A monster storm that’s cut a frigid path across the U.S. left the Toronto Raptors stranded in Indianapolis for a second straight night.
The Raptors were scheduled to fly to Atlanta on Monday evening following their 104-93 loss to the Pacers, but that flight was cancelled sending the team back to the hotel.
The Raptors hoped to leave Tuesday, but that flight was also cancelled after the team sat for nearly five hours on the plane.
Raptors play-by-play announcer Matt Devlin posted a photo on Twitter of the plane’s wings draped in icicles nearly a metre long, writing: “I think we’ll be de-icing.”
Team spokesman Jim Labumbard said the Raptors checked back into the hotel, and hoped to fly out Wednesday morning for Atlanta where they’re scheduled to play the Hawks on Wednesday night.
Meanwhile in St. Louis, the Blues saw plenty of snow and ice, but no Avalanche.
The Blues’ game against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night was postponed because of the storm that threatened to leave about a third of the U.S. covered in ice and snow.
A makeup date has not been set for the game, which would have been the first since the all-star break for both teams.
The weather was fine in California, but the storm might cause the Boston Celtics to extend their West Coast trip.
Coach Doc Rivers said before the Celtics’ game at Sacramento the team was exploring options to get back to Boston but would likely stay in northern California for an extra night because of the severe weather moving across the country.
The Celtics were finishing up a four-game road trip against the Kings on Tuesday night.
Rivers said he was still thinking about flying at least part of the way back to Boston. But he said his team could use the rest, so they probably wouldn’t fly back until Wednesday.
The Celtics don’t play again until Friday at home against the Dallas Mavericks. There were clear skies with temperatures reaching 15 C earlier in the day in Sacramento.
In New York, the Pittsburgh Penguins were hoping to fly home after their 4-3 shootout win over the Rangers. They are scheduled to play the New York Islanders in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.
“The plan is to (fly home), right now,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. “We’re hustling to get out of here.
“We’re hopeful. We also have rooms, if we don’t.”
Villanova’s women’s basketball team was stuck in Milwaukee after losing to Marquette. The Wildcats’ charter back to Philadelphia was cancelled.
“A friend actually texted me earlier this morning and said there’s ’life-threatening conditions’ so I knew we weren’t going anywhere,” said Villanova’s Heather Scanlon, who finished with 15 points in the 62-57 loss.
The Wildcats said they planned to get back to the hotel and catch up on their studies.
“It would be a lot better stuck in the snow with our first Big East win,” Amanda Swiezynski said. “We’re missing a lot of school, so we’re doing a lot of homework.”
The Penn State men’s basketball team made it to Champaign, Ill., for its game Tuesday night against Illinois despite heavy snow.
Penn State spokesman Brian Siegrist said the team arrived around 1 p.m. by bus from Evansville, Ind. The team’s charter flight was diverted there Monday night because of weather conditions in central Illinois.
The men’s Big 12 basketball game in Norman, Okla., on Tuesday night was called off and rescheduled for Wednesday afternoon when admission will be free.
Also postponed were the men’s and women’s Tuesday night games featuring Southeast Missouri at Southern Illinois-Edwardswille.
The airport in Dallas — the destination for thousands trying to get to Sunday’s Super Bowl — was among those shut down. Walkways outside Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, were like sheets of ice.
The National Weather Service advised Wisconsin travellers bound for Texas to wait until Wednesday evening, with up to 45 centimetres of snow forecast for the Milwaukee area.
The Packers, no stranger to winter chill, might even practice indoors this week if the weather doesn’t improve.
“It’s a little too cold for me,” linebacker Clay Matthews said. “Texas is supposed to be hot and humid. I was looking forward to that. I am a California guy.”
Villanova’s game with Marquette was moved up two hours in an effort to avoid the worst of a blizzard bearing down on Milwaukee, but the Wildcats learned shortly before tip that their charter flight was grounded until Wednesday.
The team hopes to leave sometime in the early afternoon, contingent on the weather in Philadelphia, a spokeswoman said.
The Nebraska women’s basketball team plays at Missouri on Wednesday. Cornhuskers spokesman Jeff Griesch said the team bus was rolling through whiteout conditions on Interstate 70. He didn’t know whether the team would fly or bus back to Lincoln after the game.
Missouri has been hit by what could be the its worst winter storm in decades, a dangerous mix of snow, freezing rain, wind and cold. Whiteouts paralyzed Oklahoma City and the Tulsa area, and blowing snow created drifts of more than a metre high. Conditions in the area were so forbidding that The Humane Society of Missouri urged people to bring pets inside.
In the Big Ten, the Indiana men tentatively plan to play their Wednesday night basketball game against Minnesota now that the Gophers have landed in Indianapolis.
The Air Force women’s basketball team abandoned the skies Tuesday, deciding to bus rather than fly to New Mexico for Wednesday night’s game.
The storm also had an effect in the East, where Aqueduct cancelled Wednesday’s racing card. The forecast for the New York area called for a mix of rain, sleet and ice.
— With files from The Associated Press.