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There haven’t been any additional players showing symptoms the day after a PWHL playoff game was postponed due to “player safety concerns related to illness.”
The deciding semifinal Game 5 between the Montreal Victoire and Minnesota Frost was supposed to be played in Laval, Que. on Monday evening. The postponement was announced less than three hours before puck drop at Place Bell.
Instead, the game will be played at Place Bell on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET. The winner will move on to play the Ottawa Charge in the Walter Cup final.
“No new symptoms have been identified since the postponement decision was made, and those who previously experienced symptoms are continuing to improve,” PWHL spokesperson Paul Krotz said on Tuesday. “In addition, enhanced cleaning and disinfecting measures were enacted across team environments as an added precaution.”
The Ottawa Charge defeated the Boston Fleet 4-3 in Sunday’s Game 4 in double overtime. As Emma Weller tells us, they’ve punched their ticket to the Walter Cup finals — and they’re now awaiting their opponent.
The league hasn’t specified the nature of the illness, other than to say the symptoms aren’t consistent with the hantavirus.
It appears the illness is isolated to the Victoire. A spokesperson for the Frost said all of the team’s players “are healthy and preparing for the game [Tuesday] evening.”
“We are continuing to monitor the situation and are taking the appropriate measures to ensure their health is continually monitored through our medical staff’s guidance and supervision,” Minnesota Frost spokesperson Abbey Zepper said.
The Victoire and Frost did not travel together to Montreal after Friday’s Game 4 in Minnesota, something PWHL teams often do in the playoffs.
Victoire, Habs to play at same time
The decision to postpone Monday’s game came after an evaluation by the PWHL’s medical team, led by chief medical officer, Dr. Tina Atkinson, “based on the information available at the time, with player health and safety as the top priority,” Krotz said.
“Throughout the process, the league took every precaution possible to ensure both teams would have healthy and sufficient rosters available to compete tonight,” he said.
The schedule change means the Victoire will play at the same time as the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. The Canadiens will host the Buffalo Sabres for Game 4 of the second-round NHL playoff series inside the Bell Centre.
The postponement also created confusion for the Ottawa Charge. The team had been scheduled to travel to the winning team’s city on Tuesday to prepare for the championship series. Either Montreal or Minnesota will have home ice advantage in the series and will host Games 1 and 2, based on regular-season seeding.
After some deliberation, Charge travelled to Montreal on Tuesday afternoon and will stay there if the Victoire win the series. If the Frost win, both teams will travel to Minnesota from Montreal.
“[They’re] two great teams, and we’ll find out more tonight and see where we’re headed,” Charge GM Mike Hirshfeld told CBC’s Hallie Cotnam at the team’s practice on Tuesday.
