Saturday was supposed to be when Scott Mayfield married his long-time girlfriend, Emily Bayless, in a ceremony in Colorado. Instead, the engaged couple will spend one last day together on Long Island before the defenseman departs with his teammates on Sunday for Toronto for what the Islanders hope will be more than two months away for the NHL playoffs.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which put the NHL season on pause on March 12, has changed plenty of plans. And the hardest part about the league’s imminent return-to-play format will be the mental challenge of living in a quarantined arena/hotel bubble in a hub city.