On Wednesday, the East Coast Hockey League and United States Hockey League announced that they were officially canceling the remainder of the 2019-20 season.
The Rapid City Rush, who are an NHL affiliate of the Arizona Coyotes, is a member of the ECHL.
Rush President Todd Mackin explained that this decision is unprecedented in recent history.
“We’ve never seen this in most people’s lifetimes, in 70, 80 years for sure,” stated Mackin.
The league made its decision to cancel its remaining games and post-season after several meetings with the Professional Hockey Players Association.
Mackin also mentioned how the cancellation could present a hardship to the players, many of whom rely on the hockey league as their sole source of income.
“The tough situation for a lot of these guys is most of these guys worked in the hockey world in the off season,” explained Mackin. “You know, whether it’s running their own camp or working in camps or doing different things like that, with the closing of a lot of rinks and a lot of people meeting together, that obviously is kind of in jeopardy as well.”
Mackin did say that this will resemble a regular off season with qualified players retaining their positions on the team and all players paid through the week.
The United States Hockey League, who also announced the cancelation of their 2019-20 league season, houses the Sioux Falls Stampede.
USHL League President and Commissioner Tom Garrity released this statement about the decision to cancel the season.
“This decision was not an easy one to make, but was a necessity in order to keep our athletes, staffs and fans in all 16 of our communities safe amid this international health risk. While we believe our product is the best junior hockey that fans can view, we also understand the health of our athletes, employees, fans and communities is more important during this time.”
Last Thursday, the USHL announced it was postponing the season with hopes of continuing it at a later date. Even though the season is over, effective immediately, the league does plan to give out season awards to some of its prolific players.
