This is every athlete's nightmare - training for four years only to get hit by a stomach bug right before the Olympics.
The Olympic women's hockey opener between Finland and Canada has been postponed after 13 members of the Finnish team tested positive for or were exposed to norovirus, according to CBC Sports. Finland's coach said the team wasn't healthy enough to play and didn't want to risk spreading the illness to Team Canada.
The timing couldn't be worse. The Olympics are underway in Milan, the world is watching, and one of the premier hockey nations is sidelined by a virus. Norovirus is nasty stuff - stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting. You can barely stand up, let alone skate at Olympic speed.
Finland had a legitimate shot at a medal this year. They've been building their women's program, developing talent, and they came to Italy with high hopes. Now they're quarantined in their rooms, watching other teams play while they recover.
The good news is Finland did the right thing. They could've tried to tough it out, sent their healthy players onto the ice and hoped for the best. But that would've been reckless. Team Canada doesn't deserve to get sick because of someone else's outbreak. Postponing was the responsible call.
But the scheduling nightmare this creates for the tournament is going to be messy. Olympic hockey has tight windows - you've got round-robin play, quarterfinals, semis, and the medal games all crammed into two weeks. Finding a makeup date that works for both teams, that doesn't create an unfair rest advantage, that doesn't conflict with other games - that's a logistical headache.
And think about the mental side of this. Finland's players have been preparing for this moment for years. Now they're sick, isolated, and watching the tournament start without them. That's brutal psychologically. When they finally do play, will they be at full strength? Will their timing be off? Will the rust be there?
For Canada, it's a different kind of disruption. They prepared for an opener against Finland, and now they're waiting. Their schedule is thrown off. The rhythm of the tournament is gone.
This is the unpredictable side of sports. You can control your training, your preparation, your game plan. But you can't control a virus. That's what sports is all about, folks - adapting to circumstances beyond your control and finding a way to compete.
