MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury College men’s hockey team will not participate in this weekend’s annual FirstLight Great Northern Shootout Tournament, which the Panthers were due to host.

The decision was made in “alignment with Middlebury’s COVID-19 protocols for team play,” according to an email from the college’s Sports Information Department.

The team had also postponed its first two games of the season this past weekend in Maine vs. Colby and Bowdoin.

The other teams scheduled to participate will still compete in this weekend’s tournament in Kenyon Arena, according to the email.

On Friday the Milwaukee School of Engineering will face Norwich at 7 p.m., and on Saturday Milwaukee will take on Plattsburgh at 4 p.m.

Plattsburgh and Norwich will meet on Sunday at 4:30 p.m.

Middlebury College on Wednesday, Nov. 24, reported two new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 10 active cases within the college community. Seven of those afflicted were students; the other three were employees. From testing it does on campus, the institution has reported eight new positive cases since Nov. 16.