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MHSAA adjusts postseasons schedules for delayed ‘contact’ winter sports, pushing playoffs into April

By: MATTHEW B. MOWERY, January 14, 2021, 2:55 pm

In response to the current Michigan Department of Health and Human Services epidemic order moving the start of indoor ‘contact’ sports back to the start of next month, the Michigan High School Athletic Association has pushed back the start dates for the postseason in those four sports.

Competitive cheer, hockey, wrestling and basketball (boys and girls) cannot start practicing until Jan. 16, and cannot have contact in practice until Feb. 1, according to the current MDHHS edict, laid out at Wednesday’s news conference. The MHSAA’s Representative Council met Thursday to hammer out the details.

Hockey will be the first allowed to contest games, on Feb. 1, followed by basketball for both genders on Feb. 4, and cheer and wrestling on Feb. 8. 

The postseasons for cheer (districts), wrestling (districts) and hockey (regionals) will begin on March 15, while boys and girls basketball will alternate district dates for the week of March 22-28.

Competitive cheer and hockey will conclude their seasons first, with finals the weekend of March 26-27, followed by wrestling with team finals on March 31 and individual finals on April 2-3. 

Girls basketball finals will be April 9, followed by boys finals on April 10.

There will be some overlap with spring sports, which will stay with their traditional start times on March 15, just prior to spring break for most MHSAA schools — 63 percent of schools scheduled for March 29-April 4, and 37 percent from April 5-11, according to the associations’ research.

Below are the complete listing of the modified key dates for each of the ‘contact’ winter sports:

Girls basketball

First non-contact practice: Jan. 16

First contact practice: Feb. 1

First contest: Feb. 4

Districts: March 22, 24, 26

Regionals: March 29, 31

Quarterfinals: April 5

Semifinals: April 7

Finals: April 9

———

Boys basketball

First non-contact practice: Jan. 16

First contact practice: Feb. 1

First contest: Feb. 4

Districts: March 23, 25, 27

Regionals: March 30, April 1

Quarterfinals: April 6

Semifinals: April 8

Finals: April 10

———

Competitive cheer

First non-contact practice: Jan. 16

First contact practice: Feb. 1

First contest: Feb. 8

Districts: March 15-20

Regionals: March 22-24

Finals: March 26-27

———

Hockey

First non-contact practice: Jan. 16

First contact practice: Feb. 1

First contest: Feb. 1

Regionals: March 15-20

Quarterfinals: March 23

Semifinals: March 25-26

Finals: March 27

———

Wrestling

First non-contact practice: Jan. 16

First contact practice: Feb. 1

First contest: Feb. 8

Districts: March 15-20

Regionals: March 22-28

Team Finals: March 31

Individual Finals: April 2-3

——————————

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