#cassidybowed

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - For UCONN hockey, COVID-19 has been a major headache. In shortening its 2019-20 season, COVID-19 took away UCONN's post season aspirations. Now in 2020-21, the invisible menace is continuing to wreck havoc and cause major structural changes to their schedule and consequently their potential lineup. The latest COVID curveball came in a late day NCAA announcement on Saturday for the upcoming season that will allow players in the fall to play Junior-A hockey and still preserve their NCAA eligibility, but only if they are enrolled in school. The players will be able to play again for their respective school once the conference season commences, which looks more likely to be in the second semester in January 2021. The ruling is stated as such: Current student-athletes whose institutions will not be playing hockey during the fall semester will be permitted to participate in non-collegiate, amateur competition i.e. junior hockey on an outside team during the fall 2020 term (subject to school and conference approval). These student-athletes may compete on an outside team while remaining enrolled in their NCAA institution, which typically would not be allowed. An institution or conference may not provide expenses for such competition and the student-athlete must be in good academic standing. A student-athlete who remains enrolled at the institution may not miss class to participate in outside competition. Read the full article