The remaining games of the 2020 WCHA postseason tournament have been canceled. Continuing the trend throughout sports, the WCHA announced the cancellation Thursday as a response to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.
In a statement, commissioner Bill Robertson said this was the best option to end the season immediately.
“In light of the current health issue gripping the nation, we are cancelling the remainder of the WCHA Postseason,” Robertson said. “The health and safety of our student-athletes as well as our coaches, officials, fans, institutional and league staff is our top priority.”
NCAA tournament games, including hockey, are already closed to the public. Meaning, for now, the Frozen Four attendance will be limited to team players and staff, families and credentialed media. Individual conference tournaments are left to the discretion of their staff.
There is an expectation that each major conference will cancel their postseason tournaments. The ECAC was forced to re-seed their conference tournament as a result of Harvard and Yale withdrawing. In turn, the tournament was canceled on Thursday. Atlantic Hockey, Hockey East and NCHC confirmed the cancellation of their postseason, leaving the Big Ten as the only conference to not confirm the cancellation of their tournament.
Ohio State and Penn State of the Big Ten have also closed their conference playoff games to the public, but there have been discussions to cancel that tournament.
All of this brings the BGSU hockey season to an end. They are not in a position to qualify for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, if there is one, and would have needed a conference win to do so.
The Falcons end their season with a record of 21-13-4, seeded fifth in the WCHA — the lowest they’ve finished since joining the conference. Their final stretch did end on a high note; however, as BG went on a 10-game unbeaten streak, going 8-0-2 dating back to Feb. 7.
BGSU hockey is currently on the road, having traveled directly to Minnesota from Fairbanks after the quarterfinal round of the tournament.
As more information comes in, this story will be updated.
