Postponed has become a familiar word in the world of college athletics in the early days of 2022, and the west region of NCAA Division III hockey is not immune to it.
The more we hope for normalcy, the further we seem to get away from it as the COVID-19 pandemic rolls on into its second year of existence.
Nearly half the games on the slate for the weekend in the west region were postponed, and as much as we’d like to believe that won’t be a trend that continues, it seems likely that it will.
There was a point in 2021 where it appeared that things were trending toward normalcy, and that perhaps the pandemic was finally going to be behind us. That perhaps we would get a 2021-22 hockey season void of interruptions.
But lately, interruptions have been a theme. COVID-19 issues within programs have forced teams to postpone and reschedule for a later date.
We are all thankful that sports are being played amid the pandemic, but we have also learned to accept the reality that not every game is going to get played as planned.
More games have been played this season than in the last one, and that is huge, but we still face a future of uncertainty over the next couple of months of the regular season.
One of the biggest concerns is will there be conference tournaments, and maybe more importantly, an NCAA tournament in Division III.
I hope so.
There hasn’t been an NCAA tournament since 2019, and as of right now, UW-Stevens Point is still technically the reigning national champion.
We’d all like to see a national champion crowned in 2022.
Teams put in work throughout the offseason, in practice, and during the season as well to have a shot to compete for conference titles and a spot in the national tourney.
The last thing any of us want to see is that opportunity taken away, to see these dedicated athletes not get the chance to see their hard work pay off to the fullest extent.
Not every team is going to bask in the glory of a conference title and not every team can make the NCAA tournament, but every team does deserve to have its fate decided on the ice.
The pandemic hasn’t made things easy for college athletes as of late. They go into each week wondering if a game is going to be played. I can’t even begin to imagine what that must be like to spend hours in practice during the week preparing for a game only to find out the day before or the day of a game that you aren’t going to play.
Certainly there are lessons learned from tough moments, from adversity, but at this point, college hockey players deserve a break from those lessons.
We can only hope that better days are ahead. That the uncertainty begins to fade and we see fewer weekends of postponed games.
Because we all love hockey and we all want to see the season continue as planned. The athletes that play this game deserve as much.
