The Tampa Bay Lightning closed their facilities Thursday after five team employees tested positive for the coronavirus, a person with knowledge of the situation tells The Associated Press.
The person spoke to The AP on Friday on the condition of anonymity because the NHL and the team are not announcing the closure. The NHL is also no longer announcing which teams have had players test positive.
It was not clear how many Lightning players tested positive.
The closure comes some two weeks after players were allowed to return to their respective facilities to take part in voluntary on- and off-ice workouts. Players were allowed to skate in groups of up to six at a time.
The move to open facilities was the next step in the NHL’s bid to resume its season with a proposed 24-team expanded playoff format, with games being played in two hub cities.
The NHL projects teams to open training camps on July 10.
ROAD RACING
4 ON THE FOURTH: The Bridgton 4 on the Fourth Road Race has switched to a virtual format this year because of coronavirus restrictions and is inviting runners to participate any time from July 1-19.
Almost 700 runners have already signed up for the virtual race, which will be a fundraiser for Bridgton Public Library. Participants can run 4 miles at any location, but those in the Bridgton area are invited to use the original 1977 course, which can be found on the race website – https://fouronthefourth.com/. The current race course is unavailable because of road construction.
GOLF
EUROPEAN TOUR: The Staysure Tour for players 50 and older announced it has canceled the season because of the coronavirus pandemic. It was supposed to start May 14-16 in Austria. Three senior majors on its schedule – the Senior PGA, the Senior U.S. Open and the Senior British Open – already had been canceled by other organizations.
Mark Aspland, the head of the Staysure Tour, said along with complexities of international travel, the tour had to recognize the additional risk related to the tour’s age demographic. All player exemption categories this year will be extended to the 2021 season.
SOCCER
ITALIAN CUP: Thousands of Napoli soccer fans who poured into the streets to celebrate the team’s Italian Cup title without social distancing have been criticized by health officials as being “reckless.”
World Health Organization assistant director general Ranieri Guerra says he was reminded of Atalanta’s Champions League game with Valencia in February. That match is believed to have been a key factor in why the virus has been so deadly in Bergamo.
Guerra says “we can’t allow this.”
Deputy Health Minister Sandra Zampa says the celebration amounted to “dangerous behavior.”
Fans in Naples flooded into central piazzas and set off fireworks to celebrate shortly after Napoli beat Juventus in an empty stadium in Rome on Wednesday. Nearly 35,000 people have died in Italy from the coronavirus. The Campania region that includes Naples has accounted for 431 of those deaths.
ENGLAND: Paul Pogba made an immediate impact on his return from surgery, earning a penalty converted by Bruno Fernandes as Manchester United played to a 1-1 draw at Tottenham.
While the teams endured three months without games because of the pandemic, Pogba hadn’t played since December. He entered in the 63rd minute, with the hosts leading after Steven Bergwijn’s first-half strike.
United is three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea in the battle for a Champions League spot. Tottenham remained four points behind United.
AUTO RACING
NASCAR: Texas Motor Speedway is planning to have some fans in its massive grandstands when NASCAR runs its rescheduled Cup race there on July 19.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has approved a comprehensive action plan to allow fans for the race. The track said the grandstands and suites would be open to fans, who would be subject to social distancing requirements and additional protocols.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many tickets would be available for the race at the 1½-mile track that was originally scheduled March 29. There are more than 110,000 grandstand seats. Abbott had previously said that outdoor sporting events with spectators in Texas could be conducted at 50% capacity.
The announcement comes as Texas continues to set record highs in the numbers of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations since Memorial Day. On Thursday, the state set a new one-day high with 3,516 new cases of COVID-19, and had 2,947 hospitalizations, which nearly doubled the number in hospitals over the holiday weekend.
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