The University of Maine men’s hockey team’s two-game series at UMass Lowell on Saturday and Sunday won’t be played due to a positive COVID-19 antigen test involving a member of the UMaine program.
University of Maine System spokesperson Dan Demeritt said the school has paused men’s hockey activities. The student-athletes are in quarantine, but contact tracing done by the University of Maine Emergency Operations Center deemed that the coaching and direct support staff of men’s hockey team were not considered close contacts requiring mandatory quarantine as outlined by guidance from the University of Maine System and the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The determination that the coaching staff and direct support staff were not close contacts requiring quarantine was reached on Wednesday.
Demeritt said the quarantine will last 10 days as mandated by the state.
The positive test result means contact tracing involving the unnamed individual and a follow-up negative PCR test must be completed before the person can resume participation.
The PCR (nasal swab) test is considered by the Food and Drug Administration to be the definitive test for the presence of COVID-19 as it detects the genetic material of the virus. The antigen test, which detects specific proteins from the coronavirus, is considered less reliable than the PCR test but a positive result is usually highly accurate.
Results from the rapid antigen tests are usually supplied within 30 minutes while the PCR test results take two to five days.
Demeritt said if a UMaine student-athlete, coach or staff member tests positive on the antigen test, it always follows up with a contact tracing and a PCR test.
“Every step we have taken to prepare for our winter sports season has prioritized the safety of our student-athletes, coaches and athletic staff and our Maine communities,” UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy said.
“The testing and contact tracing strategies in support of our Division I athletics program are working and the university is already taking steps to limit the spread of infection,” she added. “We are very proud of our men’s Black Bear hockey team and will be providing all our our impacted players and staff with support during their quarantine period.”
Ferrini-Mundy on Nov. 24 paused game activities for UMaine teams for two weeks after positive COVID-19 tests among people in the athletics department. At that time, affected teams were shut down, while those that did not have any cases continued practicing while adhering to health and safety guidelines.
Hockey East assistant commissioner Brian Smith said the UMaine-UMass Lowell men’s hockey series could be played at a later date, but the two teams are already scheduled to play Jan. 1-2, 2021, so the contests may not be made up.
The games Jan. 1-2 are the next contests on UMaine’s schedule.
Smith said if there a situation arises where both teams are available to play on a weekend because of other postponements or cancellations, their series could be plugged into those dates.
Hockey East wants every team to try to play each of the others at least twice in order to establish some scheduling variety. However, that may not be feasible, so teams could wind up playing a particular opponent three or four times.
UMaine might have the ability to pick up some games that aren’t scheduled if COVid-19 issues cause further postponements or cancellations.
The UMaine women’s hockey program is set to play a two-game series Friday and Saturday at Providence College. Providence was scheduled to play in Orono, but the state-imposed indoor gathering limit of 50 persons makes it impossible for UMaine to host events at Alfond Arena.
The men’s program debuted with a shootout victory, which goes down as a tie for NCAA purposes, and a loss at New Hampshire last weekend. That series also was supposed to be played in Orono.
The UMaine women have played four games, all on the road.
Both teams previously had games postponed due to COVID-19.
A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that coaches and staff members were in quarantine.