TRENTON, NJ – New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has declared a COVID-19 war against ice hockey. It could be because maybe he couldn’t make his school hockey team back as a child in Massachusetts or perhaps the captain of the hockey team stole his girl. Who knows, but for some reason, ice hockey has turned deadly in New Jersey and it has been singled out by the governor who has taken a special interest of late in the sport.
Murphy attests that a rise of COVID-19 in the hockey community probably isn’t related to the actual sport of hockey, but to activities and surrounding the sport. He cited pizza parties and other gatherings in the hockey circle as his reasoning.
On Friday, Murphy mocked hockey players and families across the state who want to keep playing and enjoying their sport, which he admits, isn’t exactly why there have reportedly been a couple of instances of COVID-19. We’ll never know. He never gives the people actual figures or raw data to support his draconian COVID-19 closures, just random hyperbole and inuendos about the scientific approach he uses behind the scenes, away from the prying eyes of the meddling media and the serfdom of New Jersey.
In a feature this week entitled, “Shut The Schools Down, Don’t Shut Hockey Down”, Englewood Falcons hockey coach Brendan Reilly made a comment that hockey isn’t the reason for the COVID-19 outbreak and if that reason is the schools, to shut them down and not hockey.
“Shut the school down. Don’t shut hockey down. You can go to school online,” Reilly said. “There’s no reason to panic with hockey. We’re taking care of ourselves.”
On Friday, Murphy laughed at Reilly, mocking his statement.
“I just read a quote that someone sent out to me, this is in an article, “Shut the school down, don’t shut hockey down. You could go to school online.” We’ve got our priorities straight there,” Murphy laughed. “I thought you were going to ask me about hockey, by the way, you got me all excited about a hockey question.”