Cup contenders battling bubble boredom

They spend their free time roaming the confines of empty five-star hotels, with marathon games of table tennis and pool only interrupted by COVID-19 testing, naps, visits to the fitness center or leisurely meals in deserted restaurants.

But for the 400 or so NHL players, coaches and team officials still participating in the Stanley Cup playoffs, off-ice life in the Canadian "bubble" cities of Edmonton and Toronto is far from glamorous. In fact, it's getting downright boring.

After more than a month cooped up in the tunnel-connected hotel-arena complex in downtown Edmonton, Dallas Stars interim coach Rick Bowness says there have been times he's had to coax himself to step outside to soak up some sunshine and breathe fresh air.

"If people think living in a bubble is great, it's tough. It's mentally tough, but everyone's making the best of it," Bowness told Canadian Press last week.

"It's not your typical playoffs where, OK, you play, you jump in your car and you go home or whatever. It's none of that. It's play, go back to your room. This isn't as easy as you might think it is. Until you live in the bubble, you have no idea what we're doing, what we're going through."

Teams have access to outdoor football stadiums in both cities and the NHL has arranged golf outings when players are bused to and from nearby courses with no access to anyone outside the bubble－but the tedium weighs heavily.

"It's hard when you're in that type of environment because it's almost like you're in prison," Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said before his team was knocked out of the playoff tournament by the Vegas Golden Knights.

"When the pandemic hit, you could still leave your house, you could walk outside and get some fresh air. But here, I think it's the mental toll that gets to you… you are kind of trapped. You can't go anywhere."

While NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league is "actively trying to minimize the length of the playoffs in part due to the dynamics and constraints of bubble life", Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand said players can also use those constraints as motivation.

"We're all sacrificing to be here, so I think the drive is there to want to make it all worth it," Marchand said. "So when you get on the ice, you want to win, because otherwise this whole thing is for nothing. It's that fear of losing, I guess, that kind of drains you mentally. That and being away from the family."

Twenty-four teams arrived at the hub cities on July 26, first playing an exhibition game and then a two-part preliminary round.

The bottom 16 teams competed in an elimination series, while each conference's top four teams played a round-robin tournament to determine seeding. The first round of the playoffs began on Aug 11 and lasted just 11 days.