WJC: 2021 Team USA Roster Talk

[NewHampshire]

Honestly, this is the result of some pretty reckless, selfish and ignorant leadership at the University of Wisconsin. It's clear how seriously many other college programs are taking pandemic protocols - not only out of concern for their student-athletes, their staff and their families, but ALSO out of respect for their opposition - while the Badger administration has apparently thumbed their nose at the reality of the current situation...

A number of college programs are skipping the season entirely. Single positive tests at New Hampshire and Maine have delayed the start of the season. A single test at CC delayed the whole team's trip to Omaha for the NCHC bubble. A single positive test at Boston University has now put the program on pause for the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, at UW - a single positive test was ruled to have put ONLY FOUR players at risk of exposure, despite playing and practicing as a team, maskless and in (obvious) close proximity for more than a month or so...

Putting any real life issues/debate about the virus aside - and focusing solely on what protocols need to be followed so that ALL teams can play as many games as possible - that is an astonishingly ignorant decision. How could anyone in their right mind assume that in a sport like hockey the only players at risk of catching COVID would be linemates? Roomates? A section of the locker room?

Wisconsin's decision has cost Michigan State games, it has very likely put Ohio State student-athletes at risk of infection and cost that program games and now they have put the US WJC Team at risk of losing one of its best offensive talents AND a larger breakout.

IF Wisconsin pauses its program a week ago or earlier - Ohio State is not exposed, both they and Michigan State could reschedule and Caulfield could have been quarantined immediately. Which would have allowed him plenty of time to get to the US camp AND prevented potential exposure to the rest of the roster.

It is simply irresponsible decision making - and its hard to believe they lost this weekend's series due to anything other than Michigan State putting their foot down. The article already states that UW was planning on bringing back previously quarantined players, so why should we believe they wouldn't have just put another handful on the shelf and played under the same circumstances as the week before. Associate AD spin aside...

Hopefully Caulfield can still test, clear and play - but if he is unable to go or more US players are lost, this was all entirely preventable with common sense and decency from UW. The same common sense and decency every other program is operating with in 2020...

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Some guys are going to catch it for sure but the real problem is that there are many guys who can't play even they are perfectly healthy. If IIHF and all parties involved decided to go ahead with this tournament there should be protocols in place that this is not happening. Many sports has been able to reduce quarantine time because of heavy testing. If they can't do that i think they should cancel the whole thing.

The quarantine time was established and known to all parties going in.. they preferred the rules and protocols vs cancelling the whole thing and I am glad for that.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Caufield posted this yesterday, so he must already be with the team

 

[JiggsNY]

Losing Caulfield will be a huge blow. Really hope we don’t, but I’ll be surprised if he’s allowed to participate.

edit: just saw the post above. Hopefully he has been away from Wisco and with USA. But idk still concerned.

 

[TheGreekShot]

Losing Caulfield will be a huge blow. Really hope we don’t, but I’ll be surprised if he’s allowed to participate.

edit: just saw the post above. Hopefully he has been away from Wisco and with USA. But idk still concerned.

Since he played on Friday's game against Ohio State and took the team bus after the game, the earliest he could've joined Team USA was Saturday. Who knows if that's good enough. If he has 3 negative tests, he could be fine, but obviously any positive test at this point rules him out for the WJC and potentially causes an issue for the other Americans he may have practiced with on Sunday.

 

[JiggsNY]

This is Roberts dad. Feel bad for these kids getting these opportunities taken from them through no fault of their own. USAH could have run this a bit smoother I feel like.

 

[Statsy]

This is Roberts dad. Feel bad for these kids getting these opportunities taken from them through no fault of their own. USAH could have run this a bit smoother I feel like.

This is pretty rough. Really feel for the guys that were in their final year of eligibility.

 

[ORRFForever]

Any chance it is a false positive? I assume they'd double/triple check.

This virus is insane. It really does seem to come out of no where.

I hope the U.S. ensured Caufield was quarantined for a sufficient time before he joined the rest of the team. If they did, he wouldn't be with Team USA yet,

 

[ORRFForever]

Since he played on Friday's game against Ohio State and took the team bus after the game, the earliest he could've joined Team USA was Saturday. Who knows if that's good enough. If he has 3 negative tests, he could be fine, but obviously any positive test at this point rules him out for the WJC and potentially causes an issue for the other Americans he may have practiced with on Sunday.

Wouldn't Caufield have to quarantine for 10(?) days before joining Team USA?

 

[TheGreekShot]

Wouldn't Caufield have to quarantine for 10(?) days before joining Team USA?

Not entirely sure what USA's current COVID protocols are. I'm Canadian and I know we're much more strict here, but I have no idea what USA's internal isolation requirements are. For the WJC tournament in particular, Canada's only requirements of international countries are a week long semi-bubble of just the camp roster with each player producing 3 negative tests in that time, then a 4 day individual quarantine in hotel rooms while in the Edmonton bubble.

Based on USA's instagram post of practice, I'm assuming he didn't isolate. The picture isn't amazing quality, but there's a fairly short right hand shot that looks just like Caufield in the picture. That's hopefully a great sign (knock on wood). Possibly had a covid test prior to practice today and got a negative result there (or at least I'm hoping so).

 

[ORRFForever]

Not entirely sure what USA's current COVID protocols are. I'm Canadian and I know we're much more strict here, but I have no idea what USA's internal isolation requirements are. For the WJC tournament in particular, Canada's only requirements of international countries are a week long semi-bubble of just the camp roster with each player producing 3 negative tests in that time, then a 4 day individual quarantine in hotel rooms while in the Edmonton bubble.

Based on USA's instagram post of practice, I'm assuming he didn't isolate. The picture isn't amazing quality, but there's a fairly short right hand shot that looks just like Caufield in the picture. That's hopefully a great sign (knock on wood). Possibly had a covid test prior to practice today and got a negative result there (or at least I'm hoping so).

A player here, a player there, I don't really care, but I'm just worried the whole thing will get scrapped - and that would be a loss.

 

[TheGreekShot]

A player here, a player there, I don't really care, but I'm just worried the whole thing will get scrapped - and that would be a loss.

Agreed. Since Caufield was seen at practice today, I think USA is good to go assuming all tests come back negative in the next couple days. Sweden still has 1 potential case at camp we don't know anything about and that leadership case, whatever that is. Other than that, the other countries have been pretty quiet, which is good news (I think).

 

[ORRFForever]

Agreed. Since Caufield was seen at practice today, I think USA is good to go assuming all tests come back negative in the next couple days. Sweden still has 1 potential case at camp we don't know anything about and that leadership case, whatever that is. Other than that, the other countries have been pretty quiet, which is good news (I think).

Yes. No news is good news. Still, I don't know why Caufield was practicing so quickly after playing on Friday but... I hope they know what they are doing.

 

[OldScool]

Obviously they broke protocol allowing caufield to the camp when he should be isolating. Wisconsin has positive players and they should all be deemed close contacts and quarantined. It doesn’t matter if caufield tests negative today as it can up to 14 days for it to show up. He could practice today and for the next few days and be negative then pop a positive on day 5.

 

[ORRFForever]

Obviously they broke protocol allowing caufield to the camp when he should be isolating. Wisconsin has positive players and they should all be deemed close contacts and quarantined. It doesn’t matter if caufield tests negative today as it can up to 14 days for it to show up. He could practice today and for the next few days and be negative then pop a positive on day 5.

Why would they do that?

 

[OldScool]

Why would they do that?

I guess they think it’s worth the risk. Wisconsin had a positive and deemed only a few players as close contacts when we know that bull crap. These kids hang out, we’re on busses and on ice together and only 4 are close contacts? USA hockey should have had caufield isolate by himself at least until they leave.

 

[ORRFForever]

I guess they think it’s worth the risk. Wisconsin had a positive and deemed only a few players as close contacts when we know that bull crap. These kids hang out, we’re on busses and on ice together and only 4 are close contacts? USA hockey should have had caufield isolate by himself at least until they leave.

I agree but I doubt US Hockey would break the rules.

I wish I understood what's going on.

I wish we had better info from the media on what's happening behind the scenes. Of course, there's a good chance they simply don't know.

 

[57special]

Some teams and organizations simply don't follow the rules.

 

[ORRFForever]

Some teams and organizations simply don't follow the rules.

I can't see USA Hockey breaking the rules and putting their team, and other teams, at risk.

 

[57special]

Hell, we are having NFL teams worth a billion dollars messing up. I think you are underestimating the differing reactions to Covid amongst the sports community. I have been experiencing it first hand in another sport this summer.

I would like to believe that USAH is smarter, but why is Caufield practicing with the team, then?

 

[ORRFForever]

I would like to believe that USAH is smarter, but why is Caufield practicing with the team, then?

I don't know. I'm hoping an American poster can provide some insight.

If a rule was broken, I'm sure TSN would be all over it - they have the most to lose.

 

[ORRFForever]

Did some digging...

The U.S. team is in Plymouth Michigan so I assume they fly into Canada 12 days from now after 14 number of days of negative tests. If there is a breakout?... Who knows.

TBH, I thought (was worried) they were in Edmonton.

2021 WJC Notebook: Players Hit the Ice for Training Camp (usahockey.com)

 

[TheGreekShot]

Did some digging...

The U.S. team is in Plymouth Michigan so I assume they fly into Canada 12 days from now after 14 number of days of negative tests. If there is a breakout?... Who knows.

TBH, I thought (was worried) they were in Edmonton.

2021 WJC Notebook: Players Hit the Ice for Training Camp (usahockey.com)

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

All teams fly into Edmonton on Sunday the 13th. Teams have their camps now from Sunday (2 days ago) until Saturday the 12th. In that time period, players will be covid tested 3 times. Any positive test is out for the tournament. Once in Canada all players have to quarantine in a hotel room for 4 days while being tested. Then they can practice if they’re still negative.

 

[ORRFForever]

All teams fly into Edmonton on Sunday the 13th. Teams have their camps now from Sunday (2 days ago) until Saturday the 12th. In that time period, players will be covid tested 3 times. Any positive test is out for the tournament. Once in Canada all players have to quarantine in a hotel room for 4 days while being tested. Then they can practice if they’re still negative.

Cool. Makes sense.

TBH, I thought they'd flown to Canada already and I panicked.

 

[Gopher13]

There is no way that USA didnt break protocol based on the timing. Caufield was exposed as member of Wisconsin hockey team and should be quarantining - he isn't. Hopefully it wont be an issue but they arent following protocol. Wouldnt surprise me if Wisconsin told USA hockey that Cole wasn't a close contact since Wisconsin doesn't follow protocol at all anyways.