Tony von Richter

When tragedy strikes the world, escaping to the court or the field can heal the wounds of life. They can’t do that now. The onset of COVID-19 has caused everything to shut down. For sports fans, there’s no longer a way to escape reality. The NBA suspended its season on March 11. Since then, the NHL, MLB and other leagues have shut down their season too. To many, there’s one man to blame, and that’s Utah Jazz NBA player Rudy Gobert.

The 2019-20 winter season was one to remember for the Tommies. On top of an ACAA men’s volleyball championship and hosting the 2020 CCAA men’s volleyball nationals, STU had many individual feats from their student-athletes, including two ACAA MVPs and multiple CCAA all-star selections. Vanessa Soffee of the women’s basketball team added to her collection of ACAA awards as well as starting her CCAA award collection, being named ACAA MVP and a CCAA All-Canadian.

Players piled up by the boards at the Aitken Centre’s centre ice. The puck was nowhere to be seen but it didn’t stop Emily Oleksuk and the St. Thomas University women’s hockey team from hacking at the pile, desperately attempting to keep their season alive. The University of New Brunswick led the defending AUS champions 1-0 with seconds remaining in game three of the best-of-3 AUS quarterfinals. As the clock ran out, so did the Tommies’ season. And so did Oleksuk’s AUS hockey career.