The Southern Oregon Spartans announced that they will be cancelling the rest of the 2020 hockey season, on Wednesday. According to the team on a Facebook post, the reason for the cancellation was due to the new state-wide two-week freeze that Governor Kate Brown enacted today.
“With this new mandate that just happened from the governor’s office we just don’t see when we can open up with fans in Medford,” said Dylan Martin, who is a co-owner for the team. “It just wasn’t looking good for us so we figured now is a good time to cancel the rest of the season.”
The team stated that because the two-week freeze closes down indoor facilities such as gyms and stadiums, the team no longer has a place to practice, play games, or workout.
The Spartans began their season utilizing the Bill Collier Ice Arena in Klamath Falls on October 16, before moving back to Medford on November 3 to the RRRink.
But when the state mandated a “pause” for Jackson County, because of the large amount of new Covid-19 cases within the county, the team moved back to Klamath falls.
Now, the team says they are focusing on the future and the 2021-2022 season where they hope that Covid-19 won’t play as much of an impact on their season.
“We cannot wait to see the Medford Madhouse at full capacity next season,” said Brie and Dylan Martin.
However, with no season left to play, athletes on the team now have the option to be able to go to other parts of the country to continue playing hockey until their next season.
They are going to be scattered throughout the country,” said Martin. “After I told the kids about cancelling the season I said come back the next day with three times that you would like to play for. Some kids are going to the east coast some to the Midwest– it’s a different scenario for each kid.”