COVID-19 has hit the Boston Bruins and forced them to postpone two games in wake of five players entering the NHL's health and safety protocols.
Boston's next game is slated for Thursday at TD Garden against the New York Islanders -- the first game on the Bruins' home ice this season that will welcome fans at 12% capacity. Fans originally were slated to attend Tuesday's game, but that was one of the two to be postponed.
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney met with the media Monday and confirmed, as of now, the game still will be held, but there will be "hurdles" to overcome should the puck drop Thursday night.
"Testing protocols will determine if we get back at full capacity, or what capacity we get to either Wednesday or Thursday," Sweeney said. "Really most of the time, it revolves around testing. And the league has done a fabulous job of trying to add secondary layers of point-of-care on game days and such, and even in our case on game days or on other teams’ cases. So that’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to continue to follow medical advice and cross our fingers to a large degree that everybody remains negative, and the people that have to continue to test, and hopefully return with a full group."
Should the game go on as scheduled, fans still will be allowed into TD Garden.
“The plan is to move forward with the 12% at the Garden and all the people there under Amy (Latimer) and Cam (Neely) and everybody has done an unbelievable job to prepare the building to thankfully welcome back the people that want to support our hockey club and the first responders and health care workers we want to be able to acknowledge," Sweeney said. "Just to have people back in the building and cheering for us is going to be a welcome thing for the players and really for everybody involved."
Here are a few other notes from Don Sweeney's press conference:
-- Brandon Carlo has been sidelined after taking a high hit from Tom Wilson during the Bruins game against the Washington Capitals on March 5. The good news, though, is that he -- along with the six other injured Bruins -- are making positive progress.
"All those players have been able to utilize the facility while we were away as well as the past few days because they were not a part of the traveling part and do not have to quarantine," Sweeney said. "And all of them have made progress. I can’t determine today because we’re not together as a group and not fully practicing, as to whether or not any or all of those players are returning to play if we do play on Thursday night. But, several of them are getting closer and we’re hopeful in short order that they’ll be able to become available to us."
-- Sweeney revealed there has been a lot of "mental fatigue" over the last five days due to not playing and quarantining.
"Well, I think there’s mental fatigue involved in a lot of these things. You’ve got a lot of people that are making decisions for you and putting forth their best medical advice. Even whether or not you’re playing that game on Thursday night, you’re not in a normal routine of preparing, you’re not at the rink on Friday," he said. "You’re waiting until a certain period of time when test results come back before you’re able to go to the rink as a group. It’s challenging on the players, it’s challenging on the coaching staff. For all teams involved, not just for our team. The other team’s wondering, ‘Okay, they had an equipment person test positive. We have another person removed from the games.’ So, you’re just wondering. It’s a little bit of looking over your shoulder and wondering if there’s another shoe to drop. Mentally, it’s challenging. But again, the league has done an unbelievable job to try and put forth all the health standards as necessary. They’ve added layers, and we’re all trying to do the best we can.
"And it’s not just us, it’s the whole world. It’s our sport, all sports, all of society and we just all hope we’re going to remain as healthy as possible and get through this as a group and hopefully the sport and individuals come out better. But it’s mentally tiring for the players and the staff involved. I think that’s all part of it."
-- The trade deadline is approaching, but Sweeney didn't say too much about whether he'd make a move prior to April 12.
"I think anybody would prefer to act sooner and get your group together and acclimated as you get through it. But, again, I don’t think anybody has a timeline," he said. "You can talk to any of the teams, they’d like to do it way out front because they’re facing 14 hard days before a player’s available to them. But the other teams are dictating where the supply is and what the demand is. I can’t predict whether we’ll be earlier on the deadline day."
