EDMONTON — It is that time of year, athletes always say, when all distractions must be eliminated.
Eyes on the prize. Unrelenting focus. Nothing matters but the two points.
But athletes are human, and like the rest of us, their social media feeds, their morning news, their conversations with family are being dominated by COVID-19 these days.
So how does a hockey team insulate itself from outside noise, yet keep abreast of what is clearly a present concern, all at the same time? It’s not easy, as it turns out.
"I’ve never experienced anything like it," admitted Edmonton Oilers defenceman Oscar Klefbom. "There’s a lot of stuff going on, from back home in Sweden. Obviously it’s a little bit worse back home in Europe, with Italy and Switzerland and all that. It’s hard to just close your eyes and focus on hockey when it’s everywhere in the world right now.
"I guess it’s a skill to have the right mindset at this time of year, especially with everything that’s going on outside of hockey."
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Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice said that his team has doctors who are there to answer any questions that players may have. He hasn’t held a team meeting on the topic and will not until the National Hockey League unfurls some strategy that causes him to do so.
As for Connor McDavid, who returns tonight from a flu bug that put him in sick bay for one game, he says the Oilers aren’t stressing over anything other than Wednesday’s opponent, a Winnipeg Jets club that has won four of its past five games.
Is the coronavirus a distraction?
"Not really," McDavid said. "The media is making a big deal about it. It’s more of a joke in our locker room."
"Not to say that we’re not taking it seriously and know that it’s affected people," he added. "It’s obviously serious and something that everyone is taking seriously, but we want to play in front of our fans and we don’t want anything to change."
It’s a busy enough time, with 16 games in the month of March and a hectic playoff chase going on. Throw the health scare in, and there’s always a reason to be stressed over something.
"There is lots of stuff going on, lots of distractions, lots going on with this coronavirus," said McDavid. "We’re still having fun. Winning games is fun and being a part of this is fun. Playing meaningful games right now is exciting and we’re in a good position and we want to keep going and put ourselves in a really good spot."
Do the Oilers have enough players in their room to lighten things up when needed?
"We have Kass, Nealer," McDavid said of Zack Kassian and James Neal. "I don’t think anyone in that room gets too stressed anyway."
In a city where the hockey team has missed the playoffs for an unprecedented 12 of 13 seasons, it would be sadly ironic if a team that has been near the top of the Pacific Division all season were forced to play its playoff games in an empty arena — or not at all.
Those are the kinds of things that need not be addressed or stressed over, however, at a time of year where players should be simply enjoying the ride, head coach Dave Tippett said.
"It’s an opportunity," Tippett said of this playoff drive, "and there are lot of guys in there who haven’t had many cracks at that opportunity. So don’t waste the one you’re in."
"There’s a pressure that you have to play well, but that’s a good pressure. These players love that pressure," he continued. "When you’re coming down to the end of the season and you’re not playing for much? That’s not very much fun. You get in these (games) here? You embrace the pressure, embrace the opportunity."
For the Oilers players who have been around this organization for a while, they had one crack at an NHL post-season — that two-round journey that ended in a Game 7 at Anaheim in 2017.
It’s time for players like McDavid and Klefbom to make some new playoff memories.
"The guys that were here remember how fun it was playing in the playoffs here," Klefbom recalled. "Just the atmosphere, and the city itself, it’s amazing. We’ve got to… get back to playing the right way. Because the playoffs can be really short if you’re not ready for them."
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