Tampa Bay Lightning Reportedly Close Training Facilities After Players, Staff Test Positive

nhl players staff test positive coronavirus

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On May 25 the NHL announced its framework for Phase 2 of its four-step plan to resume play beginning in June. While it was just framework followed by a June 9th announcement by commissioner Gary Bettman about a 24-team playoff format, it was a step in the right direction and brought hope that we would have hockey back in action sooner rather than later.

All has seemingly been going to plan, but Bob McKenzie delivered some unsettling news on Friday reporting that one team has had to close its training facilities after three players and two staff members tested positive for the coronavirus.

Following his initial tweets about the news, McKenzie revealed the team in question is the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Florida had its biggest spike yet in new coronavirus cases on June 18 with 3,208 new cases in just 24 hours. It was also reported that the Philadelphia Phillies had an outbreak at their Spring Training facility in Clearwater, FL, with eight confirmed cases revealed Friday

The latest numbers show that there are 85,926 confirmed cases in the state and 3,061 deaths.

Among the many takeaways from the NHL’s Phase 2 plans, it states that all members of every organization would have to be tested before they can begin training and subject to daily temperature checks while being forced to quarantine if they test positive. Social distancing measures is also supposed to be enforced during training to a point where you can’t even have a spotter while lifting.

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Mark is an associate editor at BroBible. Follow him on Twitter @ItIsMarkHarris for the occasional good tweet. Feel free to contact him at Mark@BroBible.com.