The Twin City Thunder are still sidelined.
The organization’s National Collegiate Development Conference team was scheduled to take part in a USPHL showcase this weekend in Hudson, New Hampshire, but the Thunder are still in quarantine after a few players tested positive for the COVID-19 last week.
Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines require the entire team to be in quarantine for 14 days because they were in close contact with the players who tested positive.
“We are just following along what the state and the city (of Auburn) are,” Thunder co-owner and head coach Dan Hodge said. “We are off at the beginning of next week, we are quarantining, doing the 14 days away from the week. Our first game will be Oct. 10 against the (Boston) Advantage.”
The game against the Advantage will take place at Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn at 6 p.m. Fans won’t be allowed to attend due to the state’s 50-person gathering limit in indoor facilities.
Hodge said the players who tested positive are recovering.
“They are feeling fine, they are feeling better — some of the symptoms they had: loss of smell, loss of taste, fever —but everybody is back to feeling no symptoms,” Hodge said. “We will get everybody tested again — the whole group tested again — and the few that tested positive, hopefully we will get them tested negative and we will move forward.”
After last week’s games against the New Hampshire Monarchs were postponed because of the positive tests, the Thunder’s next set of games were going to be this weekend against three South Division opponents: the Connecticut Junior Rangers, the Jersey Hitmen and the Utica Jr. Comets.
The USPHL NCDC schedule had the Thunder facing all three teams twice this season, but Hodge is unsure how these three games will be made up.
“I think the league will make concessions to have those games happen,” Hodge said. “Maybe we don’t play those three games against those three teams. Maybe we play three games against closer travel opponents. I don’t know, that’s kind of out of my hands — as they say, above my pay grade. I am sure the league — whether it’s against those three teams or against three different teams, we will make it happen. We may have to play an unbalanced schedule.”
The league split the 13 teams into two divisions (North and the South) this year. North teams are slated to play divisional opponents six times, while South Division opponent play each other seven times. All 13 teams are supposed to face the other division’s teams twice each, mostly at neutral site showcases.
The Thunder are scheduled to face Connecticut on Jan. 8, Jersey Hitmen on Oct. 30 and Utica on Jan. 10 at showcase events in New Hampshire.
The NCDC season began on Sept. 22 when the South Shore Kings defeating the Junior Bruins 3-2 in the only game that has been played so far this season.
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