Professional Hockey Is Disrupted by Coronavirus

The N.W.H.L. bubble began last Saturday, with teams expected to play five games before the playoffs. The league was expecting more exposure than ever, as its semifinals and finals will be broadcast on the NBC Sports Network, the first time professional women’s hockey will be shown live on a major cable network in the U.S.

A cancellation would be damaging for the league, which spent in excess of $2 million for its season in Lake Placid — according to a person with direct knowledge of bubble operations who was not authorized to speak publicly. The N.H.L. has not indicated that any prolonged stoppage is forthcoming.

In an interview this month, Theresa Chapple-McGruder, an epidemiologist in Washington whose recent work has focused on sports during the pandemic, said she was worried about athletic activities’ taking place with new variants of the virus emerging in North America.

“Until we can get it to where we have vaccination rates that lead us to herd immunity, we need to be playing in bubbles, if sports need to be occurring at all right now,” said Chapple-McGruder, who does not work with the N.H.L. or the N.W.H.L.

“You’re indoors in a cold environment, so the virus is going to live longer in the cold, and then all the heavy breathing, close contact — it’s just exactly what you need to spread the virus,” she added. “It’s similar to what we saw in the meatpacking industry, because cold helps the virus survive. Hockey is no baseball.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/sports/hockey/nhl-postponements-nwhl-riveters-bubble.html