Michigan Hockey withdraws from NCAA Tournament due to COVID-19 positive test results

The Michigan Hockey team has been forced to remove itself from the NCAA Tournament due to positive COVID-19 test results within the program, according to a release from the school on Friday.

Michigan was originally set to play Minnesota-Duluth on Friday at 4 p.m. ET. The game will be ruled as a no-contest and Minnesota-Duluth will advance to the next round.

“I’m devastated for these players. These student-athletes have done a wonderful job all year of making sacrifices to get to this point of the year,” coach Mel Pearson said in a release. “It’s unfortunate. I don’t completely understand the final decision but I have to respect it.

“They’ve given so much and to get this opportunity taken away from them, it’s hard to swallow. I know it’s just a game, but it’s extremely important to these young men. It’s two years in a row now we’ve been denied an opportunity to compete in the national championship. It has quite sunk in yet.

“I want to wish all the teams still playing good health, good luck and stay safe. Lastly, I want to make sure to thank the Michigan Hockey supporters. I’ve been blown away by the number of people who care deeply about and support this program. It truly means a lot to me and to our players. We’ll be back. Michigan Hockey will be back. Stronger and ready to go next year.”

Michigan Hockey and other athletics programs on campus have been in daily testing since they arrived on campus, so for this to happen now is extremely unfortunate timing, to say the least.

This story is developing.