What do March 11, Rudy Gobert and Robin Lehner have to do with COVID-19? A lot.
The date was Wednesday, March 11, 2020. It was around 10:15 p.m. EST. Two days prior, my school had cancelled classes for the next three weeks due to the severity of COVID-19 so I decided to stay up late and watch to see how the Knicks game finished. The Knicks were in a close game with the Hawks when all of a sudden, I got a notification on my phone that read, “The NBA has suspended its season.”
At that moment, I didn’t know why, but a quick change of the channel revealed that Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. I couldn’t believe it. To this point, COVID-19 hadn’t really had a major effect on the sports world other than a few events announcing games would be played without fans. But this made something very clear. This virus was to be taken very, very seriously. 
The next day, March. 12, 2020, became known as the day the sports world stopped. On this day, the eternity of both the men’s and women’s March Madness tournaments were cancelled after previously being announced they would be held without fans. And the MLB, MLS, NHL, Premier League and many other leagues announced that they would suspend play indefinitely or cancel their seasons entirely.
On March 11, sports was being played in packed buildings all over the world. But just one days later, nothing. 

It felt like a nightmare and the world didn’t feel real to anyone. Sports has long been seen as the thing that can bring together a community in even the darkest of times. But now, there were no sports to be found.
The question everyone, including myself immediately wondered was, “When would we get sports back?” Over time, the sad truth that it would not be any time soon became clear. The MLB, which was just two weeks from the start of its season, would not start on time and the NHL and NBA which were about to begin the thick of the playoff push were stopped dead in their tracks.
Since the events, the MLB has targeted a May return around Memorial Day weekend, which could make sense for a MLB season shortened by two months. However, it is a lot more difficult to speculate a NHL and NBA return.
The NBA hopes to return in June, possibly without fans in empty arenas, and likely skip the final month of the regular season and immediately jump into the postseason.
However, the timeframe for the NHL is unclear.
Former Islanders fan favorite goalie Robin Lehner does not believe the season can resume after a pause as serious and lengthy as this one.
“No, I don’t think it is possible to shut down and then run again when you have 100,000 cases of the coronavirus,” Lehner said. “Safety goes first.You can’t turn 180 degrees and start playing again. I see a zero percent chance that you can save this season. Now I hope that next season can start as usual in October.”
The NHL has stated on numerous occasions that their number one priority is for a full 2020-21 NHL season and making sure that occurs will most likely come before finishing this season. But this is a waiting game, and as Robin Lehner stated, it is a very unclear situation currently.

Drive4Five