag has spoken to have also indicated that teams have not been practicing during the recent league-wide break, and have also not been tested as they normally would have had they been meeting weekly as part of their routine practice schedule.
The NLL had previously stated that, “We expect to play Week 6 of the season on January 7-8, 2022 and we will update if there are any changes based on this fluid and complex situation.”
In total, seven players have been placed into protocol, Riptide rookie Teat the first NLLer to be moved there. Teat has been on the league’s COVID-19 protocol list for three full weeks as of today.
To make room on their active roster for Small and Crepinsek, the Wings have moved Ben French and Blake Gibson-McDonald to their practice player list.
Currently, the NLL is scheduled to return to action on January 7th when the Colorado Mammoth travel to Vancouver to play the Warriors at Rogers Arena, a facility the Government of British Columbia has restricted to 50% capacity.