Even before the puck dropped on the opening weekend of the 2021-22 season, college hockey felt the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The season-opening series between Alaska and Minnesota scheduled for Oct. 2-3 in Minneapolis was postponed to mid-January because of COVID protocols that involved Tier 1 individuals associated with the Alaska program.
Tier 1 individuals. COVID protocols. Phrases like these are now part of the lexicon of collegiate sports, and heading into a second college hockey season controlled in part by what turns the virus might take, every D-I conference has had more to consider than league standings and PairWise Rankings.
“Last year we had some very specific things that we as a conference were saying had to be done, especially related to testing,” said NCHC commissioner Josh Fenton. “This year, we’re requiring people to follow NCAA and local health authority guides.”
In August, the NCAA published its “2021 Fall Training and Competition” guidelines, which were developed by dozens of doctors from member institutions across the three NCAA divisions plus several administrators from Division I conferences. The guidelines also rely on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We’re following the NCAA guidance that’s coming out from Dr. Hainline as the head of that unit at the minimum,” said Steve Hagwell, ECAC commissioner. Brian Hainline oversees the NCAA Sports Science Institute and is the chief medical officer for the NCAA.
“All of our institutions are requiring that their student-athletes are vaccinated. There are exceptions on campuses for students in general – not big numbers – so student-athletes can fall under the medical and religious exemptions that are being granted, but it’s not across the board. It’s some institutions and it’s very few, so I think it’s very limited for the most part.”
The NCAA guidelines do not require vaccinations, even though many member institutions do. Tier 1 individuals – players and all who work directly with players – aren’t required to be tested for COVID-19 as long as they’re asymptomatic. Vaccinated athletes who come into contact with those who have tested positive for COVID-19 won’t be required to quarantine.
“We are, for the most part, deferring to our individual schools, local jurisdictions and states, because they’re all so different,” said CCHA commissioner Don Lucia. “Basically, where we’re at, is that we have very good vaccination rates from our players. We did mandate that officials have to be vaccinated for this upcoming season. We didn’t want to run into a situation where an official gets to a site and can’t officiate.”
Not every conference is requiring on-ice officials to be vaccinated, but Atlantic Hockey, the CCHA, and Hockey East are requiring vaccines for refs and linesmen. In the NCHC, while vaccines aren’t required, the league says that 90-95% of on-ice officials are vaccinated and those who choose not to get the vaccine must submit proof of a negative test to the league office in the weeks that they’re scheduled to work. The Big Ten has a similar policy where officials submit proof of vaccine or negative tests to a server.
In addition, at Michigan State and Minnesota, officials are required to mask up during stoppages of play and when approaching the benches.
In every conference, rules for attending hockey games vary from arena to arena. When member teams play on institution grounds, the institution sets its own attendance mandates. Most indoor arenas require spectators to wear masks, although some municipalities that control arenas where college hockey teams play may extend mask rules to players and coaches when not in the field of play.
Some institutions have even stricter attendance guidelines. Colorado College is requiring proof of vaccination or proof of negative test within the previous 72 hours for admission to the arena. Rensselaer announced early in August that only RPI students, faculty and staff who are compliant with the school’s COVID-19 protocols will be allowed to attend any athletic events on its campus.
Beyond the mandates of institutions and arenas, every conference navigates multiple municipalities that span counties and states. “Last year, we had 11 counties that we had to deal with,” said Atlantic Hockey commissioner Bob DiGregorio. “We were on the phone every Monday to see if there had been any changes. Last year was a long, long year. It’s amazing what one year has done.”
While there is still a lot to navigate, said Fenton, last year was far more difficult, including a 40-page document for health and safety protocols. “This year’s version is a 10 to 15 page document,” said Fenton, based on the NCAA guidelines.
Every conference is taking everything into account and keeping in mind that things may change without warning – but not without preparation. Last year’s 40-page NCHC document for health and safety protocols paved the way for this year’s document that’s less than half that length.
“We’re following any local health authority guidelines, restrictions, requirements,” said Fenton. “Whether it be a state restriction, a city restriction, a county restriction or maybe more specifically and probably more appropriately institutional requirements, and then obviously more specifically within the competition venue, whatever those requirements are.”
Should COVID derail conference play, each league has its own set of rules for how the games will be counted – or not.
The Big Ten, for example, has a strict across-the-board policy for all sports regarding COVID cancellations. They’re all forfeitures. The B1G website says, in part, that “if one of its member institutions is unable to play a conference due to COVID-19,” that’s a forfeit “and will not be rescheduled.” The game is a loss for “the team impacted by COVID-19 and a win for its opponent in the conference standings.
The ECAC will deal with cancellations on a case-by-case basis.
“If an institution has an issue, those administrators will get together and see if they can reschedule the game,” said Hagwell. “If it doesn’t work, we may find ourselves possibly in a scenario with an uneven number of games and we go to win percentage based on the available points.”
Because of the conference’s big footprint, Hagwell said that the ECAC did entertain the idea of forfeits.
“I don’t think a team or players should be penalized because they had an issue on a given day,” he said. “I’m not a fan of forfeits.”
“We will have no contest as opposed to a forfeiture,” added Lucia. “We’ve discussed both, but we will go with the no contest if that were to happen and then we’d have to switch our standings to a percentage rates.”
What the CCHA is doing is identical to the ECAC’s policies.
“We will have no contest as opposed to a forfeiture,” said Lucia. “We’ve discussed both, but we will go with the no contest if that were to happen and then we’d have to switch our standings to a percentage rates.”
Neither Atlantic Hockey nor the NCHC has made a firm decision about potential cancellations, with both leagues leaning toward switching to percentages to determine final conference standings, if absolutely necessary. DiGregorio is a little concerned about the logistics of rescheduling games between opponents separated by great distances.
“We’ve got a little bit of a hang-up with that,” DiGregorio said. “Teams can’t keep traveling during the week. They’ll be missing too much school. We’re limited there.”
The NCHC, in particular, is saying that a cancelled game would be considered “no contest” if it couldn’t be rescheduled.
Hockey East is a different animal altogether.
“New England is doing really well” with COVID, said HEA commissioner Steve Metcalf. “Our institutions are doing really well, too.”
Because of that, the league hasn’t instituted anything COVID-specific regarding potential cancellations and will follow existing rules. According to the Hockey East by-laws, if a game is cancelled, the team responsible for the cancellation needs to reschedule no later than 72 hours before the cancelled game. If the team that cancels doesn’t reschedule, that team forfeits. Metcalf doesn’t foresee rescheduling problems.
“We have very, very high vaccination rates,” said Metcalf. “All of our men’s and women’s teams, all of our officials are vaccinated. When you kind of put all those together, it gives you really strong reason for optimism that you’ll be playing uninterrupted mostly.”
New Hampshire is the only Hockey East school that doesn’t require vaccinations for students.
“All but one of our institutions has mandated vaccinations for their student populations and in some cases their staff,” said Metcalf. “In some cases, you can’t get on the campus unless you’re vaccinated. When all those things are happening in concert when you’re trying to play college hockey, it’s a really good situation.”
The vaccination rates vary widely from state to state, region to region, which is the chief reason why policies vary from conference to conference. In Minnesota, the percentage of the population that is fully vaccinated is 59.2%. In Colorado, it’s 60.7%. In North Dakota, it’s 45.4%. Indiana, Ohio and Michigan all have rates that hover around 50%.
“Vaccination rates are up, but so is COVID,” said Lucia. “It’s an endemic. It’s something we’re going to have to live with. It’s not going away anytime soon.
“I’m just happy to see people back in the buildings. Some people are more comfortable than others. I think we’re going to have to be respectful of everybody as we go through this. We’ve done everything we can do from a conference standpoint.”
“The game-changer and why we’re having a different conversation from the one we had last year is the vaccine,” noted Fenton. “If the vaccine wasn’t in place and the case counts were what they are now, we’d be talking about essentially what we did last year. That’s the saving grace. I’m not here to tell anybody that they should or shouldn’t [get vaccinated]. That’s not my place. But I can tell you the path to competing in collegiate sports that is a little bit [of an] easier path is being vaccinated. It just is.”
The vaccination rate for every state in New England is above 60%, which Metcalf thinks bodes well for Hockey East and for the Frozen Four that conference hosts in Boston next April.
“What a difference a year makes, for so many different reasons,” said Metcalf. “To be playing hockey as scheduled on the dates and times that we planned to play those games is so refreshing.”
