At 7:08 pm ET Friday, roughly three hours after Alaska Anchorage announced it would not compete, Notre Dame's Jake Pivonka won the opening faceoff of the 2020-21 season.
College hockey was back after 250 days away.
It's fitting Notre Dame, one of the final teams to play in a pandemic-shortened season, and opponent Wisconsin were first with the puck. Facing the Badgers, Compton Family Ice Arena had two of the rare teams who saw their seasons end on the ice.
Each had some sense of normalcy finishing their season days before the Ivy League decided to cancel the rest of theirs, followed by several others and eventually the NCAA. Both got some afterward.
And for two hours inside a 200x90 feet ice sheet, watching the Fighting Irish and Wisconsin face off on national television actually felt normal. A pair of new starting goalies. The return of Cole Caufield. A talented Badgers team trying to end years of underperforming against a perennially disciplined Notre Dame.
November aside, for two hours the Fighting Irish and Wisconsin were figuring out what works without a preseason. The offenses were not quite up to speed, but the Badgers, wearing a "21" patch to honor the late Rob Andringa, were able to pull off a five forward power play unit. Both goaltenders made some solid saves.
At 9:12 pm ET, the game ended. Any sense of normalcy went away with it. If anything, it only existed inside the boards at Compton Family Ice Arena.
Watching on NBCSN, there was nothing normal seeing Tony Granato and Jeff Jackson wearing masks, or being without a band and thousands of fans in South Bend. Same goes with what players needed to do to get to this point. Months of not skating. Individual workouts. Small practices.
Paused workouts, as was the case for Wisconsin in September due to COVID-19 issues on campus.
So it was no surprise the day of college hockey's first game was also college hockey's first postponed game. Long Island University's first in program history was moved after an outbreak at opponent Army. The same day where normalcy was celebrated also saw Alaska Anchorage announce it was joining seven other schools in not playing this season, essentially ending the Seawolves program.
Balancing the two is difficult but needed this season. The story of college hockey in 2020-21 will be the crazy and unpredictable. It's impossible to talk about a game without talking about the games not being played.
(Sometimes the crazy and unpredictable also happens on the ice, such as a day later when Michigan and Arizona State kicked off eight months of rust with a first-year showcase for the Wolverines rookies.)
Eight months and 250+ days later not much has changed from March. COVID cases are going up again. Most teams continue to figure out their seasons being played, going on wondering how many opportunities will end on the ice.
Once again, the Ivy League canceled its season before several others joined. RIT and RPI threw in the towel. (As of this writing, the ECAC has five teams playing.) Vermont is pausing winter sports prior to Hockey East opening play, as is the St. Cloud State women's hockey team after a number of positive cases. The third Monday in November canceled the Beanpot.
Games were played this weekend, but seasons were also canceled. That's the sense of normalcy which exists at the moment.
A prevailing thought back in March which sticks with me today is that if it feels like we overreacted to the pandemic, then it's a sign we did things right.
Eight months later it does not come close. Even worse, the Ivy League making the same decision in November as March cannot be seen in any context as an overreaction. The time for it has long passed.
As nice as it is to spend two hours feeling normal watching college hockey back, and writing about college hockey, it will be a different season. When the only sense of normalcy happens on a sheet of ice with months of precautions and leadups, that can no longer be considered the normal thing.
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