Men’s hockey: Former Buckeyes adjust to life in the ECHL during COVID-19

Collin Ginnan
Thu, 10 Sep 2020 00:25:32 +0000
Big Ten, Ice Hockey, Instagram Page, Men's hockey, News, Sports, b1g, B1G hockey, big ten hockey, Big Ten men’s hockey, Buckeyes, echl, Gordi Myer, hockey, Luke Stork, men's hockey, Men's ice hockey, ohio state, Ohio State men's ice hockey, ohio state men’s ice hockey schedule, ohio state men’s ice hockey score, Reading Royals, Toledo Walleye

Ohio State then-senior defenseman Gordi Myer (5) brings the puck back into play from behind the goal during the Ohio State-Wisconsin game on Feb.28. Ohio State lost 2-3. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Assistant Photo Editor

On March 11, defenseman Gordi Myer and the Ohio State men’s hockey team were poised to make their fourth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance as the Buckeyes were scheduled to face rival Michigan that Saturday in the Big Ten Conference semifinal.?

The next day, the season was canceled. Players were told to pack their hockey bags and say goodbye to their teammates and coaches. Myer was suddenly a professional free agent in a world where sports had been put on hold indefinitely.

In the ECHL, a 26-team professional hockey minor league formerly called the East Coast Hockey League, players like Myer and former Buckeye forward Luke Stork continue to prepare for a season amid unusual adversity and an ever-changing sports landscape.?

Following the conclusion of the 2019-20 season, Myer said he initially took time to process the abrupt end to his Ohio State career and a season in which the Buckeyes finished No. 2 in the Big Ten.?

Then, his attention turned to going pro.

“For the first couple weeks, I didn’t really worry about [free agency],” Myer said. “And then as time goes on, eventually I started to have conversations with my agent.”

In an alternate timeline where a global pandemic did not cut his senior season short, Myer said he might have received an invite to an American Hockey League amateur tryout. Instead, talks between Myer’s agent and the AHL died down due to uncertainty over the status of the 2020-21 season.?

As the summer dragged on, Myer said he knew that a decision loomed on where to continue his hockey career. As a Sylvania, Ohio, native, that decision was narrowed down to the hometown Toledo Walleye.?

The Detroit Red Wings ECHL affiliate announced Myer as a member of the 2020-21 roster Aug. 27.?

Stork, a forward for the ECHL Reading Royals, was participating in a morning skate when his team received the news that the ECHL season had been canceled. The Royals were one of six teams which had already clinched a playoff berth.

“It was our last practice, we were out there before a game — it was a pregame skate kind of thing, getting ready for a game that night,” Stork said. “And then just, boom. We’re done. For us it was just running into a brick wall, kind of, because we heard all these flashes about COVID and how serious and fatal it could be.”?

After receiving the news, Stork said that he and his teammates stayed in their apartments for the coming week until the Royals held exit meetings with the players, signifying a concrete end to the season.?

For both Myer and Stork, the 2020 offseason became a waiting game of sorts. Myer has spent most of the pandemic studying for the LSAT, a law school admission test. As for his hockey career, a delayed start to the season meant an expanded training regimen for Myer with incorporated time off for rest.?

With gyms closed in Pennsylvania for much of the spring and summer, Stork relied on the golf course and walks with his dog in order to stay active while still staying safe.

“I missed [gyms], kind of weird. Sitting on my butt all day was not for me,” Stork said.?

Six days prior to Myer joining the ECHL, Stork re-signed with the Reading Royals in his home state of Pennsylvania after scoring four goals in 26 games for the Royals in the 2019-20 campaign.

“It was just business as usual, getting back into the weight room and focusing on what the next season was,” Stork said. “Even if we weren’t established when we’re starting or when we’re expected back.”?

Still, it will be months before Stork and Myer are back on the ice for the start of the ECHL season. The league announced last month that the traditional mid-October start to the season would be pushed back to Dec. 4, while still planning to play a full 72-game schedule.?

“We are eager to return to hockey, but at this time we believe this decision is prudent for the safety of our players, employees and fans,” ECHL commissioner Ryan Crelin said.

In the meantime, ECHL teams have yet to resume official practices. In the absence of training camp, Myer began skating with a handful of his Walleye teammates who remained in the Toledo area.

“They just said it’s going to be crazy playing so many games in a short period,” Myer said. “I’m kind of looking forward to it, though, because that means you don’t practice as much and you just get to play a lot of games, which is more fun in my opinion.”

For Stork, the postponement is not all negative. Despite questions of what even the near future of the ECHL holds, he said the delayed start to the year provides an extended opportunity for players to focus on themselves and get ready for the season.?

“I hope it can get back to what it was, and it’s normal and let’s play hockey,” Stork said. “Doing what we love.”