Dallas Stars coach Rick Bowness withdrew from the bench mid-game due to COVID protocols

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The Dallas Stars had to play the third period of Sunday’s game against Carolina Hurricanes without coach Rick Bowness behind the team bench. This happened after Bowness was removed from the game during the second break in Carolina due to the COVID-19 protocols.

Before the Stars took the ice for the third period, the team announced that Bowness had entered COVID’s security protocols and assistant coach John Stevens took over as head coach. After the game, it was revealed that Bowness had a positive PCR test during that interval.

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Bowness, 66, was fully vaccinated, which makes Sunday’s events even more curious. However, Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle received a false positive in a test earlier this week after being vaccinated months ago.

Time will tell if this is another case of a Dallas coach being hit by a false positive, but the NHL clearly acted on the side of caution by removing Bowness from Sunday’s game. If it is not a case of false positives, well … that makes the discussion much more worrisome.

The NHL continues to fight the outbreaks of COVID in the league this season. The Stars were the first team forced to postpone games this season, as the season opener was postponed for a few weeks after a team exploded. Vancouver Canucks is currently dealing with a massive team outbreak, with up to 16 players currently on the team’s COVID list. All Vancouver games have been postponed until April 6.

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