TRENTON, NJ – New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy joined six other states to ban interstate youth ice hockey competition. Full transcript below:
As it was announced earlier today, I was proud to bring together – and by the way it gives me no joy. There’s absolutely no join me on this, but I was proud to bring together a coalition of seven states to form an interstate compact prohibiting interstate youth hockey games and tournaments in the face of the virus’ second wave. I mean, again, with a heavy heart we do this but we have to do this. I want to thank some good friends: Maine Governor Janet Mills, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, Vermont Governor Phil Scott, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, and my high school and college classmate, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker for their support of and partnership in this regional approach to interstate competitions. If I had to predict, this group will grow and I hope it grows soon.
We know that there has been transmission linked to youth hockey team activities and with numbers rising across our region, this is an important step to mitigate further community spread and protect public health. I will continue to work with the governors of other states on both sides of the aisle to grow this compact. This announcement comes after the Executive Order I discussed on Monday, which prohibits indoor interstate sports competitions in the state, youth leagues through high schools, and prevents our teams from using an out-of-state neutral site for a game between two New Jersey-based teams. Judy’s going to get in — I’ll get into a little on this — with where we see the spread coming from. It’s fair to say on sports, Judy, we aren’t sure that it’s actually coming from the sports activity, it’s more likely it’s an adjacent activity, but in any event, it is unquestionably coming.