COVID complications: Hill-Murray won’t defend state hockey championship

A positive COVID-19 test involving an opponent has ended Hill-Murray’s defense of its Class 2A championship in the Minnesota Boys Hockey State Tournament.

The Pioneers were told not to open the tournament against Wayzata March 31. The tournament runs through April 3.

Hill-Murray, a Catholic high school in Maplewood with a storied history in state hockey, advanced to the latest tournament March 24 by defeating White Bear Lake 5-0. The team later learned that a White Bear Lake player tested positive for COVID-19. Potential exposure to the virus led to Hill-Murray’s exit from the tournament.

Several Hill-Murray players filed a lawsuit to prevent the league from enforcing COVID guidelines that would prevent the team from playing until April 1, arguing that players for the Pioneers “had almost no contact with the infected player” and then only when players were wearing masks, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Wayzata High School said it was willing to postpone the game to April 1.

But Washington County Judge Juanita Freeman declined to issue a temporary restraining order against the league, Beau McGraw, an attorney for families of the players, told the Star Tribune. “I feel bad for these kids.”

“We’re done,” Hill-Murray Coach Bill Lechner told the Star Tribune. “We are in quarantine until Thursday. We can’t switch venues. They didn’t accept the details we gave them. It’s a shame.”

Hill-Murray has won four state titles since 1983, including 2020, and advanced to the championship game a dozen times. It is the most successful Catholic school in the tournament’s history.