NLL being on pause could have larger consequences.

Delay couldn’t have come at a worse time for first-place Black Wolves

The NHL and NBA weren't the only pro sports leagues to have their seasons abruptly paused due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The National Lacrosse League season came to a crashing halt midway through its season, and for the firstplace New England Black Wolves, it couldn't have come at a worse time.

"It all happened so quickly," said Black Wolves head coach Glenn Clark. "Most things, you get a little bit of a lead-in into them. On the Wednesday night, I was playing a men's league hockey game, just (a little more than) a week ago. On the way home I heard a little about with the NBA, and the next day the NHL and then us.

"I had planned for video sessions that weekend with the coaches and within a day, it's over."

The Black Wolves (8-3) led the Eastern Conference when the season came to a pause, and it's taken years for the franchise to get to this point. When the Philadelphia Wings moved to Connecticut and Mohegan Sun Arena for the 2014-15 season, the Black Wolves didn't field a competitive team. They made leaps the past few seasons, but the 2019-20 season saw them emerge as a true title contender. Then the stoppage hit. No one in the NLL seems to know if the season will resume at all.

"(Former Black Wolves general manager) Rich Lisk and I, we had conversations when we took over, it was a last place team," said Clark. "The first thing we said to ownership is we have a five-year plan, let's start building . ... Now, it's year five. It was starting to come together nicely."

The Black Wolves being stopped in their tracks isn't the toughest part of the stoppage.

Because NLL clubs don't own most of the arenas in which they play — New England is owned by Mohegan Sun, so they'd have an easier time — the league will have to follow the lead of arena tenants such as the NHL and NBA and figure out what arena dates work from there.

Some NLL teams — Buffalo, Calgary, Colorado, Vancouver — are owned by their NHL tenants, and they'd have a simpler time than a team like Toronto, which isn't owned by the Maple Leafs and rents time to play at Scotiabank Place.

That's not the only uncertainty, either, especially for players. Most pro lacrosse players have other jobs, with the highest NLL salaries cashing in just under $50,000. Their schedules to be able to play lacrosse and at a high level is tough enough, but with workout times cut back, inability to practice and job uncertainty, it's going to take a lot for the players to be able to salvage playing the remainder of whatever a shortened NLL season looks like.

Black Wolves first-year faceoff specialist Joe Nardella has played pro lacrosse for years, but it was his first year playing indoor lacrosse. Outside of playing, he runs a faceoff clinic that's had to alter its business plan, so he's been affected on the floor and off.

"We have weekly sessions in six, seven locations across the country that just aren't happening now," he said. "It's frustrating, but there's nothing we can do but stay hopeful."

Nardella said through the NLL players association there's an agreement that players will still be paid during the season pause or cancellation, so there's still that income.

Like the rest of us, though, players are just focused on getting through the quarantine stage before worrying about the repercussions that are to come.

"It stinks, because at this point I finally feel comfortable with everything going one," said Nardella. "Now we don't know what's going to come of our season, and for us especially, we've had a great run the last month and a half.

"Now we're sitting here and it's like, we feel like we got something here. It's unfortunate we're not able to finish."