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COVID slaps SLP boys hockey team

Some players test positive, putting season on hold

Members of the Saranac Lake Placid boys hockey team huddle before the third period of the Dec. 3 game against Niskayuna in Saranac Lake. (News photo — Parker O’Brien)

LAKE PLACID — With COVID-19 cases across New York state on the rise, the merged Saranac Lake Placid boys high school hockey squad became the latest team to be forced into a postponement.

The SLP boys were originally slated to face off against Massena Central on Friday, but after multiple positive COVID tests within the team, the game was postponed.

SLP head coach Brennen McHugh confirmed the postponement on Monday.

Lake Placid Athletic Director John Burdick said Monday that there were around eight boys who tested positive, adding that the number could be off by one or two.

Burdick said all of the Lake Placid hockey players had been tested and that Saranac Lake had intended to finish testing their players by Tuesday.

While it is unclear on the exact number of players who have tested positive for COVID-19, the team has not been together since their Dec. 30 game against Christian Brothers Academy in Albany.

“We will not practice until Wednesday at the earliest,” McHugh said.

McHugh said he was hopeful that the game against Massena would be rescheduled later in the season.

“With the return of students from the holiday break — the school districts are working through everything and we will buy some time in that process by not practicing today or tomorrow,” McHugh said Monday.

Burdick said, assuming things go as planned, he expects practicing to resume on Thursday. The decision to start practicing again was made on Tuesday in a discussion with Saranac Lake Athletic Director Bill Peer.

McHugh said Monday he would give them the information he had and his perspective. He added that he would fully support any decision.

“Most of our kids will be returning somewhere around the beginning of next week,” Burdick said. “The hope is that kids will be back and able to play starting on the 11th. Again, there’s still so much in the air.”

“That plan may very well be, ‘We need a couple more days still before coming up with a plan.’ Obviously, both Lake Placid and Saranac Lake school districts will ultimately make all of those tough decisions,” McHugh said.

With the team being merged between two school districts in separate counties — Saranac Lake in Franklin County and Lake Placid in Essex County — an official return could still take time.

Burdick said dealing with two separate counties has had its challenges, but for the most part, it has been easier this school year because there isn’t much disparity between the two counties’ guidelines.

“For instance, Franklin County required pool testing with all of their athletes and Essex County didn’t,” Burdick said. “The Saranac Lake kids were required to do it; the Lake Placid kids were not. This year, that requirement doesn’t exist. Saranac Lake is doing some pool testing; they are just doing it among their athletes.”

While both school districts have been waiting to gather more information regarding the COVID-19 situation, the Saranac Lake school district announced that general entry for all contests have been suspended and the athletes will be allowed just two spectators at games hosted by the school.

While the SLP boys are the first known outbreak in the new year, the girls hockey team experienced a similar issue prior to the holidays.

“The girls team did have a positive case or two right around Christmastime,” Burdick said. “We actually paused the girls team last week, and they didn’t play in that tournament that they had scheduled.”

Now that the holiday season has wrapped up, more team outbreaks are expected.

“With hockey, it’s taken a good chunk out of the boys hockey team, but I think the other teams haven’t seen it yet,” Burdick said. “I think that’s just a matter of time.”

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