NLL postpones Week 5, expects to play Week 6 as planned
The National Lacrosse League has announced that they have postponed the three games scheduled to take place during their upcoming Week 5. The decision was made after being in “constant contact with authorities, media, and business partners and officials on both sides of the border monitoring developments up to the minute.”
The games that have been postponed include:
Halifax Thunderbirds at Calgary Roughnecks (Thurs. Dec. 30)
New York Riptide at Colorado Mammoth (Fri. Dec. 31)
San Diego Seals at Saskatchewan Rush (Fri. Dec. 31)
Although the announcement doesn’t specifically provide details as to the root reason why these Week 5 games will been put on pause, the obvious implication that the postponements are due to the ongoing pandemic and significant spread of the Omicron variant are unquestionably the cause.
Last week, the Thunderbirds were forced to move their January 8th home date against the Riptide, both teams impacted by today’s announcement as well, due to new tighter restrictions put in place by the province of Nova Scotia. Unlike the Thunderbirds, who confirmed their game would be pushed to February 4th, the NLL has not indicated what dates this week’s postponed matches would be moved to.
Had the Riptide played this week, it would have been the third straight game New York would have presumably been without highly regarded rookie Jeff Teat, who was the league’s first player placed into COVID-19 protocol back on December 10th.
Coincidently, the Thunderbirds last played on December 10th when they hosted the Toronto Rock. Between a bye week and the NLL’s holiday break, Halifax has not seen the floor since. The team is not presently scheduled to play again until January 15th in Hamilton against the Rock.
The Riptide, who last played on December 12th, also aren’t scheduled to play again until January 15th when they host the Panther City Lacrosse Club.
The rest of the league statement, which was published alongside the NLLPA, reads:
We do this out of an abundance of caution which will keep the competitive balance of our league in place while making sure that our number one priority is, and always will be, the health and safety of our players, our coaches, our staff, and our fans. 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.
Week 6 has six games scheduled with a total of twelve teams on the floor.
The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association had originally announced the suspension of all operations from December 22nd to Christmas Day. In the days following, they would announce additional postponements and changes to their regular season schedule. More appear to be coming.
On the other hand, the National Basketball Association, who shares many of the same arenas as the NLL and NHL, has taken a significantly different approach to the current wave of Omicron outbreaks within their league. “Frankly, we’re having trouble coming up with what the logic would be behind pausing right now,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told ESPN last week. “As we look through these cases literally ripping through the country right now, putting aside the rest of the world, I think we’re finding ourselves where we sort of knew we were going to get to for the past several months – and that is that this virus will not be eradicated and we’re going to have to learn to live with it. That’s what we’re experiencing in the league right now.”
Shortly after the league’s announcement, NLL Commissioner, Nick Sakiewicz, tweeted, “Tough decision but thankful it is the right one for all involved. Very appreciative of our leadership, our players association, our owners & all other officials who worked with us & continue to provide invaluable perspective.”
Both the NHL and NBA have a significant amount of players sidelined due to their COVID-19 status, those counts clearly swelling over the last handful of weeks as Omricon rapidly spreads. In addition to Teat, five other NLL players and one coach are currently in protocol:
Jeff Teat placed on COVID-19 protocol list (Dec. 10) Read More
Cory Highfield: Second player placed on COVID-19 protocol list (Dec. 12) Read More
Corey Small, Alex Crepinsek and Mitch Wilde added to COVID protocol list (Dec. 17) Read More
Toronto places Tom Schreiber in COVID-19 protocol (Dec. 18) Read More
Pat Merrill: First NLL coach added to COVID protocol (Dec. 22) Read More
Due to player confidentiality and privacy, the league does not disclose the specifics about why a player has been placed in COVID protocol.