OTTAWA -- The Ottawa Senators season has been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NHL has announced it will “pause the 2019-20 season” beginning with Thursday night’s games.
In a statement, the Senators say “we are fully supportive of the measures taken by the NHL to suspend operations during the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19). The health and safety of our community, fans, players and staff remain our top priority as the situation continues to develop.”
The Senators were scheduled to wrap up a road trip with games in Chicago on Friday and St. Louis on Sunday, before returning to Ottawa. The Senators have four home games remaining on the schedule, including Wednesday, March 18 against Edmonton.
Other events are scheduled for Canadian Tire Centre, including Disney On Ice. The CTC announced all events have been postponed until further notice.
The Senators say “we are in touch with our event partners and taking the advice of public health authorities in regards to our other areas of operations with the highest priority on keeping our community safe. As more information becomes available, we will continue to communicate with the public about our operations and how the evolving situation may impact you.”
Both the NHL and the NBA have suspended operations until further notice.
In a statement, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said “following (Wednesday) night’s news that an NBA player has tested positive for coronavirus – and given that our leagues share so many facilities and locker rooms and it now seems likely that some member of the NHL community would test positive at some point – it is no longer appropriate to try to continue to play games at this time.”
