Union Hockey The Latest Victim Of COVID-19

The Union Atletic Department has made its decision regarding intercollegiate hockey for the 2020 - 2021 season. Union joins rival RPI in its decision to not participate in the 2020 - 2021 hockey season for the Men's or Women's teams. Tough news but not unexpected news.

As we all know the number of positive COVID-19 cases continues to climb across the country in the midst of what appears to be the reported "second wave" we were warned about, we could be losing more and more sports by the day. Union Director of Athletics Jim McLaughlin explained the length he and the school went to to try and get the hockey season off the ground on the Union website.

"We explored every possibility to allow our students to compete, including remote learning opportunities within close proximity to campus. Unfortunately, we could not identify a scenario that allowed us to compete safely without compromising the academic experience of our student-athletes, which is the primary reason students choose to attend Union along with the ability to compete at the highest level of competition on a national stage," McLaughlin added. "My heart goes out to all but particularly our seniors, who have established themselves as leaders in the classroom, in the community and on the ice throughout their careers at Union."

It's abundantly clear that this was far from an easy decision on the school's part. We can only hope that the reports of a vaccine are real and we're close to the distribution of an effective way to stop the spread of COVID-19 and get back to some of the games we love.

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