Interstate Youth Hockey Ban For COVID Ignores Cause: Brick Mayor

BRICK, NJ — Brick Township Mayor John G. Ducey has criticized the move by Gov. Phil Murphy to suspend interstate competition in indoor sports, saying the restriction isn't looking at what's causing increasing outbreaks of the coronavirus.

On Thursday, Murphy announced that New Jersey is one of seven states suspending interstate competition in youth ice hockey, up through high school age, through at least the end of the year because of outbreaks tied to multiple cases of the coronavirus.

State Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said there have been 14 outbreaks connected to youth ice hockey, with more than 70 cases tied to them, in Gloucester, Union, Somerset, Bergen, Morris, Passsaic and Mercer counties.

Ducey, at Tuesday's council meeting, said the suspension of interstate competitions in indoor sports and in particular ice hockey failed to consider how other policies in place because of the pandemic have contributed to the spread.

Because of New Jersey's restrictions permitting just 25 people into an arena for a competition, parents have been left to stand around outside at Ocean Ice Palace while games were played, and they weren't necessarily following social distancing rules.

"It's probably because he wasn't letting the parents in to go watch their kids play," Ducey said. "Why not let them into the arena? Let families sit together but apart from other families, socially distanced. It would be much safer."

"He's not looking at the cause and effect," Ducey said. "We've heard over and over again that these small gatherings are a problem."

"If you had just followed the protocols before and let parents in, this might not be an issue," he said.

New Jersey, Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts all have agreed to the suspension, Murphy said, and there are efforts to get additional states to join the agreement.

Brick Township has an ice hockey tradition almost as deep as its high school football history; the Brick Hockey Club, which operated out of the Ocean Ice Palace until earlier this year, has drawn talented players from all over the Shore area and has had players in the National Hockey League, including Jim Dowd (who won a Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils) and brothers Trevor van Riemsdyk (who won a Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks and plays for the Washington Capitals) and James van Riemsdyk (plays for the Philadelphia Flyers).

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