GM: No players show any virus signs
Sharks have not been tested after facing two infected Ottawa players
The San Jose Sharks said Saturday none of their players have been tested for the coronavirus or shown symptoms of the infectious disease after the Ottawa Senators announced that a second player on the team has tested positive for COVID-19.
The Senators said the player was on the team’s road trip that had games with the Sharks at SAP Center on March 7, the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on March 10 and the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on March 11.
The Senators announced Tuesday that a first player had tested positive for COVID-19. Neither player has been identified and as of Saturday afternoon, were the only two positive cases in the NHL.
The NHL ‘paused’ its schedule March 12 as concerns about the spread of the disease began to intensify throughout the sports world.
The Sharks’ game against the Senators came two days after the Santa Clara County Public Health Department recommended a moratorium on public gatherings of over 1,000 people. The Sharks played a home games March 5 against the Minnesota Wild, and hosted the Colorado Avalanche on March 8.
“To date, no Sharks players have exhibited any symptoms related to COVID-19,” Sharks general manager said in a statement to this newspaper through a team spokesman. “As such, organizationally, we are not pursuing any player testing as we feel it’s extremely important to help ensure that tests are available in our local community to those in the highest risk groups and those who are displaying symptoms.”
The Senators said 52 people traveled with the club, including players, staff, media, guests and flight crew. The Senators said 44 of those people have shown no symptoms, eight have been tested, and two positive results were received.
“We are awaiting the results from tests that took place on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday,” the Senators’ statement said.
Sharks Sports & Entertainment announced March 12 that a part-time employee at SAP Center had tested positive for COVID-19. A news release from the organization said the employee’s last shift at the arena came March 3 when the Sharks played the Toronto Maple Leafs. Saturday, a team spokesman said the employee’s symptoms have subsided and that the person is feeling better.
Sharks interim coach Bob Boughner, now at home with his family in Ontario, Canada, said he has not been tested On March 16, the NHL said players could leave their cities of play and return to their permanent homes, but should self-quarantine. Boughner said he will begin to reach out to Sharks players this week.
The Sharks flew to Chicago on March 10 and played the Blackhawks the following day. Af
ter the game, a 6-2 Blackhawks win, the Sharks flew to St. Louis, where they were scheduled to practice March 12 at Enterprise Center and play the Blues on March 13.
Instead, after the NHL announced it was putting its season on hiatus, the Sharks flew back to San Jose.
“Getting up in the morning, we still hadn’t heard anything and made our way
to the rink in St. Louis since we had practice that day,” Boughner said by phone Saturday. “Get down there and that’s when we got the call from (general manager) Doug (Wilson) basically saying that no one was allowed to practice.
“We had a call that night when we got off the plane, and it was a conference call of the whole hockey (operations) basically saying, ‘Hey, this is the plan the next couple days, no one’s going to leave town and we’re going to try and sort this out and see what this looks like.’ ”
On March 5, the number
of confirmed coronavirus cases in Santa Clara County had reached 20 with one death. As of Thursday afternoon, there had been 196 confirmed cases in the county and eight deaths.
“Even at that time, I don’t think anybody thought it was going to be this bad,” Boughner said of the time of the NHL’S announcement. “I thought, ‘OK, this might be a week, might be two weeks and we’re going to get back to at least skating and practicing. Obviously every day after that, it just got worse and worse to the point where everybody just realizes this is going to be a long haul here.”
Boughner said he speaks to Wilson on a regular basis As far as the two talking about Boughner’s long term future with the Sharks, that will come at another time.
“There’s so many important things going on in the world that for us to have a discussion on what my job looks like and everything moving forward, we’re going to get to that,” Boughner said. “With the pandemic, everything has sort of stopped.”