The Marblehead girls hockey team already had plenty to adjust to this season with a new head coach on top of the coronavirus pandemic, but the team was hit with another curveball this week. On Monday, the team and coach Brittany Smith were informed that one of their players had tested positive for COVID-19.
The team includes players from Marblehead, Swampscott, Manchester-Essex and Hamilton-Wenham, with a student from Hamilton-Wenham being the one to test positive.
The team was potentially exposed to the virus during a practice on Friday, according to Smith. Another practice took place on Sunday, but the player who has since tested positive was not in attendance. On Monday, the team was informed of the positive test and subsequently all practices have been canceled for at least a week.
“We got four practices in before our first positive case on the team,” Smith said, who was tested Wednesday when players and coaches became eligible to do so and awaits results along with the rest of the team. “Under the new guidelines we had to wait to get tested until (Wednesday). I have no symptoms and obviously am hoping for a negative result while quarantining.”
Several new guidelines have been implemented this season, one of which is restrictions around players being together in locker rooms before or after practices. Smith hopes the guidelines put in place helped prevent any possible spread of the virus during the practices Friday or Sunday.
“The thing is we’ve been super cautious adhering to the new guidelines,” Smith said. “We’re all wearing masks and staying six feet apart. Hopefully that limits things to just the one positive and if everyone comes back negative we can be back out there soon.”
This week would have been the second week on the ice for the Magicians, who were initially scheduled to begin their season Jan. 9. Now, Marblehead will have to wait 10 days to start playing games once practices resume according to MIAA rules.
